The World Anti-Doping Agency has "come under fire" for taking five years to begin investigating allegations of systematic doping in China that were first made by a whistleblower in '12, according to Sean Ingle of the London GUARDIAN. On Sunday, Chinese doctor Xue Yinxian told German broadcaster ARD that "more than 10,000 Chinese athletes had used banned substances" during the '80s and '90s, including every medal winner in every major championships. WADA has referred those claims to its intelligence unit "for scrutiny." However, WADA’s critics pointed out that Xue, whose roles included chief medical supervisor for the Chinese gymnastics team, "made similar claims" in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald in '12, when she described doping in China as "rampant in the 1980s" and said that anyone who rejected drugs "would face punishment or criticism." Former Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission Head Renee-Anne Shirley wrote on Twitter, "Dr Xue made these accusations in 2012 but Wada did nothing about them then. Guess they only move when ARD TV does a documentary?" Shirley also criticized the IAAF for what she called its "wimpy" response to a letter published in February from Chinese athletes linked to "controversial" track coach Ma Junren, whose athletes broke 66 national and world records, which said that they had "been forced to take performance-enhancing drugs" (GUARDIAN, 10/23).
