The World Anti-Doping Agency on Tuesday cleared itself of wrongdoing over its decision not to discipline elite Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned drug in the lead-up to the previous Summer Olympics, even as new details emerged that raised questions about how it had handled the decision.

週二，世界反興奮劑機構宣布該機構對於上屆夏季奧運會前藥檢陽性的中國優秀游泳運動員做出不予處罰的決定不存在過錯。儘管此前有新細節浮出水面，引發了對該機構如何做出這一決定的質疑。

A special prosecutor appointed by the antidoping agency, known as WADA, to review its decision said he had found that the agency made an “indisputably reasonable” decision not to impose penalties on the swimmers, and concluded that the agency had not shown preferential treatment to China.

世界反興奮劑機構任命的一名特別檢察官負責審查其決定，他表示，他認為該機構令這些游泳運動員免受處罰是一個「無可爭議的合理」決定，並得出結論，認為該機構沒有偏袒中國。

But in an annex to his report, the prosecutor noted that two top scientists at the agency said they had difficulty believing China’s claim that the swimmers had been unwittingly contaminated.

但在其報告的附件中，檢察官指出，該機構的兩名頂級科學家表示，他們很難相信中國聲稱游泳運動員是在無意中受到污染的說法。

WADA’s decision to clear itself of wrongdoing is unlikely to satisfy antidoping experts and other critics — particularly those in the United States — who have contended that the investigator, Eric Cottier, was handpicked by agency officials and that the doping regulator, along with the Chinese, covered up the positive tests in 2021.

世界反興奮劑機構澄清自己不存在不當行為的決定，恐怕難以讓反興奮劑專家和其他批評人士滿意，尤其是美國的批評人士。他們認為，調查員埃里克·科蒂埃是由該機構官員特意挑選出來的，而該興奮劑監管機構和中國一起掩蓋了2021年的陽性檢測結果。

The announcement came five days after it was revealed that the Justice Department and F.B.I. had opened a criminal investigation into how the positive tests were handled. And it emerged a little more than two months after The New York Times revealed that 23 top Chinese swimmers all tested positive for the same banned heart medication months before the 2021 Summer Games in Tokyo.

在宣布這一消息的五天前，有消息披露，司法部和聯邦調查局已經對陽性檢測結果的處理方式展開了刑事調查。兩個多月前，《紐約時報》披露，在2021年東京夏季奧運會前幾個月，23名中國頂級游泳運動員的心臟藥物檢測結果均呈陽性。

China’s antidoping agency blamed a mass contamination incident for the positives, in which the swimmers, it said, unwittingly ingested the banned drug trimetazidine, known as TMZ, after eating food served at a hotel where they were staying for a meet.

中國的反興奮劑機構將藥檢結果呈陽性的原因歸咎於一起大規模污染事件。該機構表示，在這起事件中，游泳運動員在參加比賽時下榻的一家酒店食用了酒店供應的食物後，無意中攝入了違禁藥物曲美他嗪。

Despite being unable to prove how or why the swimmers ingested the drug, WADA — which is supposed to be the backstop when countries fail to properly police their own athletes — essentially took the Chinese explanation at face value when it declined to conduct its own investigation or discipline the athletes.

儘管無法證明這些游泳運動員如何或為何攝入這種藥物，但世界反興奮劑機構本應在各國未能妥善管理本國運動員時充當最後防線，但該機構卻基本接受了中國的一面之辭，拒絕進行自己的調查或對運動員進行處分。

The lack of punishment paved the way for some of the Chinese swimmers to win medals — including three golds — at the Tokyo Olympics. Eleven of the 23 swimmers who tested positive are on the Chinese team set to compete in the Paris Games this month. Several are once again favorites to win medals.

免於受罰為一些中國游泳運動員在東京奧運會上贏得獎牌鋪平了道路，其中包括三枚金牌。23名藥檢結果呈陽性的游泳運動員中，有11人是參加本月巴黎奧運會的中國隊成員。有幾個人再次成為獎牌熱門人選。

In announcing the prosecutor’s findings, the head of WADA said the agency would now turn its attention to targeting those who, it said, had defamed the agency.

在宣布檢察官的調查結果時，世界反興奮劑機構負責人表示，該機構現在將把注意力轉向那些誹謗該機構的人。

“Now that it has been confirmed by the independent prosecutor that there was no impropriety connected to WADA’s handling of the case, the agency will consider with external legal counsel what measures can be taken against those that have made untrue and potentially defamatory allegations,” WADA’s president, Witold Banka, said.

世界反興奮劑機構主席維托爾德·班卡表示：「既然獨立檢察官已經確認，世界反興奮劑機構對此案的處理不存在不當行為，該機構將與外部法律顧問一起，考慮對那些提出不實、可能具有誹謗性指控的人採取何種措施。」

He charged that news reports and accusations of a coverup “have been extremely damaging to WADA’s reputation and to the confidence and trust that athletes and other stakeholders have in the agency and in the global antidoping system.”

他指責說，有關掩蓋事實的報導和指控「極大地損害了世界反興奮劑機構的聲譽，損害了運動員和其他利益相關者對該機構和全球反興奮劑體系的信心和信任」。

Mr. Cottier’s investigation was limited in its scope. It did not, for example, study how China originally handled the cases and the information it relied upon to clear its swimmers. And the report he delivered is only in an interim form; a final version will not be completed and published before the start of the Paris Olympics, WADA said, even though some of the Chinese swimmers involved in the doping case — including several who have tested positive more than once without punishment — will compete in them.

科蒂埃的調查範圍有限。例如，他的調查沒有探究中國最初如何處理這些案件的，也沒有對中國為洗脫那些游泳運動員的罪名所用的信息予以研究。他提交的報告只是一份初步報告；世界反興奮劑機構表示，報告的最終版本不會在巴黎奧運會開始前完成公布，儘管涉及興奮劑案的一些中國游泳運動員將參加比賽，其中包括幾名多次檢測結果呈陽性而未受到處罰的運動員。

WADA’s director general, Olivier Niggli, said the final report would be completed “in the coming weeks” and then discussed with the agency’s governing board in September. “We understand that it will contain recommendations aimed at strengthening the global antidoping system, which we welcome,” he said.

世界反興奮劑機構總幹事奧利維爾·尼格利表示，最終報告將在「未來幾週內」完成，然後在9月份與該機構的管理委員會進行討論。他說：「我們清楚，報告將包含旨在加強全球反興奮劑體系的建議，我們對此表示歡迎。」

As part of its announcement on Tuesday, WADA released Mr. Cottier’s report and an annex to it. Included in the annex were details of internal discussions between two of WADA’s top scientists in 2021, as the agency grappled with how to deal with the positive tests in China.

作為週二聲明的一部分，世界反興奮劑機構公布了科蒂埃的報告及其附件。附件中包含了世界反興奮劑機構兩名頂級科學家在2021年進行內部討論的細節，當時該機構正在努力研究如何處理中國的陽性檢測結果。

According to the annex, WADA’s chief scientist, Olivier Rabin, said that he had doubts about the science behind the Chinese claims of contamination and “that the Chinese had not found, among the kitchen or hotel staff, a person taking TMZ.”

根據附件，世界反興奮劑機構的首席科學家奧利維爾·拉賓說，他對中國聲稱的污染背後的科學依據持懷疑態度，「中國在廚房或酒店員工中沒有發現服用曲美他嗪的人」。

WADA’s top scientist responsible for its banned substances list, Irene Mazzoni, said she had expressed “her difficulty in believing in the contamination due to the minimal doses found in the kitchen” where the drug had been found, according to the report.

根據該報告，世界反興奮劑機構負責制定禁用物質清單的首席科學家艾琳·馬佐尼說，當時她曾表示「由於在廚房發現的藥物劑量極小，她很難相信污染說」。

But both scientists said they had no choice but to accept WADA’s decision because they could not disprove the Chinese claims.

但兩位科學家都表示，他們別無選擇，只能接受世界反興奮劑機構的決定，因為他們無法反駁中國的說法。

Mr. Rabin “saw no other solution than to accept it, even if he continued to have doubts about the reality of contamination as described by the Chinese authorities,” according to the report.

根據該報告，拉賓認為「除了接受，別無選擇，即使他仍然對中國當局所描述的受污染的真實性表示懷疑」。

The choice of Mr. Cottier to conduct the investigation drew criticism from the start. A former attorney general of Vaud, a Swiss region that for years has been the center of international sports as home to several governing bodies, he had close links to WADA and Olympic officials. He had been nominated to lead the investigation by the official who was in charge of auditing WADA’s intelligence and investigations department at the time the Chinese swimmers tested positive.

選擇科蒂埃進行調查從一開始就招來了批評。科蒂埃曾任沃州總檢察長，與世界反興奮劑機構和奧林匹克官員關係密切。沃州是瑞士的一個地區，多年來一直是國際體育運動的中心，也是多個管理機構的所在地。在中國游泳運動員興奮劑檢測呈陽性時，負責審查世界反興奮劑機構情報和調查部門的官員提名他領導調查。

The auditor, Jacques Antenen, served as Vaud’s police chief under Mr. Cottier when the latter was Vaud’s attorney general. In a telephone interview on May 3, Mr. Antenen said he had contacted Mr. Niggli, WADA’s most senior administrator, in the days after the disclosure of the positive tests to suggest that Mr. Cottier might be a good choice to lead any investigation.

審計員雅克·安特南曾在科蒂埃任沃州司法部長期間在科蒂埃手下擔任沃州警察局長。在5月3日的電話採訪中，安特南表示，興奮劑檢測結果呈陽性這一消息披露後的幾天裡，他曾聯繫過世界反興奮劑機構最高級別的管理者尼格利，建議由科蒂埃來領導有關調查。

“I didn’t recommend him; I just said if you need someone, it’s a good choice,” Mr. Antenen said. He said he did not know if others had been considered for the role.

「我沒有推薦他；我只是說，如果你需要人，這是個不錯的選擇，」安特南說。他說，他不知道該機構是否考慮過其他人來擔任這個角色。

WADA reacted angrily when questions about Mr. Cottier’s independence were first raised, saying that “attempts to slur the integrity of a highly regarded professional just as he begins his work are getting more and more ridiculous and are designed to undermine the process.”

當人們首次對科蒂埃的獨立性提出質疑時，世界反興奮劑機構做出了憤怒的反應，稱「一位備受推崇的專業人士剛剛開始工作，就有人試圖詆毀他的誠信，這種做法越來越荒謬，其目的是破壞工作進程」。