Witold Bańka

Last updated • 3 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Polish pronunciation: [vʲitɔldbaɲka] ; born 3 October 1984) is a Polish former 400 metres sprinter [1] 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).

Contents

Athletic career

Bańka's biggest achievement as an athlete was the bronze medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2007 World Championships although he only competed in the heats. He also won several relay medals at lower level competitions. He retired from professional sport in 2012 having failed to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics. [2]

Personal bests

Outdoor

  • 200 metres – 21.83 (+1.5 m/s, Bielsko-Biała 2006)
  • 400 metres – 46.11 (Osaka 2007)

Indoor

  • 400 metres – 48.87 (Spała 2009)

Competition record

Witold Bańka
Witold Banka.jpg
4th President of WADA
Assumed office
1 January 2020
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing Flag of Poland.svg  Poland
2005 European U23 Championships Erfurt, Germany 1st4 × 400 m relay 3:04.41
2007 Universiade Bangkok, Thailand 1st4 × 400 m relay 3:02.05
World Championships Osaka, Japan 3rd (heats)4 × 400 m relay 3:02.39 1
2009 Universiade Belgrade, Serbia 2nd4 × 400 m relay 3:05.69

1He was not selected for the final where the Polish team finished third but also received a bronze medal.

Political career

In 2018 he became a candidate for the chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency. [3] Poland’s sport minister Witold Banka has been chosen as Europe’s candidate to become the next head of the World Anti-Doping Agency. [4] In May 2019 Bańka was elected as WADA's fourth president, commencing his four-year term on 1 January 2020. [5] He was re-elected in 2022 for another three year term. [6]

Chinese swimmers doping allegations

On 20 April 2024, The New York Times revealed that 23 members of the Chinese swimming team tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug called Trimetazidine seven months prior to the start of the 2020 Summer Games and were allowed to participate in the games with some of the swimmers winning medals. Following the publication of the report, Travis Tygart, CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, accused the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) of covering up doping by Chinese swimmers. [7] [8]

WADA argued the amount detected was too low to enhance performance. CHINADA, who had reported the results to WADA and FINA (now World Aquatics), blamed them on contamination from a hotel kitchen, a rationale that potentially exempts findings from being made public. [9] WADA released a statement, explaining that "[it] was not possible for WADA scientists or investigators to conduct their enquiries on the ground in China given the extreme restrictions in place due to a COVID-related lockdown. WADA ultimately concluded that it was not in a position to disprove the possibility that contamination was the source of TMZ and it was compatible with the analytical data in the file." [10] World Aquatics's investigation agreed with WADA. [11]

After the story was leaked, WADA was criticised by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and athletes. WADA's choice of a Swiss attorney to lead an investigation into the matter also drew criticism because he was hand-picked by the agency. [12] Experts interviewed by The New York Times said trace amounts of TMZ can be detected near the end of a doping excretion period but could not rule out contamination either. [13]

In a second statement, Tygart accused both WADA and the CHINADA of not being transparent about the findings and keeping "clean athletes in the dark". WADA was also accused of having a double-standard as Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for TMZ and used the same excuse, but was subsequently banned for four years. WADA argued, based on non-published information and pharmacokinetics, that contamination would not have been possible in Valieva's case, but in the case of the Chinese swimmers, that no international competition was occurring around the time of the positive tests, only athletes who stayed at one of the hotels tested positive, and some individuals alternated between positive and negative results all point to contamination, not doping. [14] [15] In May 2024, WADA announced that it will hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the doping case of the Chinese swimmers. [16] [17]

Eleven of the 23 swimmers involved in the controversy were named to the 2024 Chinese Olympic swimming team. [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

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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.

In competitive sports, doping is the use of banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) by athletes, as a way of cheating. As stated in the World Anti-Doping Code by WADA, doping is defined as the occurrence of one or more of the anti-doping rule violations outlined in Article 2.1 through Article 2.11 of the Code. The term doping is widely used by organizations that regulate sporting competitions. The use of drugs to enhance performance is considered unethical and is prohibited by most international sports organizations, including the International Olympic Committee. Furthermore, athletes taking explicit measures to evade detection exacerbate the ethical violation with overt deception and cheating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Anti-Doping Agency</span> Foundation created by the International Olympic Committee

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trimetazidine</span> Drug for angina pectoris sold under many brand names

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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. China's doping has been attributed to a number of factors, such as the exchange of culture and technology with foreign countries. Some scholars believe that the country has become the focus of Western anti-doping condemnation in place of East Germany and other former Eastern Bloc countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Travis Tygart</span> American lawyer

Travis Thompson Tygart is an American lawyer and CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). He is best known for his role in exposing Lance Armstrong's massive doping operation.

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References

  1. Witold Bańka at World Athletics OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  2. "Niespełniony biegacz ministrem sportu. Kim jest Witold Bańka?" (in Polish). eurosport.onet.pl. 2015-11-09. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  3. "WADA Presidential Candidate". aroundtherings.com. 2019-05-06. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  4. "Europe chooses Polish sports minister". reuters.com. 2019-05-06. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  5. "New WADA president". swimswam.com. 2019-05-14. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  6. "Bańka WADA president to 2025". swimswam.com. 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-11-18.
  7. Mann, Brian (April 22, 2024). "'Ban them all.' With Paris Games looming, Chinese doping scandal rocks Olympic sport". NPR . Archived from the original on April 22, 2024. Retrieved April 22, 2024.
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  17. "Wada calls extraordinary meeting over China swimmers". BBC Sport. 2024-05-14. Archived from the original on 14 May 2024. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  18. "China names 11 doping scandal swimmers in its Paris Olympics team". NBC News. 19 June 2024. Archived from the original on 19 June 2024. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Sports and Tourism in Poland
2015–2019
Succeeded by