(Beijing) China will send to the Paris Olympic Games this summer 11 swimmers who tested positive in 2021 for a banned substance and were cleared, according to an official list, a case which has caused significant uproar in recent months.
The US daily New York Times and German broadcaster ARD reported in April that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the performance-enhancing substance trimetazidine.
They were not sanctioned, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) having concluded at the time that they had not doped, but had been victims of food contamination and that the very low levels of this substance found in urine samples appeared inconsistent with intentional intake.
But, in the wake of the revelations from the New York Times and the ARD, the American anti-doping agency (USADA) spoke of a “make-up at the highest level of WADA”, which would have “put these positive cases under the carpet “.
The international body, greatly shaken since the start of the affair, responded by accusing USADA, virulent in this matter, of “lies” and of making “politically motivated” remarks to “weaken the work of WADA “.
Several of the Chinese athletes who tested positive in 2021 went on to win medals at the Tokyo Olympics. And 11 are among the swimmers selected to compete in the Paris Games (July 26–August 11), according to the list released Tuesday by the Chinese Swimming Association, the state body responsible for the sport.
Among them are star swimmer Zhang Yufei, butterfly specialist, who won two gold medals in Tokyo, and Wang Shun, Olympic champion in the 200m medley.
USADA’s accusations come against a backdrop of Sino-American rivalry on a large number of diplomatic, political and even commercial issues.
A committee of the American Congress asked the American Department of Justice and the Federal Police (FBI) at the end of May to investigate the Chinese swimmers who tested positive.
To silence critics, WADA appointed an independent prosecutor on April 25 to review its handling of the case. The Chinese Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) has promised to “actively cooperate.”
Asked on Wednesday about the date of this audit, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not give a timetable, but assured that it had “zero tolerance towards doping”.
China “has always resolutely safeguarded the physical and mental health of athletes, the fairness of sports competitions, and made positive contributions to the global anti-doping fight,” added Lin Jian, a ministry spokesperson.
Trimetazidine has been banned for athletes since 2014 on the grounds that it can improve blood circulation.
According to WADA, between January 1 and 3, 2021, CHINADA collected 60 urine samples from Chinese swimmers during a national competition, which was not qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics.
A total of 28 results came back positive for trimetazidine (TMZ), involving 23 different swimmers, some of whom tested positive multiple times during the period.
“There is strong reason to believe that this could be a case of collective contamination,” WADA concluded after an investigation by CHINADA.
WADA came to this conclusion in particular because “all samples were declared positive at the same time for TMZ at consistently very low levels”, and the athletes in question were staying at the same place – implied to have consumed the same food.
“For several swimmers, the results went from negative to positive within a matter of hours, which is not consistent with a scenario of doping by deliberate ingestion or microdose,” according to WADA.
The microdose technique consists of a doped athlete taking very low doses to go below the radar.
The Canadian Richard Pound, former president of WADA, said at the end of May that he was “very disappointed and disgusted by the lies and distortions carried out by USADA”.
“USADA is funded by the US government and that government currently has a cold relationship with the Chinese government. Could there be a connection? “, he asked.
WADA, based in Montreal, is half funded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).