The Biden administration’s top drug official called on Monday for an independent investigation into how Chinese and global antidoping authorities decided to clear 23 elite Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned drug months before the Summer Olympics in 2021.

拜登政府最高毒品官员周一呼吁，就中国和全球的反兴奋剂机构在2021年夏季奥运会前几个月不追究23名违禁药物检测呈阳性的中国顶尖游泳运动员一事，展开独立调查。

The official, Rahul Gupta, who is the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said that he planned to bring up the handling of the positive tests during a two-day meeting of sports ministers in Washington. Top members of the World Anti-Doping Agency are scheduled to attend the event, which starts Thursday.

这位官员是国家毒品管制政策办公室主任拉胡尔·古普塔，他表示，计划在为期两天的华盛顿体育部长会议上提出此事。世界反兴奋剂组织(WADA)高层计划参加本周四开始的会议。

“The United States stands by its commitment to ensure that every American athlete and those across the globe are provided a level playing field and a fair shot in international athletic competitions,” Dr. Gupta said in response to questions from The New York Times. “There must be rigorous, independent investigations to look into any incident of potential wrongdoing.”

“美国坚守自己的承诺，确保每名美国运动员和世界各地的运动员都能在国际赛事中获得公平的竞争环境和机会，”古普塔在回答《纽约时报》的提问时说。“必须进行严格、独立的调查，看看是否存在任何不当行为。”

Dr. Gupta is a member of the WADA executive committee, but he and his staff had not been briefed about the case involving the swimmers until Friday, according to a statement from his office. The next day, an investigation in The Times revealed the swimmers’ positive tests for a banned heart drug, trimetazidine, or TMZ, and the response to them by national and global antidoping officials.

古普塔是世界反兴奋剂组织执行委员会的成员，但根据他办公室的一份声明，他和他的团队直到上周五才被告知此事。次日，时报的一篇调查报道披露了这些游泳运动员对禁用的心脏药物曲美他嗪(TMZ)的检测呈阳性，以及各国和全球反兴奋剂官员对此事的反应。

The 23 Chinese swimmers were never suspended nor publicly identified before the Summer Olympics; at those Tokyo Games, they accounted for five medals, including three golds. The discovery that they had tested positive for TMZ but still competed prompted angry reactions from Olympians who raced against some of them, and charges of a coverup from others in the antidoping movement.

在夏季奥运会之前，这23名中国游泳运动员始终没被禁赛，也未公开披露过他们的身份；在东京奥运会上，他们获得了五枚奖牌，其中包括三枚金牌。他们的TMZ药检结果呈阳性，但仍参加了比赛，这引发了与其中一些人比赛的奥运选手的愤怒反应，以及反兴奋剂运动中的其他人对掩盖行为的指控。

The call for an investigation from Dr. Gupta came as WADA held a video call with reporters to try to stem the fallout from the disclosure about the positive tests. In a virtual news conference that lasted nearly two hours, senior WADA officials and the organization’s top legal official repeatedly defended the handling of the case.

古普塔发出呼吁的同时，WADA举行了视频新闻发布会，试图平息此事的负面影响。在持续近两小时的虚拟新闻发布会上，WADA的高层官员和该组织的首席法务官多次为此案的处理进行辩护。

“If we had to do it over again now,” the WADA president Witold Banka said, “we would do exactly the same thing.”

WADA主席维托尔德·班卡表示：“如果现在我们不得不再做一次，我们还是会采取完全相同的做法。”

Still, WADA acknowledged that its own protocols had not been followed in the case, confirming that, because of the pandemic, no hearings had been held with the affected swimmers to inquire about how the drug might have entered their systems. WADA said that it had decided not to appeal the Chinese decisions — including to not suspend the swimmers, as many antidoping experts said WADA should have — because the swimmers would have ultimately been cleared of any wrongdoing based on the available evidence.

不过，WADA也承认，此案未遵循该机构现有程序，并证实由于疫情的缘故，没有给受影响的游泳运动员举行听证会，询问药物是如何进入他们体内的。WADA表示，它已决定不挑战中国的决定，因为现有证据最终会证明这些游泳运动员不存在任何不当行为。中国的决定包括不对这些游泳运动员做停赛处理，而许多反兴奋剂专家认为WADA应该让他们停赛。

就在拉胡尔·古普塔博士发出呼吁展开独立调查的同时，国际反兴奋剂组织举行了视频记者会，试图平息此事造成的负面影响。

And WADA reaffirmed that its officials had accepted — without independent verification — the findings of investigators from China’s state security services, who reported finding traces of the drug in a hotel kitchen but did not determine how it had gotten there.

此外，WADA重申，该机构官员已经接受了来自中国公安部门的调查结果（在没有独立进行核实的情况下），后者报告称，在一家酒店厨房发现了这种药物的痕迹，但并没有确定药物是如何出现在那里的。

To bolster their argument, WADA officials detailed what they said were extensive research and scientific reviews, including the engaging of trimetazidine’s original manufacturer to obtain nonpublic information from the company about the drug’s excretion periods — the time it takes to pass out of a human’s system.

为了支持他们的论点，WADA的官员还详细介绍了其所谓的广泛研究和科学评估，包括与曲美他嗪的原研制造商接触，从该公司获得了这款药物从身体系统排出所需时间的非公开信息。

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, meanwhile, responded to a question about the positive tests at a news conference on Monday by declaring the reporting “false information and reporting.”

与此同时，中国外交部发言人在周一的新闻发布会上回应了相关提问，称其为“不实报道”。

The statements by top government officials — Germany’s sports minister has also called for an investigation after the public broadcaster ARD aired a documentary on the case — could make for an awkward two days of meetings this week in Washington.

政府高官的声明——德国体育部长在公共广播公司ARD播放了有关此案的纪录片后也呼吁进行调查——可能会使本周在华盛顿举行的为期两天的会议变得有些尴尬。

That event, the annual convening of the Americas Sports Council, known by its Spanish acronym, CADE, brings together representatives from more than 40 countries and guests from across sports.

这次会议是美洲体育理事会(CADE)的年度会议，汇集来自40多个国家的代表以及体育各界的嘉宾。

Among the officials scheduled to give presentations are Banka, the WADA president, and the organization’s No. 3 official, Olivier Niggli.

计划发表演讲的官员包括WADA主席班卡和该组织的三号人物奥利维尔·尼格利。

An email obtained by The Times shows that by April 2021 Niggli had been copied on an email about how the Chinese swimmers had tested positive. By that point, the Chinese had decided not to hold hearings or provisionally suspend the athletes, as antidoping experts have contended they should have.

时报获得的一封电子邮件显示，在2021年4月前，尼格利被抄送了一封关于中国游泳运动员检测结果呈阳性的电子邮件。在那个时候，中国已经决定不举行听证会或暂时禁赛，而反兴奋剂专家主张那样做。

The email — sent by an official at the Chinese antidoping agency, Chinada — was addressed to WADA’s director of legal affairs, Julien Sieveking. Mr. Niggli, who as director general serves as the agency’s top administrator, was copied on it.

这封电子邮件是由中国反兴奋剂中心的一名官员发出的，收件人是WADA的法务主管朱利安·西夫金。作为该机构总干事的尼格利也被抄送了邮件。

As recently as March, Dr. Gupta spoke in glowing terms about WADA’s work in reforming itself in the wake of state-sponsored doping by Russia. But he cautioned about the ongoing risk of bad actors trying to undermine the global antidoping system.

就在今年3月，古普塔还对WADA在俄罗斯国家支持兴奋剂事件之后的自我改革工作给予了赞赏。但他也警告，不良分子破坏全球反兴奋剂体系的风险仍然继续存在。

“The efforts to reform and improve how WADA operates must continue,” Mr. Gupta said at an event hosted by the agency in Switzerland, after accepting an award on behalf of the public authorities — national governments — that contribute half of WADA’s budget. The United States is the highest single payer.

“改革和改善WADA运作方式的努力必须继续下去，”古普塔在该机构于瑞士举办的一次活动上说，当时他代表各国政府机构接受了一个奖项，这些机构为WADA的预算提供了一半资金。美国是最高的单一出资国。

“WADA must stay ahead of this evolving threat because so much is at stake: from national pride to a great deal of money for victors and the dream of children around the world,” Dr. Gupta said.

古普塔表示：“面对不断演变的威胁，WADA一定不能落在后面，因为这事关重大：从国家荣誉到胜利者获得的巨额奖金，以及全世界儿童的梦想。”