Tunisian Swimming Federation Board Dissolved, Officials Arrested Over WADA Dispute<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The president of Tunisia has dissolved the board of the Tunisian Swimming Federation after its dispute with WADA, per reports.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/reports-tunisian-swimming-federation-board-dissolved-over-wada-dispute\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tunisian Swimming Federation Board Dissolved, Officials Arrested Over WADA Dispute\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The president of Tunisia has dissolved the board of the Tunisian Swimming Federation after its dispute with WADA, per reports.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/reports-tunisian-swimming-federation-board-dissolved-over-wada-dispute\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-11T17:27:56+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-13T20:49:54+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/lane-line-2-2018-mesa-pss-e1603224487500.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"733\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew De George - 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{"id":585259,"date":"2024-05-11T10:27:56","date_gmt":"2024-05-11T17:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=585259"},"modified":"2024-05-13T13:49:54","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T20:49:54","slug":"reports-tunisian-swimming-federation-board-dissolved-over-wada-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/reports-tunisian-swimming-federation-board-dissolved-over-wada-dispute\/","title":{"rendered":"Tunisian Swimming Federation Board Dissolved, Officials Arrested Over WADA Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reports: Tunisian Swimming Federation Board Dissolved Over WADA Dispute<\/strong><\/p>\n

The president of Tunisia has dissolved the board of the Tunisian Swimming Federation after its dispute with the World Anti-Doping Agency, Agence France Presse reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The immediate precipitating event occurred Friday, when a red cloth was used to cover the Tunisian flag at the Tunisian Open Masters championship at the Rades Olympic pool in Tunis. That was received as \u201can act of aggression\u201d by Tunisian President Kais Saied.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani,<\/strong> Saied ordered via a youth and sports ministry statement that the board of the Federation Tunisienne de Natation (FTN) be dismissed. He also dismissed the head of the Tunisian Anti-Doping Organization (ANAD) and fired another sports official in Tunis.<\/p>\n

Seven sports officials were arrested on Monday, the BBC reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The longer-term tension is due to Tunisia\u2019s noncompliance with WADA. The anti-doping agency\u2019s independent Compliance Review Committee alleged that ANAD was non-compliant in implementing the 2021 updates to the World Anti-Doping Code. WADA\u2019s Executive Committee endorsed that finding in November, and after a requisite four-month watchlist period for ANAD to respond and remediate, WADA found it officially noncompliant in a communique on April 8<\/a>. Noncompliant status took effect April 29.<\/p>\n

Among the consequences laid out by WADA<\/a> are Tunisia being unable to host certain athletic events and that, as was the point of contention, \u201cTunisia\u2019s flag will not be flown at regional, continental or world championships, as well as other events organized by Major Event Organizations (including the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games) until the ANAD is reinstated.\u201d (Crucially, ANAD\u2019s noncompliance does not automatically bar Tunisian athletes from competing at such events.)<\/p>\n

Saied didn’t take kindly to the directive, stating that, “Tunisia comes before the Olympic Committee and before any other committees.”<\/p>\n

The news comes against the backdrop of ostensibly unrelated and bigger news for each entity.<\/p>\n

WADA\u2019s statement on Tunisia came barely a week before the all-consuming news of 23 doping positives in China<\/a> that were found by WADA to be a case of no-fault environmental contamination.<\/p>\n

The FTN is dealing with news that its biggest star, reigning men\u2019s 400 freestyle Olympic champion Ahmed Hafnaoui,<\/strong> may miss the Paris Olympics due to an undisclosed injury<\/a>. Hafnaoui won one of two medals for the country and the lone gold (with Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi\u2019s<\/strong> silver in taekwondo) at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The lack of symbolic representation for Tunisia at the 2024 Olympics could be particularly fraught given its former status as a French protectorate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"