The controversy following a report last month that revealed positive drug tests in Chinese swimmers in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics continued to escalate in the past week, with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) standing by its handling of the situation amid growing criticism from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and elsewhere.
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With less than 12 weeks until the swimming competition begins at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, the issue has renewed questions of transparency in policing doping and sparked a war of words between major governing agencies, all at a high-profile time.
What happened
On April 20, reporting from The New York Times and German broadcaster ARD revealed that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned substance seven months before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 — and were never punished. The banned substance was trimetazidine (TMZ), a prescription heart drug that can enhance performance by increasing blood flow to the heart.
Some of the athletes who tested positive went on to medal in Tokyo, performances that included three gold medals. The swimmers were allowed to compete in the Olympics after WADA accepted China’s findings that suggested the Chinese swimmers unwittingly ingested the substance from food they ate at a hotel in Shijiazhuang, in the country’s Hebei Province.
Chinese investigators did not say how the banned substance got into the hotel’s kitchen. Two months after the swimmers tested positive, investigators reported finding trace amounts of the substance in spice containers, sink drains and extractor vents in the hotel’s kitchen, an explanation that many anti-doping experts question.
According to a 61-page report compiled by those investigators and reviewed by The New York Times, 60 tests were conducted on 39 swimmers, whose urine samples produced 28 positives involving 23 swimmers. All of the samples tested positive for the same drug — TMZ.
Why this has sparked controversy
Questions remain regarding how Chinese authorities handled the samples, which were supposed to be immediately sent to an accredited laboratory that would analyze findings and report them to WADA and World Aquatics, the sport’s international governing body. The results were not reported to the tracking site until two months after the samples were taken.
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Even trace amounts of this banned substance are supposed to register as a failed drug test and prompt punishment. The chain of events that followed the testing differed significantly from what happened a year later when Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for TMZ (and also blamed contaminated food). In that circ*mstance, WADA immediately challenged the Russian anti-doping agency’s decision to clear her, and she was ultimately given a four-year ban.
But in the lead-up to Tokyo, there were no suspensions and no public disclosures. WADA didn’t stop any of the swimmers who tested positive from competing in an Olympic qualifying event and ultimately the Olympic Games.
What WADA is saying
The day of the Times’ report, WADA released a lengthy statement defending its decision to accept the conclusions made by the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) — that the swimmers had tested positive in early 2021 for TMZ after inadvertently being exposed to the substance through contamination. The statement emphasized their review process and said that an on-the-ground inquiry was not possible due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“WADA ultimately concluded that it was not in a position to disprove the possibility that contamination was the source of TMZ and it was compatible with the analytical data in the file,” the statement said. “WADA also concluded that, given the specific circ*mstances of the asserted contamination, the athletes would be held to have no fault or negligence. As such, and based on the advice of external counsel, WADA considered that an appeal was not warranted.”
WADA also said it was asked in 2022 by the International Testing Agency to review its sample collection and reporting process, and that an independent review “concluded that proper procedures had been followed and that there was no evidence of wrongdoing.”
WADA also threatened to take legal action against those publishing “misleading and potentially defamatory” coverage of the events.
Zhang Yufei, one of the Chinese swimmers who tested positive for TMZ, beat out Americans Regan Smith and Hali Flickinger to win the 200-meter butterfly in Tokyo. (Tom Pennington / Getty Images)
What USADA is saying
The same day, Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, went scorched earth.
“It is disappointing to see WADA stoop to threats and scare tactics when confronted with a blatant violation of the rules governing anti-doping,” Tygart said in a statement. “When you blow away their rhetoric, the facts remain as have been reported: WADA failed to provisionally suspend the athletes, disqualify results, and publicly disclose the positives. These are egregious failures, even if you buy their story that this was contamination and a potent drug ‘magically appeared’ in a kitchen and led to 23 positive tests of elite Chinese swimmers. …
“Transparency is the key to shining the light in the darkness, and here, by not following the rules, WADA and CHINADA have left clean athletes in the dark.”
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WADA then fired back by stating it was “astonished by the outrageous, completely false and defamatory remarks” from Tygart while reiterating its view that it acted appropriately in deciding not to appeal the case.
The latest developments
In response to the blowback, WADA on April 25 announced a new review of its process via an independent prosecutor, Eric Cottier. That also drew criticism from USADA, as WADA hand-picked the Swiss attorney to conduct the review. Last week, WADA defended Cottier’s reputation and said he was “entirely independent.”
Also last week, WADA published a six-page fact sheet to defend its actions (and inaction) further. It mentioned that WADA does not have the authority to issue a provisional suspension, and it reiterated that WADA believed the Chinese investigators and the kitchen contamination scenario.
WADA also stated that, “based on the concentrations of TMZ detected in the athletes’ samples, there would have been no performance benefit during the national competition on January (1-3,) 2021, let alone at subsequent events such as the Olympic Games in Tokyo some seven months later.”
“WADA understands that some stakeholders may disagree with the outcome of this case,” the fact sheet reads. “However, to leap to conspiracy theories of cover-ups and favoritism towards China is outrageous, without basis and defamatory.”
Meanwhile, a growing chorus of organizations are criticizing the investigation. The World Players Association issued a statement last week calling for reforms in WADA’s process, and the Team USA Athletes’ Commission and USA Swimming’’ Athletes’ Advisory Council sent a letter to the White House asking for an independent investigation of the case.
Wang Shun, another of the swimmers to test positive for TMZ, became the second Chinese man to win an individual swimming gold when he took the 200-meter IM in Tokyo. (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
Where swimming goes from here
A number of high-profile swimmers who swam against the Chinese swimmers who tested positive for TMZ have shared their reactions to these revelations — and their support for USADA. It’s hard to imagine this storyline fading away anytime soon, considering that some of the same Chinese swimmers (including Zhang Yufei, who won gold in the 200-meter butterfly and as part of the 4×200-meter freestyle relay) will be contending for medals again in Paris.
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Five-time U.S. Olympic medalist Lilly King posted on Instagram after the news broke, “Complete heartbreak for our clean athletes and frustration in the system that has failed them.”
The 2024 Games open July 26, and Cottier’s report is due before then. International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said recently he had “full confidence” in WADA and did not think the situation should affect Chinese swimmers’ participation in Paris.
“If the procedures are followed, there is no reason for them not to be there,” Bach told French news agency AFP. “It is not possible that you will just throw an allegation to an athlete which is not supported by the relevant authorities — in this case, WADA — and then you say, OK, for these reasons, because some people are not happy, you keep them away from the Olympic Games.”
It will likely be hard for many Olympic swimmers to trust WADA after it took three years for such a large number of failed tests to be made public. It will also likely be difficult for them to believe that WADA is doing what’s best for all of its international athletes when its defense so far essentially amounts to, We just trusted CHINADA.
Expect this case to be a topic of conversation at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis and beyond.
GO DEEPERTorri Huske enters the Olympic grind, with one goal in mind for Paris(Photo of China’s Zhang Yufei competing in the 200-meter butterfly final in Tokyo: Clive Rose / Getty Images)
Nicole Auerbach covers college football and college basketball for The Athletic. A leading voice in college sports, she also serves as a studio analyst for the Big Ten Network and a radio host for SiriusXM. Nicole was named the 2020 National Sports Writer of the Year by the National Sports Media Association, becoming the youngest national winner of the prestigious award. Before joining The Athletic, she covered college football and college basketball for USA Today. Follow Nicole on Twitter @NicoleAuerbach
