The World Anti-Doping Agency’s executive board on Thursday eagerly embraced a report that validated its decision to clear 23 elite Chinese swimmers of doping, even as the report’s author pointed out Chinese officials had violated established rules in their handling of the incident.

世界反兴奋剂机构执委会周四急切地认可了一份报告，该报告确认该机构洗脱23名中国优秀游泳运动员兴奋剂指控的决定是正确的，尽管报告作者指出，中国官员在处理该事件时违反了既定规则。

The final report, written by a Swiss prosecutor, Eric Cottier, who was handpicked by WADA, effectively absolved the global antidoping regulator of wrongdoing in its handling of the Chinese case, which had drawn scorn from Olympic athletes, prompted skepticism from global antidoping experts and sparked a bitter feud with the Biden administration.

最终报告由世界反兴奋剂机构（简称WADA）钦点的瑞士检察官埃里克·科蒂埃撰写，实际上认定全球反兴奋剂监管机构在处理中国兴奋剂案时不存在不当行为。WADA的处理方式曾招致奥运会运动员的蔑视，引发全球反兴奋剂专家的质疑以及一场与拜登政府的激烈争执。

The decision to quietly clear the athletes, without ever revealing their positive tests, had hung like a cloud over the pool deck at the Paris Olympics and raised broader concerns over the efficacy of the global antidoping system.

悄悄为运动员洗脱罪名、不透露他们的兴奋剂阳性检测结果的决定就像一片阴云笼罩着巴黎奥运会的游泳馆，引发了人们对全球反兴奋剂体系效力的更广泛担忧。

Mr. Cottier also concluded that there had been no bias toward China in the handling of the swimmers’ cases. And he appeared to dismiss reporting by The New York Times and other organizations that has challenged WADA’s actions in multiple so-called mass contamination events involving Chinese swimmers while simultaneously recommending that antidoping officials move to tighten their rules and processes related to such cases.

科蒂埃还得出结论，在对游泳运动员用药案件的处理上不存在偏袒中国。他似乎对《纽约时报》和其他组织的报道不以为然，这些报道对WADA在多起涉及中国游泳运动员的所谓大规模污染事件中的行为提出了质疑，同时建议反兴奋剂官员收紧与此类案件相关的规则和程序。

Yet the report provided no definitive conclusion to the underlying question of doping by Chinese athletes, and nothing to assuage fears of a conspiracy that continues to proliferate in elite swimming. “The sense of justice or injustice,” the report said, “goes far beyond the scope of this investigation.”

然而，报告并没有对中国运动员使用兴奋剂的根本问题给出明确的结论，也没有缓解人们对高水平游泳运动普遍存在的一种阴谋的担忧。报告称，“公正感或不公正感远远超出了本次调查的范围。”

Controversy and uncertainty had hovered over the board meeting at a Turkish resort amid attempts to bar a Biden administration official who sits on the WADA board from any discussions of the Chinese case. That battle began after an anonymous complaint charged that the official, Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, had a conflict of interest because the F.B.I. has begun investigation into the swimming cases.

在土耳其一处度假胜地举行的理事会会议始终笼罩着争议和不确定性，理事会此前试图禁止拜登政府的一位官员——同时也是理事会成员——参与有关中国事件的任何讨论。这场斗争始于一份匿名投诉，指控美国国家药物管制政策办公室主任拉胡尔·古普塔存在利益冲突，因为美国联邦调查局已经开始调查游泳事件。

拉胡尔·古普塔博士，摄于2022年。

In the end Dr. Gupta, who is on the board as the representative of more than 40 countries in the Americas, was allowed to participate, but only after two days of tense discussions on the eve of the board meeting led to WADA leaders withdrawing the allegations against him.

作为美洲40多个国家的代表，古普塔最终被允许参加会议，但在理事会会议前夕，经过两天的紧张讨论，WADA的领导人才撤回了对他的指控。

Dr. Gupta — who arrived at the meetings with government lawyers and the head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, Travis Tygart, prepared to take up his cause — had already won the backing of the leaders of the other regional blocs. Those public bodies make up half of WADA’s board and contribute a similar amount of its funding.

与政府律师和美国反兴奋剂机构负责人特拉维斯·泰加特一同参会的古普塔准备继续他的斗争。他已经赢得了其他地区集团领导人的支持。这些公共机构占了WADA理事会的一半，提供的经费占比也差不多是一半。

The Chinese case has seriously harmed WADA’s reputation among many of its stakeholders, but the agency retains backing of the International Olympic Committee, whose representatives were involved in the talks that headed off a confrontation with the Americans at the board meeting.

中国的案件严重损害了WADA在许多利益相关者中的声誉，但该机构仍得到了国际奥委会的支持。奥委会代表参与了会前的商谈，以避免在会议上与美国人发生冲突。

The Chinese doping cases had been kept secret until April, when The Times revealed that about two dozen of China’s best swimmers had all tested positive for the same banned heart drug at a domestic meet in early 2021. The swimmers were quietly cleared of wrongdoing by Chinese investigators, who blamed their cases on a contaminated hotel kitchen. WADA accepted the Chinese version of events and did not undertake its own investigation, allowing several of them to the compete in — and win medals at — both the Tokyo and Paris Olympics.

中国的兴奋剂案件一直秘而不宣，直到今年4月，《纽约时报》披露，在2021年初的一次国内比赛中，23名中国最优秀的游泳运动员对一种被禁用的心脏药物的检测均呈阳性。这些选手被悄悄认定为不存在不当行为，中国调查人员将他们的案件归咎于酒店厨房受污染。世界反兴奋剂机构接受了中国的说法，没有进行自己的调查，并允许其中几名运动员参加东京和巴黎奥运会，并获得奖牌。

Mr. Cottier had telegraphed his conclusions in the case in July, when he released an interim version of his report on the eve of the Paris Olympics that found no wrongdoing by WADA.

今年7月，科蒂埃在巴黎奥运会前夕发布了一份临时报告，认定世界反兴奋剂机构没有任何不当行为。

In the final version released on Thursday, Mr. Cottier rebuked one player in the case, China’s national antidoping agency, but said its actions had no effect on his findings. “As far as the Chinese agency is concerned, it is clear that certain rules of the World Anti-Doping Code have not been applied,” he wrote. “This is regrettable, but in the end, it does not change the outcome of the cases and the acceptance of the contamination hypothesis.”

在周四公布的最终版本中，科蒂埃指责了案件中的一个参与者，即中国的国家反兴奋剂机构，但他表示，该机构的行动对他的调查结果没有影响。“就中国机构而言，很明显，《世界反兴奋剂条例》的某些规定没有得到执行，”他写道。“这令人遗憾，但最终，它不会改变案件的结果，也不会改变对污染假设的接受。”

Still, parts of the 56-page report are likely to raise yet more concerns about WADA’s conduct. It found that the group’s internal investigations department “was not involved in the handling of the case” from March 2021, when the Chinese first revealed the positive tests to WADA, through to August of that year, by which time the investigation was closed.

尽管如此，这份56页的报告的部分内容可能会引发人们对WADA的更多担忧。报告发现从2021年3月中国首次向世界反兴奋剂机构透露药检结果呈阳性，到当年8月调查结束，WADA的内部调查部门“没有参与此案的处理”。

Critics like the head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, Travis Tygart, noted that Mr. Cottier’s mandate meant he had to accept “the same facts WADA accepted without doing any independent investigation.” Despite those limits, Mr. Tygart said, “This report validates the concerns we have had that WADA allowed China to have special treatment under the rules.”

美国反兴奋剂机构负责人特拉维斯·泰加特等批评人士指出，科蒂埃的任务意味着他必须接受“WADA在没有进行任何独立调查的情况下接受的事实”。尽管存在这些限制，泰加特说，“这份报告证实了我们的担忧，即世界反兴奋剂机构允许中国在规则下获得特殊待遇。”

瑞士检察官埃里克·科蒂埃今年早些时候受聘调查世界反兴奋剂机构对中国兴奋剂案件的处理。

Dr. Gupta and others were able to ask questions of Mr. Cottier on Thursday. But representatives of public bodies on the WADA board said they were unable to commit to a final position and asked for more time to study the document.

周四，古普塔和其他人可以向科蒂埃提问。但WADA理事会中的公共机构的代表表示，他们无法承诺最终立场，并要求更多时间来研究这份文件。

The publication of the report is unlikely to bring the type of closure WADA’s embattled leadership is seeking. The criminal investigation in the U.S. remains ongoing, and Congress has also been asking searching questions of the agency. Both have cited a law that grants U.S. officials the authority to criminally prosecute coaches, trainers, doctors and sports officials involved in facilitating doping, even if their actions took place outside the United States.

该报告的发布不太可能带来陷入困境的WADA领导层所寻求的那种结案。美国的刑事调查仍在进行中，国会也一直在向该机构提出尖锐的问题。两者都援引了一项法律，该法律赋予美国官员对参与协助使用兴奋剂的教练、训练员、医生和体育官员进行刑事起诉的权力，即使他们的行为发生在美国境外。

That law has infuriated global sports officials, who have long feared both prosecution in the U.S. and the introduction of similar laws elsewhere.

这项法律激怒了全球体育官员，他们长期以来一直担心在美国受到起诉，也担心其他地方出台类似的法律。

The back and forth has led to the relationship between the antidoping body and the United States, its biggest backer outside of the International Olympic Committee, coming close to falling apart entirely, with officials in the U.S. publicly talking about withdrawing funding and WADA increasingly vocal in its criticism of American doping policies.

这些你来我往导致WADA与美国之间的关系几乎完全破裂，美国官员公开谈论停止提供资金，而WADA对美国兴奋剂政策的批评也越来越直接。美国是该机构在国际奥委会之外最大的支持者。

Sports officials at the meeting and board members picked by the I.O.C. have in recent days pressed WADA’s management to improve its dialogue with its American partners. The United States will host the next summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028 and a coming Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2034.

参加会议的体育官员和国际奥委会挑选的理事会成员最近几天向WADA管理层施压，要求其改善与美国合作伙伴的对话。美国将于2028年在洛杉矶举办下一届夏季奥运会，并于2034年在盐湖城举办冬季奥运会。

At Thursday’s meeting, WADA board agreed to set up subcommittee that would turn the findings of Mr. Cottier’s report into policy changes. “This includes strengthening WADA’s internal processes,” it said in a statement.

在周四的会议上，WADA理事会同意成立一个小组委员会，将科蒂埃报告的结论转化为政策变化。该机构在一份声明中表示：“这包括加强世界反兴奋剂机构的内部流程。”

Officials also discussed the need for WADA to strengthen its approach to crisis management and communication. Since the story of the Chinese tests first broke in April, WADA has repeatedly released fiery statements aimed at both the news media and persistent critics like the United States Antidoping Agency.

官员们还讨论了WADA加强危机管理和沟通方法的必要性。自今年4月中国兴奋剂检测的消息首次曝光以来，WADA多次发表措辞激烈的声明，针对新闻媒体和美国反兴奋剂机构等顽固的批评者。

That edginess was apparent in Turkey, where WADA’s director of communications, Catherine Maclean, asked that a New York Times reporter leave the luxury resort where the meeting was being held, and where a one-night stay can cost more than $1,500.

这种紧张气氛在土耳其表现得很明显。在那里，WADA的通讯主管凯瑟琳·麦克林要求《纽约时报》的一名记者离开举办会议的豪华度假村，那里的客房每晚费用可达1500美元以上。

Marcos Diaz, a former member of the WADA executive committee, expressed surprise that the news media were barred from the board meeting, explaining that even during the height of a recent Russian doping scandal there was “space for the press.”

前WADA执行委员会成员马科斯·迪亚兹对新闻媒体被禁止采访理事会会议表示惊讶，他解释说，即使在近年俄罗斯兴奋剂丑闻最严重的时候，也有“媒体的空间”。

“It will raise questions,” Mr. Diaz said. “We believe as people from public service, people from government, we must be transparent.”

“这会引发问题，”迪亚兹说。“我们相信，作为公共服务部门的人，作为政府的人，我们必须做到透明。”