Witold Bańka

Witold Bańka (; born 3 October 1984) is a Polish former 400 metres sprinter turned politician. Since 2015, he served as Minister of Sport and Tourism in the cabinet of Beata Szydło and cabinet of Mateusz Morawiecki. In May 2019, he was elected President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Athletic career

Bańka's biggest achievement as an athlete was the bronze medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2007 World Championships although he only competed in the heats. He also won several relay medals at lower level competitions. He retired from professional sport in 2012 having failed to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Personal bests

Outdoor
*200 metres – 21.83 (+1.5 m/s, Bielsko-Biała 2006)
*400 metres – 46.11 (Osaka 2007)
Indoor
*400 metres – 48.87 (Spała 2009)

Competition record

¹He was not selected for the final where the Polish team finished third but also received a bronze medal.

Political career

In 2018 he became a candidate for the chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Poland’s sport minister Witold Banka has been chosen as Europe’s candidate to become the next head of the World Anti-Doping Agency. In May 2019 Bańka was elected as WADA's fourth president, commencing his four-year term on 1 January 2020. He was re-elected in 2022 for another three year term.

Chinese swimmers doping allegations

On 20 April 2024, ''The New York Times'' revealed that 23 members of the Chinese swimming team tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug called Trimetazidine seven months prior to the start of the 2020 Summer Games and were allowed to participate in the games with some of the swimmers winning medals. Following the publication of the report, Travis Tygart, CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, accused the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) of covering up doping by Chinese swimmers.

WADA argued the amount detected was too low to enhance performance. CHINADA, who had reported the results to WADA and FINA (now World Aquatics), blamed them on contamination from a hotel kitchen, a rationale that potentially exempts findings from being made public. WADA released a statement, explaining that " twas not possible for WADA scientists or investigators to conduct their enquiries on the ground in China given the extreme restrictions in place due to a COVID-related lockdown. WADA ultimately concluded that it was not in a position to disprove the possibility that contamination was the source of TMZ and it was compatible with the analytical data in the file." World Aquatics's investigation agreed with WADA.

After the story was leaked, WADA was criticised by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and athletes. WADA's choice of a Swiss attorney to lead an investigation into the matter also drew criticism because he was hand-picked by the agency. Experts interviewed by ''The New York Times'' said trace amounts of TMZ can be detected near the end of a doping excretion period but could not rule out contamination either.

In a second statement, Tygart accused both WADA and the CHINADA of not being transparent about the findings and keeping "clean athletes in the dark". WADA was also accused of having a double-standard as Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for TMZ and used the same excuse, but was subsequently banned for four years. WADA argued, based on non-published information and pharmacokinetics, that contamination would not have been possible in Valieva's case, but in the case of the Chinese swimmers, that no international competition was occurring around the time of the positive tests, only athletes who stayed at one of the hotels tested positive, and some individuals alternated between positive and negative results all point to contamination, not doping. In May 2024, WADA announced that it will hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the doping case of the Chinese swimmers.

Eleven of the 23 swimmers involved in the controversy were named to the 2024 Chinese Olympic swimming team.

See also

*Sport in Poland
*Politics of Poland
*List of Poles

References

External links

Government composition

All-Athletics profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banka, Witold
1984 births
Living people
Polish male sprinters
Sportspeople from Tychy
Athletes from Silesian Voivodeship
Polish sportsperson-politicians
Government ministers of Poland
Law and Justice politicians
World Anti-Doping Agency members
FISU World University Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
FISU World University Games gold medalists for Poland
FISU World University Games silver medalists for Poland
Medalists at the 2007 Summer Universiade
Medalists at the 2009 Summer Universiade
Universiade silver medalists in athletics (track and field)
Polish sports executives and administrators
21st-century Polish sportsmen