Amid these controversial developments, Olivier Niggli, the WADA Director, has acknowledged that there is an issue involving contamination in sports. However, he attributed this to the technological advancements in laboratories that are resulting in even the most negligible contamination cases being reported.
“Today there is a contamination problem. This does not mean that there are more cases of this kind than in the past, the fact is that laboratories are more efficient in detecting even infinitesimal quantities of substances. The quantities are so small that you can get contaminated by doing harmless things. The truth is that we hear a lot of stories and I understand the public opinion that can end up thinking that we take everything,” Niggli told L’Equipe.
The WADA director went on to suggest an idea, which, if implemented, could potentially see the number of cases concerning contamination in trace amounts coming down.
“With thresholds we would not have seen all these cases. What we need to understand is whether we are ready to accept microdosing and where it is right to stop. A working table will be created precisely for this type of reflection. A table that should therefore – in light of the analyses of the quantities found in the cases of recent years and obviously making distinctions based on the substance – define those limit quantities,” Niggli concluded.
Both Sinner and Swiatek’s positive tests revealed that there were only trace amounts of Clostebol and TMZ respectively, in their bloodstreams.
Nick Kyrgios, the controversial Australian who condemned Sinner after the news of the Italian’s Clostebol-positive tests broke, spoke out against Iga Swiatek as well.
Nick Kyrgios aired his frustrations amid Iga Swiatek’s doping row
News of Iga Swiatek testing positive for TMZ did not sit well with Nick Kyrgios, who took to X (formerly Twitter) and shared multiple posts, criticizing the state of tennis and sport looks