The American newspaper “The New York Times” revealed, on Saturday, that 23 Chinese swimmers underwent positive doping tests before the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, but were allowed to compete after world governing bodies secretly accepted China’s findings that they had taken this substance. Without the knowledge.
Among them, about half of the swimming team China sent to Japan, and many of them won medals, including gold, according to the report.
Many of them are expected to participate again in the Paris Olympics this summer.
The newspaper reported that their test result was positive for a heart medication that can enhance performance, in a local meeting in late 2020 and the first days of 2021, but the Chinese anti-doping authorities considered that they had inadvertently ingested the substance from contaminated food, and there was no justification for taking any action. Against them.
The New York Times confirmed that it had reviewed confidential documents and emails, including a report prepared by the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency and submitted to its global counterpart (WADA), noting that the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Aquatics Federation, which was known at the time as the Federation. Swimming International, decided not to act due to the “lack of any credible evidence” to challenge the Chinese version of events.
It was not possible to obtain an immediate comment from the World Anti-Doping Agency, but it told the American newspaper that it chose not to pursue the matter further after “consulting scientists and external legal counsel.”
“Ultimately, we concluded that there was no concrete basis to challenge the confirmed contamination,” said Olivier Rabin, WADA’s Director of Science and Medicine.
The International Federation of Aquatic Sports confirmed to the same newspaper that the cases were reviewed by the Doping Control Committee and were subject to the scrutiny of independent experts, and added: “We are confident that these analytical results were dealt with seriously and professionally, and in accordance with all applicable anti-doping regulations, including The World Anti-Doping Code.
But the US Anti-Doping Agency said the swimmers should have been suspended and their identities publicly disclosed, describing WADA’s lack of action as a “devastating stab in the back for clean athletes.”
The organization’s CEO, Travis T. Tygart, revealed that he had provided the World Anti-Doping Agency with allegations of doping in Chinese swimming several times since 2020.
It was not possible to obtain an immediate comment from the China Anti-Doping Authority, and there was no immediate response from the Chinese Swimming Federation when contacted for comment.
Chinese swimming has not a good history regarding doping, with a series of cases during the 1990s after seven Chinese swimmers tested positive for doping during the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima.
In 1998, swimmer Yuanyuan was banned after Australian customs officers discovered a large amount of human growth hormone in her luggage, during the world championships in Perth.
Most recently, three-time Olympic champion Sun Yang was suspended for doping, ruling him out of the Tokyo Olympics.
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