Let me start with a very clear statement. Erriyon Knighton is one of the young athletes I admire. He has a pure style which makes it a pleasure to watch him run. He is a great talent and his world U20 record of 19.49 s, established when he was 18 years old, is the promise of a great career. A career that is already underway. He was 4th in the 200 m in the Tokyo Olympics and won bronze and silver in the world championships of 2022 and 2023. I believe that, if he decides to move to the 400 m one day, he is capable of running under 43 s.
So, what happened? On March 26, during an out-of-competition test, Erriyon Knighton was tested positive for a metabolite of trenbolone. The later is a well-known anabolic agent prohibited under the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) rules. Knighton was suspended on April 12. The USADA (the anti-doping agency of the US) asked for an expedited evidentiary heating by an independent arbitrator. On June 16 the later decided that Knighton's was a no fault violation and thus he was not required to serve any period of ineligibility. The argument was that Knighton’s positive test was most probably caused by consuming meat contaminated with trenbolone, which is used as a growth promoter in livestock. You can find the text of the decision in the document below. (Mind you, this is just the operative award, an abbreviated document that only conveys the arbitrator’s ruling. The reasoned decision will be made publicly available in some undetermined future).
Practically that decision meant that Knighton could participate in the US Trials, which he did, winning his qualification for the Olympics. Now, don't get me wrong. I am happy to see Knighton competing in Paris. As I said I appreciate him a lot. I am willing to believe him when he says that the positive test was due to contaminated meat. What I have trouble accepting is the attitude of the USADA and in particular its CEO, Travis Tygart. In the case of Knighton's violation he declared:
“We did what the rules require us to do in all positive cases. We can take comfort that justice was served and transparency as required by the rules was achieved”.
So, according to Mr. Tygart all is well in the Knighton case. However Tygart is the same person who is crying foul in the case of chinese swimmers. In case you have not being following this matter, China is sending to Paris a team which comprises 11 swimmers who tested positive in 2021, before the Tokyo Games, but were cleared by WADA, following an investigation which concluded that there was food contamination.
The reaction of Mr. Tygart was quite different from the one in the case of Knighton:
"This appears to be a devastating stab in the back of clean athletes and a deep betrayal of all the athletes who compete fairly and follow the rules. All of those with dirty hands in burying these positives and suppressing the voices of courageous whistle-blowers must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the rules and law”.
He went on to accuse WADA of riding with China. And pushed the US Justice Department into opening a criminal probe into the affair. WADA issued a statement saying it handled the Chinese drug tests properly and was "disappointed" by the probe, accusing the US officials (read "Tygart") of exceeding their authority. "The United States purports to exercise extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction over participants in the global anti-doping system". (Note that WADA is headquartered in Canada and thus not subject to the US jurisdiction). And the best retort was that of WADA's former president, Dick Pound who did not mince his words:
“USADA is funded by the US government and that government currently has a very cold relationship with the Chinese government. Could there be a link?".
Of course Tygart was not happy. To his opinion
"Russia and China have been too big to fail in WADA's eyes and they get a different set of rules than the rest of the world does unfortunately".
When, in 2020, Russia was handed a ban for covering up a massive state-sponsored doping programme (allowing russian athletes to compete only as neutrals provided they have not been banned for doping) Tygart qualified the punishment as a "farce". (You can find a detailed account of that affair in my article on the effrontery of the USADA).
When, in 2019, C. Coleman missed a third whereabout for testing and argued that the first missed case should have been backdated to the first day of that quarter having as a consequence that the dates of the three offences fell outside the required 12-month time frame, Tygart was eager to absolve him, arguing:
"Consistent application of the global anti-doping rules is essential in every case. In this case we applied the rules to Mr. Coleman in the manner that USADA understands should be applied to any other International-level athlete. We must approach every case with the primary goal of delivering fairness to athletes under the rules and providing transparency and consistency in order to build their trust and support for the anti-doping system".
You cannot find a better illustration of double standards than this.
And, of course, Coleman did it again and in that case there was nothing Mr. Tygart could do. So, Coleman missed the Tokyo Olympics, and having botched this years Trials, he will only participate in the 4x100 relay in Paris. Knighton, on the other hand will participate in the 200 m in the Olympics and I hope that he will be on the winners' podium.
And, yes, I also have double standards.
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