Olympic swimmers speak out about Chinese doping

NANTERRE, France (AP):

Olympic swimmers spoke out about the Chinese doping scandal that has hung over these Paris Olympics as the events finished Sunday night.

China won the men’s 4x100m medley relay in three minutes, 27.46 seconds, with two of the four members on the team listed among 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive ahead of the Tokyo Olympics three years ago. The swimmers were allowed to compete after a Chinese investigation ruled that they consumed food that had been contaminated.

“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,’” British star Adam Peaty said after his foursome wound up fourth to miss the medal stand. “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.”

Qin Haiyang and Sun Jiajun were on the winning relay team and were on the list of Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance before the Tokyo Games but were allowed to compete.

The New York Times reported last week that two more Chinese swimmers had tested positive, including one 2024 Olympian, for a banned substance in 2022 but were cleared by Chinese officials to compete.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) stood by its decision to clear the 23 swimmers who tested positive for a banned heart medication.

“We have to put our trust in WADA,” American Caeleb Dressel said when asked if he considered it a fair race. “I honestly haven’t paid too much attention to it because a lot of that is out of my control. I don’t work for WADA, there’s nothing I can do.

“I’m trying to race really tough, and they were the better team, and it’s as simple as that.”

WADA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are feuding with US anti-doping officials, and the FBI, which is investigating the Chinese case thanks to an aggressive law that allows US law enforcement to go after sports doping around the world.

Peaty said he kept his mouth shut all week, then ultimately decided it was time to share his disappointment and frustrations with what he considers a fractured system.

China earned bronze in the women’s 4x100 medley shortly after the men’s victory. Zhang Yufei, another one of the swimmers among the 23, was on the team.

Peaty said there is some anger and frustration.

“I don’t want to paint a whole nation or a whole group of people with one brush, I think it’s very unfair,” Peaty said. “But there have been two cases of it and I think it’s very disappointing, and I’ve tried to keep out of the conversations until now for the betterment of the team but I think we’re going to use that to our advantage the next four years, whether I’m there or not. I know these boys will carry that.

“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.”

Zhang said when the Olympics began that she and her teammates tested three to four days a week in the past couple of months leading up to the Paris Games and in the wake of a doping scandal involving 23 Chinese swimmers. The World Anti-Doping Agency stood by its decision to clear the swimmers who tested positive for a banned heart medication months before the Tokyo Games began.