The Aquatics Integrity Unit (AQIU), a unit within World Aquatics which manages all ethical matters within World Aquatics including anti-doping, recently released its anti-doping statistics table for 2024.
Chinese swimmers were by and large the most tested group of the year, taking up the entire top 30 spots on the most tested list. Last spring, news broke of 23 Chinese swimmers failing doping tests before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but still being cleared to compete. In response, World Aquatics formed a committee that, among other actions, amped up testing of Chinese swimmers prior to and during the 2024 Paris Games.
No athlete underwent more tests than 21-year-old Tang Qianting, who won silver in the women’s 100 breaststroke at the Paris Olympic Games and claimed the long course World Championship title in the same event in Doha. Tang took 38 tests in the calendar year, averaging over three per month.
Just behind Tang, the most tested male of the year was fellow Chinese breaststroker Qin Haiyang. Qin holds the world record in the men’s 200 breaststroke, and last summer he helped China claim gold in the men’s 4×100 medley relay and silver in the mixed medley relay. The breaststroker received 35 tests throughout the year.
Qin was one of the swimmers who reportedly tested positive in 2021. At the Paris games, he said the increase in doping tests served as “tricks aim[ed] to disrupt our preparation rhythm and destroy our psychological defense.” China and Chinese swimmers have maintained a stance of innocence since the scandal first broke.
Five-time Paris Olympic medalist Regan Smith was the most tested non-Chinese swimmer. The American was tested 22 times last year. Teammates Kate Douglass and Gretchen Walsh came in just behind Smith with 20 tests each. Smith also topped the chart for most in-competition tests among all nationalities with 13 samples prior to the 2024 Short Course World Championships.
The most tested non-Chinese men were Italy’s Alberto Razzetti and Turkey’s Kuzey Tuncelli with 17 doping tests each.
Top Tested Swimmers In 2024
| Ranking | Chinese Women | Non-Chinese Women | Chinese Men | Non-Chinese Men |
| 1 | Tang Qianting – 38 | Regan Smith – 22 | Qin Haiyang – 35 | Kuzey Tuncelli – 17 |
| 2 | Chen Luying – 34 | Gretchen Walsh – 20 | Dong Zhihao – 34 | Alberto Razzetti – 17 |
| 3 | Yu Yiting – 33 | Kate Douglass – 20 | Fei Liwei – 33 | Leon Marchand – 16 |
| 4 | Ye Shiwen – 33 | Simona Quadrella – 16 | Wang Shun – 32 | Bobby Finke – 16 |
| 5 | Yang Junxuan – 32 | Summer McIntosh – 16 | Wang Haoyu – 31 | Carlos Garach Benito – 15 |
| 6 | Liu Yaxin – 32 | Katie Ledecky – 16 | Sun Jiajun – 31 | Noe Ponti – 14 |
| 7 | Zhang Yufei – 30 | Ana Marcela Cunha – 16 | Pan Zhanle – 31 | Carson Foster – 14 |
| 8 | Li Bingjie – 30 | Lilly King – 15 | Xu Jiayu – 30 | Ryan Murphy – 13 |
| 9 | Yang Chang – 29 | Katie Grimes – 14 | Ji Xinjie – 30 | Hunter Armstrong – 13 |
| 10 | Wan Letian – 29 | Katharine Berkoff – 14 | Wang Changhao – 27 | Guilherme Pereira Da Costa – 12 |
Overall, testing numbers and coverage went up from 2024 compared to 2023. In 2024, 5,568 samples were collected from 1,572 athletes, compared to 5,437 samples from 1,527 samples in the previous year. Their coverage across nationalities also expanded, from 88 countries in 2023 to 109 last year.
wild how little aus swimmers were tested…
mack h did not get tested for 8 or 9 months during the covid pandemic. aus swimmers on a cake walk
That type of reactionary increase was totally unnecessary and impresses nobody. I’m laughing like hell because I guarantee Dick Pound was stupid enough to think of it
Congratulations to WA they have proven that the current testing system doesnt work. The article doesn’t state how many positives there were. So what they need to do is just test these athletes 3 or 4 times a year and take all the money they save and spend it on developing better testing.
Deleted
Chinese and Russian swimmers trying to swim a clean race: Difficulty level – impossible
Interesting how Australian swimmers are nowhere to be found in the non-Chinese top ten and Americans/Europeans are dominating the list. Any reason for that phenomenon?
I think the national authorities tests are not counted in this list.
That still doesn’t account for their low WADA numbers.
Who is Kuzey Tuncelli? That is the most random name on this list. He’s been tested more times like Marchand (albeit by one test) who does something jaw dropping every time he enters the pool.
Edit: typo
You know you can click on their name to see all the articles they’re tagged in right?
So you don’t know either?
You got me
phew. At least I got something correct today.
I sure do. It was definitely less of a literal question and more of a ‘what has he done/accomplished to warrant the most drug tests’. Clicking on his name in the article doesn’t answer that question for me…
He was the youngest man to ever break 15 in the 1500 in 2023, this year he won double Euro Juniors gold, Olympic finalist in the 1500, gold at SCM worlds and the world record in the 1500
WJR holder in the 1500m free. got like 5th at the olympics or smth?
Copying and pasting his name into google (or your search engine of choice) would’ve been less effort than everything you typed, and less effort than coming back to edit it 🤦🏽♂️
1500 free WJR holder, 5th at Olympics, medalist at SC Worlds.
I think he was tested a lot because he raced a lot last year. He was at almost at every senior & junior meets – LC Worlds, Junior Euros, Senior Euros, Olympics and SC Worlds.
Maybe I’m a cynic, but the number of tests is irrelevant when the international federation, national federations and anti-doping organisations have all shown themselves to be corrupt. Those at the top of World Aquatics are less trustworthy than any athlete.
totally agree, only the number of FBI information matters
UKAD is one of them.
You’re misinformed if you think I’m a defender of UKAD.
Couldn’t agree more!!