The United States Anti-Doping Agency is a non-profit, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization and the national anti-doping organization (NADO) for the United States. To protect clean competition and the integrity of sport and prevent doping in the United States with a performance-enhancing substance, the USADA provides education, leads scientific initiatives, conducts testing, and oversees the results management process. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USADA is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code, which harmonizes anti-doping practices around the world, and is widely considered the basis for the strongest and strictest anti-doping programs to prevent doping in sport.
The World Anti-Doping Agency is an international organization co-founded by the governments of over 140 nations along with the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key activities include scientific research, education, development of anti-doping capacities, and monitoring of the World Anti-Doping Code, whose provisions are enforced by the UNESCO International Convention Against Doping in Sport. The aims of the Council of Europe Anti-Doping Convention and the United States Anti-Doping Agency are also closely aligned with those of WADA.
Trimetazidine is a drug sold under many brand names for angina pectoris. Trimetazidine is described as the first cytoprotective anti-ischemic agent developed and marketed by Laboratoires Servier (France). It is an anti-ischemic (antianginal) metabolic agent of the fatty acid oxidation inhibitor class, meaning that it improves the heart muscle's ability to use glucose as a fuel by inhibiting its use of fatty acid metabolism. It has become controversial for its use as a performance-enhancing drug, with several scandals involving its use erupting at successive Olympic games.
Oussama "Ous" Mellouli is a Tunisian swimmer who competes in the freestyle and medley events. He is a three-time Olympic medalist, is an African record holder, and trains with the USC Trojans team based at the University of Southern California, where he studied as a computer science undergraduate and swam collegiately.
The swimming competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place from 9 to 17 August 2008 at the Beijing National Aquatics Centre. The newly introduced open water marathon events (10 km) were held on 20 and 21 August 2008 at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.
Sun Yang is a Chinese Olympic and former world-record-holding competitive swimmer. In 2012, Sun became the first Chinese athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in men's swimming. Sun is the first male swimmer in history to earn Olympic and World Championship gold medals at every freestyle distance from 200 to 1500 metres. A three-time Olympic gold medalist and eleven-time world champion, he is the most decorated Chinese swimmer in history. In 2017, NBC Sports described him as "very arguably the greatest freestyle swimmer of all time".
The Russian Olympic Committee was the National Olympic Committee representing Russia. Its final president before IOC suspension was Stanislav Pozdnyakov. On 12 October 2023, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the membership of the Russian Olympic Committee.
China was alleged to have conducted a state-sanctioned doping operation in the 1980s and 1990s by former General Administration of Sport physician Xue Yinxian. The World Anti-Doping Agency investigated these allegations and found no evidence to corroborate them. Other allegations of doping have focused on swimmers and track and field athletes, such as those taught by Ma Junren. In the Olympics, China has been stripped of a total of three gold medals for doping; all were weightlifters competing in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Eleven Chinese athletes were stripped of medals for doping at the 1994 Asian Games.
Jordan Matthew Wilimovsky is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in open water swimming. At the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, Russia, Wilimovsky won the gold medal in the 10 km open water event. Wilimovsky won by a margin of 12.1 seconds over the second-place finisher Ferry Weertman of the Netherlands. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Wilimovsky competed in both pool swimming and open water swimming events, becoming the first American to swim in both types of events at one Olympic Games.
Michael Charles Andrew is an American competitive swimmer and an Olympic gold medalist. He was the 2016 world champion in the 100 meter individual medley. At his first Olympic Games, the 2020 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal and set a world record as part of the 4x100 meter medley relay, placed fourth in the 100 meter breaststroke, fourth in the 50 meter freestyle, and fifth in the 200 meter individual medley. Andrew's swims in 2021 at the 2020 Olympics made him the first swimmer to represent the United States at an Olympic Games in an individual breaststroke event as well as another individual event other than an individual medley in the then-125-year-history of swimming at the Summer Olympics. He has won 78 medals at Swimming World Cup circuits.
Witold Bańka is a Polish former 400 metres sprinter turned politician. Since 2015, he served as Minister of Sport and Tourism in the cabinet of Beata Szydło and cabinet of Mateusz Morawiecki. In May 2019, he was elected President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Lillia Camille King is an American swimmer who specializes in breaststroke. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won the gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke competition and also won a gold medal in the 4x100 meter medley relay, in which she swam the breaststroke leg. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, King won a silver medal in the 4x100 meter medley relay for her efforts in the prelims, the silver medal in the 200-meter breaststroke, and the bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal in the 4x100 meter medley relay, where she swam the breaststroke leg. She is the current world record holder in the long course 100-meter breaststroke.
A number of concerns and controversies arose leading up to the 2020 Summer Olympics, which took place in Tokyo, Japan. The games were postponed until July 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The IOC stated that their Japanese partners and the former prime minister Shinzo Abe "made it very clear" in 2020, "that Japan could not manage a postponement beyond next summer [2021] at the latest". Just weeks before the opening of the Tokyo Olympics, honorary patron Emperor Naruhito was said to be "extremely worried about the current status of coronavirus infections", and was "concerned that while there [were] voices of anxiety among the public, the holding may lead to the expansion of infections".
Andrew Wilson is a retired American swimmer. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, he placed 6th in the 100 meter breaststroke, 17th in the 200 meter breaststroke, and won a gold medal in the 4x100 meter medley relay, for his efforts in the prelims of the relay.
Kamila Valeryevna Valieva is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2021 Rostelecom Cup champion, the 2021 Skate Canada champion, the 2020 Junior World champion, the 2019-20 Junior Grand Prix Final champion and the 2021 Russian national silver medalist.
Figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China. The five events took place between 4 and 20 February 2022.
Rhyan Elizabeth White is an American swimmer. She won a silver medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics for her contribution in the prelims of the event and placed fourth in both the 100-meter backstroke and the 200-meter backstroke. At the 2020 Olympics, White also became the first Utah-born swimmer to compete in an Olympic Games. At the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics, she was the only swimmer representing the United States to win a medal. She won her first world title in the 200-meter backstroke at the 2021 World Short Course Championships.
The women's singles competition in figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 15 February and 17 February, at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Haidian District of Beijing. Anna Shcherbakova, representing the Russian Olympic Committee, won the event, and her teammate, Alexandra Trusova, the silver medal. Kaori Sakamoto of Japan won bronze. For all, it was their first individual Olympic medals; Sakamoto had earlier won a medal in the team event.
The team event in figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 4, 6, and 7 February, at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Haidian District of Beijing.
The swimming competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris were held from 27 July to 9 August 2024. Pool events took place at the Paris La Défense Arena, with the two-day marathon swimming staged at Pont Alexandre III through the Seine River.
