by Swimming has seen a boost in 2024 following the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada) handling of positive test results from the Chinese swimming team ahead of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
The story, reported by the New York Times and the German news organization ARD, surrounds 23 Chinese swimmers, 11 of whom will compete at the Paris Olympics, testing positive for the heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ) during a training camp. seven months out of Tokyo. The Olympic games in 2021. And the scandal has affected the Paris Games, with Chinese swimmers upset by the “tricks” of their competitors.
It left many Chinese Zhang Yufei, who won gold in the women’s 200-meter butterfly and 200-meter freestyle relay, and Wang Shun, who won gold in the men’s 200-meter individual medley, among those ready to go compete in Paris, NBC reports. Crucially, the results only came to light this year, with the China Anti-Doping Agency (China) claiming the swimmers had inadvertently ingested the substance due to contamination.
There have been allegations that some national associations have taken cover against “fake news” responses from China. While there is outrage after the doping agency cleared the Chinese swimmers but banned Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who also claimed corruption to TMZ before competing at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games. Here’s how the scandal came to light and what we know before the Olympic Games in Paris:
How did it all begin?
On April 22 of this year, Wada, courtesy of Ross Wenzel, then general counsel and former external lawyer, detailed the series of events from 2021.
Wenzel said that China’s anti-doping authorities collected 60 urine samples at the national swimming meet on January 3, 2021. On March 15, Chinada told Wada that they had found 28 positive tests.
In May, Chinada said she found trace amounts of the banned substance at a hotel where all 23 athletes were staying. Trace amounts were reportedly found in spice containers in the hotel’s kitchen and in drainage units.
He informed Wada on June 15 that he would not be charging swimmers with anti-doping violations, saying the positive tests were caused by corruption.
What is trimetazidine (TMZ)?
Trimetazidine, or TMZ, can be used to treat angina and other heart-related conditions. It has been on Wada’s list of banned substances since 2014 because it may improve endurance and blood flow.
How did he get inside the hotel kitchen of the Chinese swimmers?
Wenzel said in his investigation that Chinada did not receive individual testimonies from the 23 Chinese swimmers about how the substance appeared in their samples. Athletes who claim contamination are usually required to explain the possible or probable source of the contamination.
Wenzel said Chinada did not “hypothesize in their report” why trace amounts of banned heart medication were found in the kitchen of a hotel where elite swimmers were staying during the competition.
“The ultimate source, which means how TMZ got into the kitchen, has not been found,” Wenzel said.
What did Wada do and what could he have done?
Wada officials said that due to the widespread cases of Covid-19 in the region at the time, it was not possible to conduct an investigation in China.
Wada investigated the circumstances and ruled out the possibility of microdosing, while also saying that the positive tests were limited to the athletes, according to Chinada, who stayed in the same hotel.
“All of those athletes were in the same place at the same time when the positives came out, and all of these sample results were at consistently low levels,” Wenzel said.
Wada had the option of challenging Chinada at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but ultimately decided against it in July due to a lack of evidence and legal advice on the likelihood of the corruption explanation to refute.
Wada deemed the athletes innocent and did not publicly disclose details of the case before the Tokyo Olympics, where China’s 30-person swimming team won six medals, including three gold medals.
Why was the case not published?
Given the presumption of innocence, the national anti-doping body cannot determine any violation and is under no obligation to publicly disclose case details. Wada would only discuss a case publicly if Chinada did so or intended to take the case to CAS.
Wada president Witold Banka said: “It’s a question of whether or not you want to expose the innocent athletes, right? We must take into account that by publishing the names of athletes without anti-doping rule violations, you expose the innocent athletes and can damage their image. So this is a very important discussion, and our role is also to protect innocent athletes.”
What did the independent investigation say?
The scandal led to an independent investigation, which concluded in July 2024 that Wada showed no inclination to clear 23 Chinese swimmers to compete in Tokyo, despite the athletes testing positive for a banned substance.
The interim report of Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottier also said it was reasonable for Wada not to appeal Chinada’s decision not to penalize the athletes.
Wada’s senior director of science and medicine, Olivier Rabin, had “doubts about the reality of the contamination as reported by the Chinese authorities,” according to the annex to Cottier’s report.
But no action was taken because “he could not rule out the case of corruption in a well-founded way” and in the end “he saw no other solution than to accept it”.
Wada also explained that he was “unable to disprove Chinada’s story” with independent experts and outside legal advisers helping inform the decision not to appeal.
What has been said?
The scandal has seen Michael Phelps, Adam Peaty, Katie Ledecky and others kicked out by the anti-doping body amid concerns that confidence has been lost among athletes ahead of the biggest swimming meet in the four-year cycle.
Phelps said that athletes can no longer put their faith in Wada: “As athletes, we can no longer blindly put our faith in the World Anti-Doping Agency, an organization that continues to prove that it is unable or unwilling to enforce policies consistently. around the world,” Phelps said.
“It is clear to me that any reform efforts by Wada are lacking, and there are still deep-rooted systemic problems that undermine the integrity of international sport and the athletes’ right to fair competition, time and time again.”
Travis Tygart, CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, or USADA, called the story “suppressed” and claimed that the world and Chinese anti-doping associations were “secretly, until now, sweeping these positive things under the carpet.”
FairSport and Global Athlete argue that the Wada process was “fundamentally flawed from the start because of its limited scope and independence”.
The joint statement added: “Until all related documents are published, confidence in the system will not be regained and Wada’s position as the global regulator will continue to be challenged.”
Allison Schmitt, who was part of the US team that lost gold to China in the 800-meter freestyle relay at the Tokyo Olympics, said: “We’re going to go hard. We trained hard. We followed all protocols. We appreciated (China’s) performance and accepted our victory. But now, learning that the Chinese relay was made up of athletes who didn’t serve suspensions, I’m back to being skeptical. We may never know the truth and that may haunt many of us for years.”
What will happen next?
The president of Wada, Witold Banka, welcomed the independent report and its conclusions, asking “what measures can be taken against those who have made false and potentially defamatory allegations,” and claimed that the case was being used “as a geopolitical tool” in China and the wider United States dispute.
Chinese swimmers must have faced at least eight drug tests this year, according to World Aquatics.
World Aquatics said “a certain number of athletes from specific nations will be tested four times” in 2024 by the Lausanne-based International Testing Agency, which operates anti-doping programs for many Olympic sports.
But the governing body said the ITA will “test Chinese athletes competing in Paris at least 8 times during this same period.
It would be best if Chinada did not make the samples, and it would be better if the tests were studied in laboratories outside China.
