Tuesday saw WADA persistently rebuffing allegations made by USADA head Travis Tygart, who accused the organisation of concealing information regarding 23 Chinese swimmers testing positive for the prescription heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ), known to potentially enhance athletic performance. USADA reiterated its dissatisfaction with WADA's responses during Monday's press conference.

The USADA release said, "The selective and self-serving application of the rules we heard about yesterday destroys public trust in the authenticity and value of the Olympic and Paralympic Movement.

"Learning that different rules can be applied to different countries sours the commitment of those who are vital to its ongoing viability, including the world's best athletes, fans, sponsors, and the next generation of athletes."

On Sunday, the World Anti-Doping Agency slammed United States Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart for making "very serious allegations," saying: "Mr Tygart's allegations are politically motivated and designed to undermine WADA's work to protect clean sport around the world. WADA notes that the damaging comments have been made without any supporting evidence."

On Tuesday, WADA reaffirmed its stance on not contesting the findings of CHINADA, which concluded that the swimmers had unknowingly consumed the substance through contaminated food at a competition. This decision, accepted by the World Aquatics governing body, permitted the Chinese swimmers to participate in the Tokyo Olympics.

"At all stages of this case, WADA has acted with due diligence and according to the agreed process and rules of the World Anti-Doping Code. WADA reviewed this case professionally and thoroughly, both from a scientific and legal perspective. WADA had no evidence to challenge the environmental contamination scenario that led to CHINADA closing these cases in June 2021," WADA said on Tuesday.

Some of these Chinese swimmers won a medal at Tokyo 2020 and are ready to participate in the upcoming Olympics in Paris. While WADA had the option to escalate the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), WADA's President Witold Banka clarified that the organisation refrained from doing so due to the lack of substantial evidence to challenge CHINADA's determination.

"Indeed, WADA was advised by external counsel that it would lose any appeal at (CAS) based on such a challenge. So far, despite all the attention created around this story, nobody has been able to produce any evidence that would allow a successful prosecution of these cases," WADA said Tuesday.

USADA made accusations to WADA regarding a "failure" anti-doping system: "We urgently call on governments and sport leaders to step up and immediately undertake action to ensure that real independence, oversight and accountability are created in the global anti-doping system so that the world can have trust and confidence in the system and those who lead it.

"An immediate first step to repairing the damage of this cover-up is for governments to appoint an Independent Prosecutor to review the entire case file of the 23 positive tests and ensure that justice is delivered.

"The effort to achieve whatever justice possible at this time must happen before the 2024 Paris Games, as it is unfair for all athletes competing in these Games to possibly compete against those who tested positive and whose results were kept secret until now," USADA said.

USADA voiced its objection to the decision not to pursue the case further to CAS: "WADA's willingness to blindfold and handcuff itself and to maintain that it would do the same thing all over again is yet another stab in the back to clean athletes."

USADA additionally called upon the governments represented in WADA's Executive and Foundation Boards to initiate a comprehensive review of the positive test cases and to undertake a thorough overhaul of WADA's protocols and procedures.

"All athletes, sponsors, and fans of the Olympic and Paralympic Movement deserve a real global guard dog that has the teeth and the determination to apply the rules uniformly and fairly. We call on governments and the sport movement to overhaul WADA to ensure a cover-up of positive samples on the eve of the Olympic Games cannot occur ever again," USADA said.

So many associations are realising statements like Drug Free Sport New Zealand, which seeks more information about the case, or Athleten Deutschland, which talked about "The need for independent investigations and appropriate consequences." Another one that is "extremely concerned" about this case is Britain’s Aquatics GB, which expressed in a formal statement: "The potential loss of trust and reputational damage to sport is significant and we will be monitoring any further updates and possible resolutions closely."