Chinese swimmers competing in the Paris Olympics will undergo twice as many drug tests as other swimmers from certain other countries.
In the past several months, doping officials have faced criticism following the announcement that 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a prohibited substance were permitted to participate in the Tokyo Games. Alarmingly, eleven swimmers who tested positive for the cardiac drug trimetazidine (TMZ) at a training camp seven months prior to the 2021 postponed Games have been selected for this year’s Summer Games.
During an evaluation of the 23 swimmers’ clearance, World Aquatics, the governing organization, claimed that the way the matter was handled had somehow lessened public confidence in the anti-doping system.
On taking the best measures to avoid the same oversight
It has been reported that the International Testing Agency (ITA) has promised to test Chinese athletes eight times, which is twice as often as is customary, between the start of 2024 and the commencement of the Paris Games.
Furthermore, in addition to testing Chinese athletes, efforts will be made to have the tests administered by an organization other than Chinada and to have the results analyzed outside of China.
In recent discourses, Michael Phelps, an accomplished swimmer in the history of Olympics, stated that the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) cannot be trusted to uphold its rules. Therefore, World Aquatics is trying to reassure athletes once again of its credibility as an organization.
The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) has also come under fire from US anti-doping authorities, and the organization has vowed to sue those who criticize it. With this, the International Olympic Committee encouraged sporting organizations to treat the anti-doping organization with respect and still express their confidence that WADA will do its job.
The international governing body of swimming has said that its executive director, Brent Nowicki, has been called to testify in a US criminal inquiry concerning 23 Chinese swimmers who were disqualified from competition in 2021 due to doping testing, but were permitted to compete and win medals at the Tokyo Olympics.
According to World Aquatics, Nowicki is “working to schedule a meeting with the government, which, in all likelihood, will obviate the need for testimony before a Grand Jury” after receiving a subpoena.
It was reported that the Chinese swimmers tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug trimetazidine, which is prohibited, several months prior to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Out of the 23 Chinese swimmers, eleven are expected to compete in the Olympics in Paris in 2024.
The pressing issue
At a national swimming tournament in 2021, the 23 participants tested positive for trimetazidine, albeit at a “very low concentration”, according to China’s anti-doping organization.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has prohibited metazidine since 2014 despite the drug’s ability to increase endurance. Yet, the agency determined that because the swimmers unintentionally came into contact with the substance, they could not be held accountable for the outcomes.
Travis Tygart, the CEO of the US Anti-Doping Agency, recently expressed concern that China’s anti-doping agency, CHINADA, and WADA were collaborating to conceal the positive test results; it was also suggested that WADA representatives were reluctant to visit the US for fear of arrest.
WADA president Witold Baűka stated earlier this year at a news conference that the organization “followed all due processes and diligently investigated every lead and line of enquiry in this matter” and discovered “no evidence of wrongdoing… and no credible way to disprove the contamination theory that was accepted by CHINADA.”
The discovery that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for an illegal drug prior to the Tokyo Olympics but were allowed to compete had Aquatics GB saying it is extremely concerning. At a training camp seven months prior to the postponed Games in 2021, the swimmers all tested positive for the cardiac drug trimetazidine (TMZ).
The officials involved in that decision have come under heavy criticism, even though it transpired that they had accidentally consumed the chemical due to contamination.
Aquatics GB stated: “We are extremely concerned by allegations concerning positive tests in the build-up to the Tokyo Olympics Games which were reported over the weekend…The potential loss of trust and reputational damage to sport is significant and we will be monitoring any further updates and possible resolutions closely.”
Chinada on not punishing the swimmers
The BBC was notified by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) that the China Anti-Doping Agency (Chinada) had decided not to penalize the swimmers back in June 2021. According to Chinada’s report, the swimmers who tested positive were lodged at the same hotel. The kitchen, the extraction unit over the hallway, and the drainage units all had evidence of TMZ.
No appeal of Chinada’s ruling was brought forward. As per Wada, it was, “not in a position to disprove the possibility that contamination was the source of TMZ”. At the Tokyo Olympics, China’s 30-person swimming team took home six medals, including three golds.
With these issues arising months prior to the 2024 Paris Olympics, Aquatics GB remarked: “As we build towards Paris 2024 we are fully supportive of the consistent and comprehensive testing process that our athletes have to follow as a means of keeping sport clean.”
Michael Phelps, a famous Olympian swimmer, testified before Congress that years of doping accusations affected his mental health. He now feels that Chinese sportsmen are abusing an unjust system by engaging in these unlawful acts.
The athlete admitted: “The constant suspicion of doping deeply eroded the mental state it took a lifetime to build while competing at the highest levels.”
Prior to the August Olympics in Paris, Phelps and swimmer Allison Schmidt testified before a House subcommittee investigating a doping case involving Chinese athletes. He further declared: “As athletes, our faith can no longer be blindly placed in the world of the anti-doping agency, an organization that continues to prove that it is either incapable or unwilling to enforce its policies consistently around the world.”
Phelps: ‘We need to hold them responsible’
The primetime hearing took place two months after the World Anti-Doping Agency discovered that, prior to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the prohibited substance trimetazidine, which is present in cardiac medication. The medication promotes ‘cardiac efficiency.’
According to CHINADA, China’s anti-doping body, the swimmers were unintentionally exposed to a hotel’s contamination and therefore shouldn’t be held accountable for the positive test results.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) responded by saying they had accepted the judgment of Chinese officials to clear the swimmers, citing contamination in the food they ate.
With this, global athletes continue to be suspicious and wonder why China withheld the information that its swimmers were at risk at the time.
Schmitt said: “We raced hard. We trained hard. We followed every protocol. We respected their performance and accepted our defeat… But now, learning that the Chinese relay consisted of athletes who had not served a suspension, I look back with doubt. We may never know the truth and that may haunt many of us for years.”
Adam Peaty, a three-time Olympic gold medallist from Great Britain, called on the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) to do their jobs right and stated that Chinese athletes who are deemed to be cheating should be removed from the sport.
In the men’s 4×100-metre medley relay, China won gold in 3 minutes, 24 seconds, surpassing the US by 0.55 seconds and the bronze-winning French team by 0.92 seconds. Peaty, whose British team placed fourth overall with a performance record of 3:29, hinted that there might have been more going on in the race.
The athlete said: “In sport, one of my favourite quotes I’ve seen lately is ‘There’s no point in winning if you don’t win it fair’… I think you know that truth in your heart… Even if you touch and you know you’re cheating, you’re not winning, right?”
“So, for me, if you’ve been on that and you have been contaminated twice, I think as an honourable person, it means you should be out of the sport. We know sport is not that simple,” Peaty added.
Discontent with the system
Peaty claimed he kept quiet about the issue during the Games in order to maintain his composure, but that he finally felt it was appropriate to voice his displeasure with the system.
He declared: “We’ll see how they do in four years’ time, but I think the people that need to do the job will wake up and do the job… We’ve got to have faith in the system, but we don’t… It’s just got to be stricter. What I’ve said from the start is that it is a fraud. If you’re cheating, it is fraud.”
Qin Haiyang and Sun Jiajun, two of the four swimmers from China’s relay team, were among the 23 swimmers who tested positive for a prohibited heart medicine prior to the 2020 Tokyo Games, but Wada let them compete in Paris. Wada supported its ruling, but subsequently, two swimmers who tested positive for a prohibited steroid in 2022 have been accused of doping again, as reported by The New York Times.
While he believes the two situations are unjust, Peaty clarified that he does not mean to generalize about all Chinese athletes. He said: “I don’t want to paint a whole nation or a whole group with one brush, I think it’s very unfair… But there have been two cases of it and I think it’s very disappointing, and I’ve tried to keep out of the conversation until now for the betterment of the team… I think we’re going to use that to our advantage the next four years, whether I’m there or not.”
A number of Chinese swimmers, like Qin and 10-time Olympic medallist Zhang Yufei, have defended themselves, saying that their opponents are threatened and that they are innocent of any doping charges. Athlete Qin remarked: “Some tricks aim to disrupt our preparation rhythm and destroy our psychological defense… But we are not afraid.”
Chinese Olympic champion Zhang Yufei has appealed to people to “look at the Chinese swimming team through an unbiased lens in response to the unfair treatment and criticism that Chinese swimmers are facing”, reports China’s Global Times.
Zhang, who was one of 23 Chinese athletes who tested positive for a banned substance before the Tokyo Olympics, said on Saturday (July 27) that she and her teammates had been wrongly accused of doping and insisted that China would never allow any athlete to use performance-enhancing drugs, reports the New York Times.
China claims the athletes inadvertently ate contaminated hotel food, a claim reiterated by Zhang.
“I don’t think any athlete, Chinese or non-Chinese, would want to destroy the work they built up every day over the years on doping,” Zhang said in Paris on Saturday (July 27) in the first public comments by a member of the Chinese swimming team at the centre of the doping scandal, reported the Times.
Zhang wins two medals
Zhang, who won gold in the 200-metre butterfly at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, claimed two medals in Paris on Saturday. She picked up bronze in the 100-metre butterfly—an event in which she won silver in Tokyo—and helped China finish third in the 4×100-metre women’s freestyle relay.
Zhang, Yang Junxuan, Cheng Yujie and Wu Qingfeng clocked a time of 3 minutes 30.30 seconds in the 4×100-metre, setting a new Asian record.
Australia, nevertheless, won the women’s relay, keeping the crown they won in Tokyo, the team made up of Emma McKeon, Mollie O’Callaghan, Meg Harris and Shayna Jack.
The United States came second, with Simone Manuel, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Kate Douglass making up the team.
Chinese men finish fourth
The Chinese women fared better than the men who, after a strong start, finished fourth in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay. The United States won gold, with Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong and Caeleb Dressel on the team. Australia took silver and Italy bronze.
Pan Zhanle gave China a head start, chalking up 46.92 seconds in his leadoff split in the men’s relay, breaking the Olympic record for the men’s 100-metre freestyle. But the United States rallied and won the race in 3:09.28, retaining the crown they had won in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and defended in Tokyo.
“My performance was not good enough. If I had created a greater advantage, we could have reached the podium,” said Pan, the world record holder in the 100-metre freestyle.
China’s Zhang Yufei said on Sunday that she was satisfied with her bronze medal in the women’s 100m butterfly at the Paris Olympics, her second podium finish in the event. #Paris2024pic.twitter.com/IDZAFQ2UYM
Zhang, meanwhile, faced the Americans Torri Husk and Grethen Walsh also in the 200-metre butterfly. Huske won the race, and Walsh finished second, pushing Zhang to third place.
Seen weeping after the award ceremony, Zhang said, “Perhaps I’ve pushed myself too hard.” She added, “I did feel a lot of pressure, but I also believe in my own abilities and look forward to competing against strong opponents next time.”
Her hometown fans consoled her. The hashtag “#YufeiDon’tCry” surged to the top of Weibo’s trending list. “Don’t cry, Yufei! We’re so proud of you. You’re really, really good,” one Weibo user commented.
China concern over large number of drug tests
China is worked up over the intensive drug testing of Chinese athletes following doping allegations.
Zhang told the Xinhua News Agency that in the two months before the Paris Olympics, every athlete on the Chinese swimming team was tested 20 to 30 times, averaging three to four tests per person per week.
Some suspect the tests are affecting the athletes.
“Something must have gone awry with the athletes’ pre-competition training. Personally, I believe that seven doping tests in one day might have disrupted our Chinese swimming team,” highly decorated Olympic diver Gao Min wrote on Weibo.
Zhang appeals for understanding
Zhang appealed for understanding in an Olympic poolside interview after advancing to the semi-finals of the 100-metre butterfly.
“Before last year, and before the scandal broke out, I got along really well with competitors from other countries. Now at this Olympics, I’m really worried that my good friends will look at me differently, that they would be unwilling to compete with me or watch me compete,” she said.
“I’m even more worried that the French public would think that Chinese athletes do not deserve to compete at this stage, so I feel very misunderstood.”
