Chinese social media has been alit over the last few months with retaliatory accusations against American swimmers over USADA‘s public rhetoric regarding 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance before the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games.
While some of that social media posting, including accusations about recently-announced positive tests from American swimmers like Michael Brinegar and Kensey McMahon, or discussions about American athletes’ Therapeutic Use Exemptions, are based in fact, one pervasive rumor is not: claims that newly-minted World Record holder Gretchen Walsh isn’t getting drug-tested.
The rumor originally started as “in 2024,” and has now evolved to “in 2023, in spite of winning a World Championship.”
Walsh won three World Championship medals in 2023: gold in the 400 medley relay, silver in the 400 free relay, and bronze in the 50 fly.
In the world of anti-doping, there are multiple overlapping testing authorities, including USADA, World Aquatics, and the NCAA (the latter of which is not subject to the World Anti-Doping Code, but that has very similar overlapping rules).
Some of these authorities publish their testing history, and some don’t.
Walsh’s USADA Testing History
- 2018 – 1 test
- 2019 – 3 tests
- 2020 – 3 tests
- 2021 – 3 tests
- 2022 – 4 tests
- 2023 – 9 tests
- 2024 – 10 tests (so far)
While USADA doesn’t differentiate in its public database between in competition and out of competition testing, in 2023 she was tested at least once in every quarter, and has been tested at least once per quarter so far in 2024 (three times in quarter 1, and seven times in quarter 2, with the latter including her in-competition testing at the Olympic Trials).
World Aquatics, via the Aquatics Integrity Unit, has also added a more-transparent database showing tests carried out in 2024 before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, including for both American and Chinese swimmers.
While AQUA has tested Chinese swimmers more than American swimmers, this is not unexpected – AQUA uses a scheme called “targeted testing” that increases testing for certain groups at higher risk for doping, including those who have tested positive before.
World Aquatics lists nine tests for Walsh in 2024. Three are labeled as Out of Competition and six are labeled as In Competition. Two are labeled as “World Aquatics Tests” and seven are labeled as “Non World Aquatics Tests”.
Because those numbers don’t totally line up, it’s hard to know the exact number of times that Walsh has been tested in 2024, but suffice it to say, she has been tested at least 10 times, both in competition and out of competition.
Nothing will dispel a conspiracy-theorist deep enough in the hole, but in this case we have two fairly-independent organizations both reporting a significant number of tests. If we don’t believe that data, then we don’t believe any of it, and the finger-pointing becomes largely moot.
There are many, many, flaws in the current anti-doping system, ones that work to the detriment of clean athletes and the benefit of cheaters regardless of national origin. Gretchen Walsh somehow evading tests is clearly not among them.
I wonder if Summer Mcintosh has ever been tested ,,,
It’s just not the same without Dick Pound threatening to sue somebody. I always envision his rants being delivered in front of Four Seasons Total Landscaping
here’s the link to the 2024 test data for anyone interested: STATISTICS – Aquatics Integrity Unit
It includes non-WA tests which I assume means the national anti-doping agencies. It’s a little surprising how many high-profile athletes don’t have any in-competition tests this year despite winning events at their respective trials. But the out-of-competition tests are much more important anyway.
Where have I seen this before? Accusing someone else of the thing you’ve been caught doing?