WARSAW (Xinhua) - World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President Witold Banka has vowed to continue speaking out forcefully about what he sees as serious flaws in the American anti-doping system, following his re-election to a third and final term as head of the global watchdog.
Banka, a former Polish sprinter and Minister of Sport and Tourism, along with China’s former Winter Olympic champion Yang Yang, was re-elected during a virtual Foundation Board meeting on Thursday.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) later, in a social media post, called it the “ultimate ‘bait and switch,’ first promising governance reforms following the Russian anti-doping scandal and then quietly changing the rules the second the world looked away.”
On Friday, WADA’s president responded to USADA’s criticism.
Banka and Yang were originally elected as WADA’s president and vice president at the 2019 World Conference on Doping in Sport. Both will begin their new three-year terms on Jan. 1, 2026, and serve until Dec 31, 2028.