USADA acquittal raises questions: New doping discussions about Paralympic star Townsend

USADA chief Travis Tygart is the harshest critic of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which cleared 23 Chinese swimmers of wrongdoing in 2021. With the 2024 Paralympics in Paris underway, Tygart and USADA will now have to answer uncomfortable questions about a current doping case against a prominent US athlete.

Roderick Townsend has been one of the stars of the Paralympics for nearly a decade. On Sunday night, the 32-year-old American athlete effortlessly won gold in the high jump for athletes with upper limb disabilities. It is Townsend's third consecutive gold medal in the event, and he has another chance at Paralympic glory on Tuesday. Townsend is one of the favorites in the long jump, an event he previously won in Rio 2016.

Townsend's presence in Paris is controversial, however. At the beginning of the year, Townsend was acquitted of all charges by the USADA after he failed a doping test for the growth hormone stimulant campromorelin – despite his truly surprising defense. Now a new investigation by the ARD doping editorial team is raising uncomfortable questions for both Townsend and the USADA.

Syringe from a dead dog used

After testing positive for capromorelin in an in-competition test in Arizona last November, Townsend denied knowingly doping to USADA investigators. Townsend stated that the reason for his positive drug test was due to animal medication he had given to his sick dog, Winnie.

Townsend said he gave Winnie animal medication using an oral syringe, but saved the syringe after his dog sadly died. He then used the syringe himself to take vitamin supplements. Townsend was unaware that residue from Winnie's animal medication remained in the syringe, causing a positive test result.

USADA accepted Townsend's defense and cleared him to continue competing in the upcoming Paralympics in Paris. “We obviously questioned and investigated everything. We only found traces of the substance and the athlete presented certified documents from his veterinarian. We did what we had to do and based on the evidence, it was clearly a case of innocent contamination with a veterinary drug,” Tygart told the ARD doping editorial team. The case was not brought before an independent arbitration panel because, according to Tygart, the arbitrators would obviously have come to the same conclusion.

Townsend worked with proponents of doping substances

However, research by ARD raises doubts about the USADA decision. Social media posts show that Townsend worked with fitness trainer Justin King, a former bodybuilder, shortly before his positive test – according to a video on his own YouTube channel, King is considered a supporter of doping substances such as growth hormones and steroids.

“Growth hormones are actually an extremely useful thing […] for many different tissues in the body,” King said. “Steroids can be great, both in terms of long-term and short-term effects.” King also says that WADA has wrongly demonized steroids. “They're not this horrible stuff that kills you,” King told his YouTube subscribers. “It's not the way WADA portrays it.” When asked for comment by ARD, King strangely denied ever having said such a thing.

“Indications are not evidence”

According to an Instagram post, the ARD doping editorial team found out that King once worked for a company that sells therapies with growth hormone stimulators – the class of substances for which Townsend tested positive according to the WADA banned list. King confirmed to ARD that he was employed there as a fitness trainer, but had no other connection. Roderick Townsend did not respond to a request for comment.

USADA boss Travis Tygart claims that his organization knew about Townsend's “relationship” with King before clearing the Paralympic champion of any wrongdoing. The ARD doping department has presented its findings to USADA. “It's not necessarily fair to draw conclusions from someone when all the other evidence in the case, you know, points in a different direction,” said the USADA boss. Tygart ruled out a new investigation into the Townsend case.

The Townsend case has a political dimension

USADA's acquittal of Townsend, despite his unusual defense and his relationship with Justin King, is indeed surprising given the ongoing dispute between USADA and WADA over the Chinese doping scandal. In 2021, WADA accepted the results of an investigation conducted by the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) with the assistance of Chinese intelligence, which purported to determine that 23 Chinese swimmers had failed doping tests after eating contaminated food at their hotel.

After ARD and the New York Times uncovered the story in April, Tygart became WADA's most vocal critic. Tygart accused WADA of a cover-up that had subsequently led to a crisis of confidence in the global anti-doping system. Tygart stressed to ARD, however, that Townsend's cases were drastically different from the cases in China.

WADA has decided not to appeal

“We investigated the Townsend case. WADA did not investigate the cases in China. They did not interview the athletes. And most importantly, they did not disclose the cases. They completely swept them under the rug,” Tygart said. Tygart also stressed that WADA has decided not to appeal USADA's decision in the Townsend case.

What Tygart fails to mention is that there was also an investigation by CHINADA into the Chinese swimming cases, albeit an investigation that led to highly questionable results. But Tygart is right in saying that USADA handled the Townsend case more transparently than WADA and CHINADA did in the case of the 23 swimmers.

Roderick Townsend is no longer interested in this controversy, he has nothing to fear and is aiming for his second gold medal at the Paralympics on Tuesday at the Stade de France.