Nearly 90% of all entrants in the Paris Olympics have been tested this year as part of a pre-Games anti-doping program, the ITA said on Wednesday. Though, US anti-doping chief Travis Tygart accused Olympic bosses of "stooping to threats" after they awarded the 2034 Winter Games to Salt Lake City on Wednesday but warned US authorities to get in line.

The success of Salt Lake's bid was a foregone conclusion given the Utah city, which hosted the Games in 2002, was the only candidate. Though in a dramatic twist shortly before members of the International Olympic Committee approved the bid by 83 votes to six, Olympic chiefs warned the decision could be reversed if US lawmakers and the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) were not brought into line.

John Coates, chairman of the IOC's legal commission, said the host city contract confirming Salt Lake's right to stage the Games had been altered to allow the IOC to take them away if US authorities did not respect the "supreme authority" of the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA.

Speaking in Paris ahead of the opening of the Games on Friday, Coates said it was "a must, and I stress the word must" for the US authorities to respect WADA.

"The IOC has reinforced the current language of the Olympic host contract in order to protect the integrity of the international anti-doping system and to allow the IOC to terminate, the Olympic host contract in cases where the supreme authority of the World Anti-Doping Agency, is not fully respected or if the application of the World Anti-Doping code is hindered or undermined," Coates said.

The warning stunned seasoned observers of the IOC and sports politics, and USADA has been a vocal critic of WADA over the past decade. That’s why tensions spiked this year after reports in April said 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, but were cleared to compete at the Games. 

Tygart has consistently accused WADA of covering up the cases, which China blamed on unintentional food contamination, and now,  eleven of the 23 Chinese swimmers are in Paris.

WADA, condemned by Tygart

In an angry statement, Tygart again condemned WADA's handling of the case of the Chinese swimmers and lashed out at the conditions of the agreement for Salt Lake to host in 2034.

"It is shocking to see the IOC itself stooping to threats in an apparent effort to silence those seeking answers to what are now known as facts," he said, and added that “it seems more apparent than ever that WADA violated the rules (over the Chinese swimmers) and needs accountability and reform to truly be the global watchdog that clean athletes need”.

"Today's demonstration further showed that as it stands today, WADA is just a sport lapdog, and clean athletes have little chance”, he added.

What does the ITA says?

ITA said it had conducted more than 32,600 doping controls this year, an increase of around 45% on tests of athletes in the previous six months. It revealed the testing "led to over 85 cases of potential anti-doping rule violations, resulting in many sanctions and cases that are still ongoing or under review." The agency said it had focused on 'high-risk disciplines' in which 75 per cent of Olympic entrants had been tested at least three times.

ITA statistics suggest Chinese athletes have been particularly targeted by testers as doping controversy continues to swirl in Paris following the revelation, in April, that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive ahead of the Tokyo Games three years ago but WADA accepted that they were victims of food contamination.

The testing agency's stats for the top 25 national delegations show that 98 per cent of Chinese Olympic competitors have been tested multiple times this year. Only the Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) from Russia and Belarus and Hungarians come close, both at 97%.

World Aquatics said on Tuesday that Chinese swimmers competing in Paris have been tested "on average 21 times each since January 1", compared to six times for the Americans, five for the Italians, four for the Australians, British and French.