'Deeply concerned' with China doping allegations, US drug czar sends letter to anti

The U.S. drug czar sent a pointed letter to world anti-doping officials, saying leaders in governments across the globe “remain deeply concerned” about the response to allegations of Chinese doping before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Rahul Gupta, who holds a position on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s executive committee, sent a series of recommendations to the president of WADA in a May 8 letter that was obtained by The Associated Press. It included calling for an emergency meeting of the executive committee before the end of this week.

WADA has set up an “extraordinary session” of its foundation board on Friday. That board is a larger body than the executive committee, and it has final authority over the agency’s policies; it does not include a U.S. member.

The letter from Gupta, the head of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, came in the wake of allegations that 23 Chinese swimmers were cleared of intentionally taking performance enhancers, saying a banned heart medication ended up in their systems due to contamination.