The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) are under scrutiny, after it transpired that the Spanish Anti-Doping Agency (CELAD) allowed athletes to go unpunished on several occasions between 2017 and 2022.
Relevo have revealed that during that period, CELAD used various methods to avoid disciplinary proceedings for Spanish athletes after testing positive for banned substances. One of those methods was sending the documents to open the investigation by mail rather than email. Athletes were then able to open cases in the Tribunal for Sport if they did not receive the notification in time – a year is the maximum amount of time allowed to pass – and archive the cases if that had happened.
On other occasions, the tests came back positive, but no investigation was opened. Patrick Chinedu Ike tested positive for three banned substances, and those tests appeared on the WADA online system, but no investigation was opened, and Ike was allowed to continue competing without any punishment.
Meanwhile marathon runner Majida Maayouf was retroactively permitted to use banned substances for therapeutic reasons. This was granted indefinitely, and then removed 18 months later, but Head of Anti-Doping Control Jesus Munoz-Guerra was able to avoid raising an investigation and sanctioning Maayouf in the process.
The same agency and CELAD also knowingly spent taxpayer money on tests that did not meet standards (only one tester was sent, rather than the required two), and thus were voidable. WADA were allegedly aware of these oversights and flaws in process, but have not acted.
It is noted in the report that no Spanish athletes were sanctioned during that five-year period, while ex-Sevilla footballer Papu Gomez is facing sanctions for ingesting a banned substance. This is under appeal, and Gomez maintains it was accidental. Munoz-Guerra is currently in legal proceedings for falsification of public documents, that could see him jailed for 8-9 years.
WADA have not yet acted against the head of CELAD. Munoz-Guerra has also been rewarded for his work, and is set to be part of the Olympic Committee, organising their process against doping in the Paris 2024 Olympics. They have since responded to these allegations, and say that CELAD have a number of urgent corrections to make to their procedures.
