As the calendar marches toward the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee continues to work keeping the Games clean.
With thousands of athletes from all over the world, it sometimes takes several months and even years to test and analyze all of the samples used to test for doping.
It was found that 23 members of the Chinese swimming team who tested positive for banned substances; including some who had earned medals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The World Anti-Doping Agency knew of the positive results but kept silent about the matter. China claimed that the athletes “unknowingly” ingested a small amount of the banned substance and are innocent. WADA agreed with China.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has accused WADA of “secretly [sweeping] these positives under the carpet”. Calling the results “crushing” and “devastating”, USADA CEO Travis Tygart said, “clean athletes have been deeply and painfully betrayed by the system”.
Tygart added, “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.”
The news that the Chinese athletes are “innocent” comes shortly after it was determined that a then 15 year old ice skater also tested positive for a banned substance and although “innocent” is facing a multi year ban from all Olympic events.
WADA and CHINADA are calling WADA’s actions and reports “misleading”. WADA has threatened legal action over the USADA’s remarks.
Eight months prior to the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021, China held a swim meet. CHINADA administered 60 tests to 39 swimmers; 28 of those samples belonging to 23 swimmers were positive. The testes positive for “traces of trimetazidine” – TMZ – the very same substance that caused such a stir at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing and Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva; who is now banned.
On March 15 CHINADA sent an email to the world swimming body asking that all information be kept confidential. But it was also noted that the “initial review and preliminary investigation shows that these are not normal [positives].”
In June – one month before the Tokyo Games – CHINADA informed WADA of the positive results; BUT claimed the swimmers were “inadvertently exposed to the substance through contamination.”
Supposedly the Chinese Ministry of Public Safety investigated the situation and “found traces of the TMZ in vents, spice containers and sink drains in the kitchen of the Huayang Holiday Hotel” – the hotel where the swimmers stayed for the meet.
While WADA conducted their own investigation; it was still in the middle of strict Covid protocols and visiting the site of the incident was not possible. In the end they concluded that the claims could not be disproven and allowed the swimmers to continue competing.
Thirteen of the 23 swimmers who tested positive for TMZ competed at the Tokyo Games and brought home some medals from the events.
USA Swimming head coach Greg Meehan noted, “complete lack of transparency by WADA / CHINADA inconsistent handling of positive tests is appalling. (He also pointed out that the “timing of these events coinciding with the fact that Beijing was about to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games is no coincidence.”)
WADA may not be interested in investigating any further but the United States federal law enforcement agency the FBI is very interested in the case. In 2019 the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act was passed which allows the U.S. Department of Justice can prosecute a non-citizen for corrupting international sports via doping.
No matter what the outcome, the implications of mistrust impropriety in the Olympic Games.
Speaking on the reports presented by WADA, CEO of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said via statement, “we are deeply disheartened to read these reports. “All athletes, both in the United States and around the world, deserve to have confidence in the integrity and fairness of their competitions. The recent allegations of doping cast a shadow of uncertainty as we head into the Olympic and Paralympic cycle, challenging the very foundation of what fair competition stands for.”