Eight months before the Games, a dozen Chinese swimmers competing in the Tokyo Olympics, including some medalists, tested positive for a banned substance. (Photo by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images)
A potentially explosive doping scandal rocked Olympic swimming on Saturday after it was revealed that 23 Chinese swimmers, including gold medalists and world record holders, tested positive for a banned substance in 2021 and were never punished.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) acknowledged the positive tests after three years of silence, but sided with the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency, which claimed all 23 swimmers had unknowingly ingested small amounts of the substance are therefore innocent.
However, the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) accused WADA and its Chinese counterpart of “secrecy”. [sweeping] these positive aspects under the carpet”; and investigations by the New York Times and German broadcaster ARD raised questions about WADA's handling of the matter and suspicions of a cover-up.
Travis Tygart, USADA's CEO, called the results “devastating” and “devastating,” saying in a strongly worded statement that clean athletes “have been deeply and painfully betrayed by the system.”
WADA hit back, threatening legal action in response to what it said was “misleading and potentially defamatory media reporting.”
Details on the Chinese doping scandal
The positive tests all stemmed from a national meeting bringing together China's top swimmers eight months before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
At the meeting in Shijiazhuang, China's Anti-Doping Authority (CHINADA) conducted a total of 60 tests on 39 swimmers, according to the Times; Twenty-eight of the 60 samples from 23 different swimmers contained traces of trimetazidine, commonly known as TMZ, the same heart drug at the center of the case of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva.
More than two months later, on March 15, 2021, CHINADA privately reported the positive results but called on the world swimming governing body to “keep the athletes’ information and the case strictly confidential.” In the same March 15 email – obtained and reported by the Times – a senior CHINADA official claimed that “an initial review and preliminary investigation shows that these are abnormal.” [positives].”
Three months later, in June, a month before the Tokyo Games, CHINADA notified WADA that the 23 swimmers had tested positive “after being accidentally exposed to the substance through contamination,” according to WADA. Specifically, according to the Times and ARD, CHINADA produced a 61-page report stating that China's Ministry of Public Security, a government agency, examined and found traces of TMZ in air vents, spice containers and sink drains in the kitchen of the Huayang Holiday Hotel , where swimmers stayed overnight during the competition in question.
WADA says it “carefully reviewed the decision,” “collected additional, unpublished scientific information about TMZ and consulted independent scientific experts to test the contamination theory.” But it has never sent its own scientists or researchers to China; This was “not possible” due to “extreme” restrictions related to COVID-19, WADA said in its statement on Saturday.
Ultimately, WADA “concluded that it was unable to refute the possibility that contamination was the source of TMZ,” the agency said. And CHINADA's explanation, WADA said, was “consistent with the analytical data in the file.” That's why all 23 swimmers were cleared and the positive tests were never publicly disclosed.
Which Chinese swimmers tested positive?
According to ARD, 13 of the 23 swimmers took part in the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Four won medals, including three gold medals. (ARD published all 23 names.)
According to ARD and Times, those who tested positive included:
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Zhang Yufei, a then 23-year-old star who won gold in the 200-meter butterfly and silver in the 100-meter butterfly and contributed to two medal-winning relay teams – one of which set a world record.
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Wang Shun, a veteran who won the 200-meter individual medley and became the second Chinese swimmer to win individual Olympic gold.
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Qin Haiyang, who didn't medal in Tokyo but set a world record in the 200-meter breaststroke in 2023.
China's most famous swimmer Sun Yang was not among the 23; he served and is still serving a years-long ban in another doping case. (In a third unrelated case in 2014, Sun was also banned for four months after a positive TMZ test.)
US authorities clash with WADA
In the months and years that followed, whistleblowers raised concerns with the International Testing Agency (ITA) and USADA.
The ITA — another Olympics-adjacent anti-doping organization created after Russia's state-sponsored doping program — referred those concerns to WADA in 2022 and launched its own investigation, which is still ongoing.
USADA also passed on a tip in 2023 that TMZ positives had been hidden in China. But WADA refused to investigate again. On Saturday it said that USADA's “information was clearly incorrect.” It noted that USADA had also contacted WADA in 2020 “regarding allegations (also from an unspecified source) of doping cover-ups in Chinese swimming. The threshold for initiating an investigation was not met.”
Tygart, USADA's CEO, was dissatisfied with the tone of WADA's statement and released a second statement on Saturday. “It is disappointing to see WADA resorting to threats and fear-mongering in the face of a blatant violation of anti-doping rules,” he said.
“Blowing away their rhetoric, the facts remain as reported: WADA failed to provisionally suspend the athletes, disqualify the results and publicly announce the positive results,” Tygart continued. “These are egregious failures, even if you buy the story that it was a case of contamination and that an effective drug 'magically' appeared in a kitchen and led to 23 positive tests among top Chinese swimmers.”
The China case increases mistrust against doping
Tygart, athletes and other clean sport advocates pounced on WADA's decision to keep the positives secret until three years later and only after journalists called.
“Why not release this information at the time,” asked British swimmer Adam Peaty on X. “Who really benefits from the lack of transparency and secrecy?”
“The complete lack of transparency from WADA/CHINADA and the inconsistent handling of positive tests is appalling,” Greg Meehan, head coach of the USA Swimming 2021 women’s Olympic team, wrote on X. (He also noted that the “timing “The fact that Beijing was about to host the 2022 Winter Olympics is no coincidence.”)
Typically, anti-doping protocols require disclosure, provisional suspension and further investigation. WADA followed these protocols less than a year later during the 2022 Winter Olympics, when Valieva tested positive for the same drug and her story came to light in the public eye.
Valieva, like the Chinese, argued with unwitting taking. Like the Chinese, the Russian anti-doping authority sided with Valieva and acquitted her. However, in this case, WADA fought back, appealed the Russian decision and conducted a thorough investigation. Two years later, the Court of Arbitration for Sport handed Valieva a four-year ban.
In exceptional circumstances, public disclosure is not required – but these circumstances usually involve evidence of contamination. In the Chinese case, WADA had no evidence of contamination; it was simply “unable to refute the possibility,” as it was said.
The excuse for not conducting our own on-site investigation in 2021 was legitimate. It chimed with oft-discussed fears that COVID-related restrictions would leave the global anti-doping apparatus vulnerable to exploitation. The system is based on “competitive testing” at international events, many of which have been canceled during the pandemic; and on national anti-doping agencies, which WADA found it difficult to control due to travel bans.
However, WADA's resistance to finding more evidence has mixed with its opacity to fuel distrust and distrust.
The FBI, however, is reportedly interested. According to the Times, U.S. law enforcement became aware of the case and took steps to gather more information. Under the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act of 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice has the authority to prosecute foreign nationals who corrupt international sports through doping.
Regardless of whether U.S. authorities pursue the case or not, his focus will now be on the 2024 Paris Olympics, which begin on July 26 and where Zhang is expected to compete for more medals.
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