World Aquatics appears to be making good on its vow to drug test Chinese swimmers more frequently leading up to the Paris Olympics next week.
During the Chinese Olympic swimming squad’s first 10 days in Paris, its roster of 31 athletes has already been drug tested almost 200 times in total, according to a since-deleted social media post on Weibo by team nutritionist Yu Liang. If those numbers are indeed accurate, that comes out to about six tests per swimmer.
“We came [for the tests] at six in the morning and during the lunch break — we had nowhere to take a rest but a sofa in the hotel lobby,” Yu wrote. “We came again at 9 p.m., and had to stay up until the middle of the night.”
Eleven Chinese Olympic swimmers in Paris were implicated in a 2021 doping controversy involving 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ). They were never punished after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) declined to dispute China’s assertion that they unwittingly ingested the heart medication due to contamination in their hotel kitchen.
World Aquatics said last week that Chinese Olympic swimmers will be tested by the International Testing Agency “no less than eight times” from Jan. 1, 2024 until the start of the Paris Olympics.
Both World Aquatics and a Swiss prosecutor reviewed the 2021 Chinese doping controversy and determined earlier this month that WADA handled the case according to protocol. However, the U.S. federal investigation into the scandal remains ongoing and criticism has continued with Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt testifying at a recent Congressional hearing. In May, seven-time Olympic champion Katie Ledecky said her faith in the anti-doping system “is at an all-time low.”
Last month, the New York Times reported that Wang Shun, Yang Junxuan, and Qin Haiyang tested positive for another banned substance in 2016 and 2017, but their levels of clenbuterol were between six and 50 times below the minimum reporting level. Wang, Yang, and Qin also tested positive for TMZ in January of 2021 along with Zhang Yufei, about seven months before the Summer Games in Tokyo. Wang, Yang, and Zhang went on to win Olympic gold medals in Tokyo while Qin broke the world record in the 200 breast last year.
When reports first surfaced in April surrounding the 2021 Chinese doping controversy, China denied any fault and called the allegations of doping “fake news.”
I listened to Victor Conte’s newest interview. What struck me is that he noted how far ahead the scientist are from having the athletes getting caught-he mentioned that new drugs that are not included in the testing measures will continue to be used for performance enhancement. The tests today do not reflect the newer ways to cheat–look how long it took to get EPO added for testing, Conte’s “clear” added, and older meds that are abused in off label ways-such as the heart medicines. And, remember, as in Sochi-all that was done was to switch urine through the wall! I still would like Shirley Babashoff to be presented with her legit gold medals.
Victor conte (remember him from Balco?) just has a new piece up done by Insider. Now that apparently he’s flipped (eye roll inserted here) it’s a must watch for anyone that cares about doping in sports.
Especially relevant is where he explains that the drugs continue to assist for days, months and sometimes even years after taking.
You still feel like you need a shower to wash away the slime after watching this guy. But anyone that wants clean sports should be listening to what he’s saying.
I watched it. And yes, that guy obviously has an ego and is a piece of trash.
I learned things. But I felt dirty having to learn it from that slime ball.
How can people just say random things and get away with it? Lmao 3 upvotes, what a joke.
I don’t mind people saying random things.
But I hate people who spread lies just to create chaos. They should be banned.
Yea that’s what I meant to say, bro is just purposefully spreading misinformation.
I’m really surprised (sad?) that OP has 9 upvotes, what he is saying is just completely made up.
I didn’t know the other side would stoop so low as to upvote completely bogus information.
Why aren’t everyone tested equally?
Most teams didn’t have 23 swimmers pop a positive and then attempt to hide it
Why even bother? We already have seen if they test positive nothing happens.
Are there any TMZ infested Chinese restaurants in Paris?
So now were testing them intensively. Great. Pro tip for WADA. Performance enhancers are used and most relevant waaaaaay before a couple weeks out from competition.
But congrats on your new found responsibility…. or something….
Zhang Yufei was tested 43 times last year. Qin Haiyang was tested 46. I guess by your standards they definitely were clean all of last year then?
Didn’t those two test positive twice?
Last year, Chinese swimmers were tested WAY MORE than swimmers from other countries, including American swimmers.
Look it up.
Playing devils advocate: If you are someone who buys into the state sponsored narrative then a large number of out of competition tests conducted by presumably CHINADA is not going to alleviate your concerns that some conspiracy is going on behind closed doors.
Regarding in competition testing, as mentioned a number of times in these comments, it would be pretty negligent of a doper to be caught with drugs in their system at the time of competition.
I know you’re not advocating for this but the people who believe that are just racist.
If your position is “I don’t care how many tests there are, when the tests are or what the results, I am 100% convinced that people from a particular country aren’t legit” then you are racist
Is there a source for how many times each athlete has been tested in a given time period. I heard indirectly that there was a rumor on Chinese social media that Alex Walsh hasn’t been tested at all in 2024.
But that seems unlikely to me. Any way to check?
There are overlapping anti-doping authorities. It’s not always clear which databases include testing from which authorities, and many of those authorities (like AQUA) don’t always report cases in real time.
The USADA website is about the most timely in reporting for tests done in America, but the site is down right now. Will check shortly. It’s pretty unlikely that a swimmer of her caliber would make it through Trials without being tested, but I’ll check.
Thanks, Braden! It did seem unlikely to me.
Of course, there are multiple reasons for low/high numbers of tests. I know that doping authorities often target athletes whose previous tests show “unusual” values, so have few tests *could* be seen as relative lack of suspicion. But of course if the number is very low, there’s no data to be “not suspicious” about.
Anyway, thanks for looking into it! Let me know if you find an answer.
USADA has tested her 5 times this year. Twice in the first quarter, three times in the second quarter.
So…the “she hasn’t been tested this year” wasn’t true even before Trials.
She also would have been tested by the NCAA for sure. Seems probable she would have been tested by AQUA as well, but can’t verify that yet.
Thanks, Braden! That’s good to hear, and sorry to have rebroadcast a false rumor!
5 is still a farily small number, but it’s a lot more than zero, and like you said there may have been other tests from other bodies.