The North Korean flag has been routinely hoisted whenever their athletes have made the podium despite a ban.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) told the Olympic Council of Asia that there could be serious results if they continue to let the North Korean flag be shown at the Asian Games. WADA is taking this very seriously. In 2021, WADA said that North Korea’s anti-doping group is not following the rules and put penalties, including not allowing their flag in events except the Olympics and Paralympics.
Even though the penalties are still in place, North Korea carried their flag at the start of the Asian Games. They’ve also raised it in Hangzhou when their athletes have won. The head of the Olympic Council of Asia, Raja Randhir Singh, said they wrote to WADA explaining why they allowed this. WADA, in response, said that the OCA didn’t follow the rules they agreed to in WADA’s anti-doping code. They’re very serious about this and have told the OCA many times about the possible consequences if they don’t fix it. WADA is disappointed that the OCA hasn’t taken action regarding North Korea’s non-compliance. They’ll go through the proper steps to make sure the OCA faces the right consequences for not following their agreed-upon rules.
WADA has various options for penalties it can apply to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) based in Kuwait. These might involve stopping funding from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), OCA events not being considered as qualifiers for the Olympic or Paralympic Games anymore, and putting fines in place.
The OCA declined to comment when approached by AFP.
‘Protecting athletes’
During the COVID-19 pandemic, WADA, based in Montreal, imposed penalties on North Korea. The country’s strict border controls stopped international testing authorities from conducting tests there. Recently, North Korea has started to gradually open up, allowing testing authorities to return and collect samples. However, due to the complicated political situation of the country, it’s not easy to carry out verification and quality control activities.
WADA will keep working to make sure North Korea’s anti-doping system is strong to safeguard all athletes.
Even though North Korea has been isolated from global sports for a long time, their athletes have achieved remarkable results, especially in weightlifting, where they’ve broken six world records. Some rival lifters said they were really surprised by these results.
However, no North Korean weightlifters will compete in the Paris Olympics next year because they didn’t participate in required qualifying events earlier this year.
The International Weightlifting Federation confirmed that all athletes in the sport were tested at least once during the Hangzhou Games.
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) doesn’t have authority over the Asian Games, but it is in charge of checking where athletes are located according to anti-doping rules.
This rule asks for information about an athlete’s location to be given at least three months before a competition.
However, two North Korean athletes didn’t follow this rule, so the IWF stopped them from participating.
SOURCE:ALJAZEERA