Paris 2024: WADA defend their handling of Chinese swimmers case

World Anti-Doping Agency officials have defended their handling of the doping case involving 23 Chinese swimmers and denied it has cast a shadow over the start of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

WADA president Witold Banka told a news conference in the French capital that the findings from an independent prosecutor "could not be any clearer", but added that the case could be revisited if new evidence came to light.

Seven-time Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel was the latest to criticise the process on Wednesday, when asked if he retained any confidence in competing on a level playing field in Paris in light of the ongoing controversy.

"Not really," replied Dressel. "I don't think they've really given us enough evidence to support how this case was handled."

Eleven of the swimmers involved have been selected for the Chinese team for Paris. They were cleared to compete on the basis of a finding by the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency that they had unknowingly ingested the drug via contaminated food.

However, that conclusion has been criticised by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), and questioned by the German broadcast network ARD, which claims to have unearthed new evidence that proves the Chinese version of events in relation to the time and date of the alleged incident could not have happened.

Banka said: "The independent prosecutor delivered his report and I think his conclusions couldn't be any clearer. It's obvious from the legal perspective that everything we've done in this case was in accordance with the standards."

Referencing the alleged new evidence, WADA director general Olivier Niggli rejected the suggestion that the case was a closed door, nor that the process ought to have been expediated in order to protect the integrity of the