Before the Paris Olympics kick in, two situations of almost the same nature have stirred the athletics field. Both Erriyon Knighton and Issam Asinga came under the scanner because of consuming WADA-banned substances. However, the subsequent verdicts suspended them from the tracks. Issam Asinga was handed a four-year ban. On the other hand, Erriyon Knighton had faced a provisional ban, and surprisingly, his ban was recently revoked on June 19, after merely a two-month penalty. That has created a complex and challenging issue. 

Issam Asinga, the Surinamese phenom who once took the track world by surprise, has smelt a fish in the ongoing process. The WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) has also felt the need to make an entry in the situation. 

Several uneasy questions run amock USADA and WADA 

Erriyon Knighton heaved a sigh of relief just two days before the US Olympic track and field trials in Oregon. While such an emergency move has called for scrutiny, the USADA’s lack of steps has also invited a lot of stares. At least, Issam Asinga’s cryptic update has something to add to that. As Knighton is all set to head to Oregon to for the Olympic trials, banished Asinga’s recent social media update read, “Idk if it’s just me but sumn not adding up [emoji]”. That may have resulted in certain displeasure in certain camps. Ultimately, an approach appears on the horizon from WADA to take note of the American sprinter’s complicated case. 

In fact, updating about their status, a WADA spokesperson has recently said, “Once Wada has the full reasoned decision, it will study that, along with the case file, with its usual scepticism and diligence.” Notably, the decision in argument has come from a Florida-based arbitrator, Jeanne Charles, who found nothing wrong with allowing Erriyon Knighton to ease his prohibition. The USADA who actually handed Knighton the penalty after finding trenbolone in his sample, did not raise any question on the dictates. Rather, Travis Tygart, CEO of USADA, welcomed the arbitrator’s judgment. 

On a positive note, Tygart conceded, “We can take comfort that justice was served and transparency as required by the rules was achieved.” The factor that supported Knighton’s case is that the banned substance trenbolone is used to promote the growth of livestock. So there’s a high chance of its presence in the flesh of cattle and that could go untreated to the foods made of it. Meanwhile, as per the former champion, he consumed the substance through contamination of food, mainly while having beef. And the usage of trenbolone among livestock is legalized in the USA. So, the entry of trenbolone into the body could be possible due to such a reason. That speaks volumes about the argument. But Isaam Asinga had almost a similar logic in his case. 

Is Issam Asinga different from Erriyon Knighton? 

As per AIU, Issam Asinga consumed the banned element GW1516. But the former World U20 champion argued that the substance made its way to his body through food contamination. He pointed to the Gatorade Recovery Gummies being the agent of the banned substance. The Gummies are NSF-certified for sports certification. That left only the option to test the Gummies to prove Issam’s argument’s credibility. But then two things occurred. 

In its test, the authority found the presence of GW1516 at the surface of the Gummies in the collected samples from the Surinamese sprinter. But other samples recovered from Gatorade had no such presence. Moreover, Asinga had been given the jars of Gummies as a gift to him last year and the batch number of those jars couldn’t be retrieved from Gatorade. Despite those question marks, the AIU handed Issam Asinga’s four-year ban dictate, lapsing in no time. Yet, Erriyon Knighton achieved a different result, without any further questions from the USADA. The representatives from WADA and AIU were present at the court when Jeanne Charles gave the verdict. Now, after several hours, the watchdogs are slowly moving toward getting a definite result of Erriyon’s status. Will it come? What do you think about it?