World Aquatics revealed earlier this month that Chinese athletes were being tested for banned substances more frequently than others in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics, and on Tuesday the global governing body released the full testing data for all aquatics athletes thus far in 2024.
World Aquatics reports that it has conducted a total of 2,145 anti-doping tests—organized by the International Testing Agency (ITA)—on athletes participating in the Olympic Games since January 1. Including other anti-doping organizations, 4,774 tests have been taken, meaning aquatics athletes competing in Paris have been tested an average of 3.4 times.
Relative to the lead-up to the 2016 Olympics in Rio and the 2021 Games in Tokyo, the amount of anti-doping tests conducted has seen a notable increase.
Note that the table below shows the total number of tests conducted on aquatics athletes, not solely those competing at the Olympic Games.
| Olympic Games Edition | Tests From Jan. 1 Until Start of Olympics (World Aquatics) | In-Competition tests | Out-of-Competition Tests |
Athletes Tested
|
| Rio 2016 | 2648 | 487 | 2161 | 1041 |
| Tokyo 2020 | 2002 | 208 | 1794 | 876 |
| Paris 2024 | 2958 | 702 | 2256 | 1283 |
Following the Chinese doping scandal that came to light in April, World Aquatics reports that Chinese swimmers were the most tested athletes by a wide margin this year.
Since January 1, the 31 swimmers who will represent China at the Paris Olympics have each been tested at least 10 times by World Aquatics, and on average each swimmer has been tested 13 times (not including tests from other organizations).
“World Aquatics conducted a total of 418 tests through this program. All Chinese swimmers have been tested out-of-competition at least eight times by World Aquatics, independently of any other anti-doping organization and using a WADA-accredited laboratory based in Europe.
“Including tests conducted by other anti-doping organizations, Chinese swimmers have been tested on average 21 times since 1 January 2024. Australian swimmers have been tested an average of four times in the same period, and USA swimmers an average of six times.”
The World Aquatics Integrity Unit has published all of the testing statistics for aquatics athletes, showing that, including tests carried out by organizations outside of World Aquatics, Chinese swimmers competing at the Olympics have been tested an average of 21 times this year. That’s compared to six times on average for the American team and four times for the Australian team.
Multi-time world champion and world record holder Qin Haiyang has been tested 21 times in 2024, while defending Olympic champions Wang Shun and Zhang Yufei have received 22 and 19 total tests, respectively.
Testing Statistics – Eight Largest NOC Swimming Delegations In Paris
| NOC | Number of Swimmers |
Average Tests per Swimmer
|
| USA | 46 | 6 |
| AUS | 41 | 4 |
| ITA | 36 | 5 |
| CHN | 31 | 21 |
| GBR | 30 | 4 |
| FRA | 29 | 4 |
| CAN | 28 | 4 |
| JPN | 27 | 4 |
| GER | 25 | 4 |
| HUN | 21 | 5 |
“It is our top priority that our athletes compete in a clean and fair competition,” said Husain Al-Musallam, President of World Aquatics.
“Our rigorous testing program reflects our dedication to upholding the highest standards of integrity in aquatic sports and we are grateful for the ITA’s partnership in conducting it.”
The Chinese team nutritionist Yu Liang reported that the increased testing on Chinese swimmers continued upon their arrival in Paris, posting on social media (now deleted) that the 31 athletes had been tested almost 200 times during their first 10 days.
Low number for AUS
Too little too late. World Aquatics wanting to appear like it has some guardian role at the very last minute, when in reality they turn a blind eye to China throughout the Olympic cycle.
can anyone that might be familiar with drug testing or just blood testing in general give me an idea of the process of checking the blood once it gets to the lab and how long that generally takes? Is it just put in a machine and the machine is given parameters to look for? I don’t really know how it works but it seems like sometimes it takes a day or two and other times it takes months
That’s a great question. Probably won’t happen until after next week, but I’ll see if we can get someone from one of the labs to do an interview.
I like that ITA/WA reported out YTD test numbers now, rather than waiting for a year-end report. I think that’s a good step and something I hope they continue with (quarterly updates on tests per athlete seems reasonable). But the info doesn’t mean a whole lot without knowing how many of those tests were negative or positive. I’d even take deidentified info on # of positive tests if they aren’t ready to reveal the specific athlete or nation.
Why must the 2020s be a kafkaesque nightmare?
Every decade in human history has been a kafkaesque nightmare. It’s something we as a species have sort of perfected.
Thanks for the information. It seems like