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Asia Pacific|Top Chinese Swimmers Tested Positive for Banned Drug, Then Won
Olympic Gold
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Zhang Yufei, center, was one of 23 top Chinese swimmers who tested positive for
a performance-enhancing drug months before the Tokyo Olympic
Games.Credit...Manan Vatsyayana/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
TOP CHINESE SWIMMERS TESTED POSITIVE FOR BANNED DRUG, THEN WON OLYMPIC GOLD
The case, involving multiple swimmers who seven months later won medals at the
2021 Games, prompted accusations of a cover-up and concerns over why antidoping
regulators chose not to intervene.
Zhang Yufei, center, was one of 23 top Chinese swimmers who tested positive for
a performance-enhancing drug months before the Tokyo Olympic
Games.Credit...Manan Vatsyayana/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
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By Michael S. Schmidt and Tariq Panja
Michael S. Schmidt, who reported from New York, and Tariq Panja, who reported
from London and Lausanne, Switzerland, have both written extensively about
doping in sports.
* April 20, 2024Updated 7:19 a.m. ET
Twenty-three top Chinese swimmers tested positive for the same powerful banned
substance seven months before the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021 but were allowed
to escape public scrutiny and continue to compete after top Chinese officials
secretly cleared them of doping and the global authority charged with policing
drugs in sports chose not to intervene.
Several of the athletes who tested positive — including nearly half of the
swimming team that China sent to the Tokyo Games — went on to win medals,
including three golds. Many still compete for China and several, including the
two-time gold medalist Zhang Yufei, are expected to contend for medals again at
this year’s Summer Games in Paris.
China acknowledged the positive tests in a report by its antidoping regulator,
saying that the swimmers had ingested the banned substance unwittingly and in
tiny amounts, and that no action against them was warranted.
But an examination by The New York Times found that the previously unreported
episode sharply divided the antidoping world, where China’s record has long been
a flashpoint. American officials and other experts said the swimmers should have
been suspended or publicly identified pending further investigation, and they
suggested that the failure to do so rested with Chinese sports officials;
swimming’s international governing body, World Aquatics; and the World
Anti-Doping Agency, the global authority that oversees national drug-testing
programs.
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Those authorities decided not to act despite an email exchange between a Chinese
antidoping official and a top world swimming official appearing to indicate that
a violation may have taken place and would, at the least, have to be publicly
acknowledged.
Even after other national and international antidoping officials repeatedly
provided the global regulator, known as WADA, with intelligence suggesting a
cover-up and doping by Chinese swimmers, the agency chose not to try to hold the
athletes accountable, asserting “a lack of any credible evidence” to challenge
China’s version of events. WADA defended its decision not to take action,
calling the criticism unsubstantiated.
Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.
Michael S. Schmidt is an investigative reporter for The Times covering
Washington. His work focuses on tracking and explaining high-profile federal
investigations. More about Michael S. Schmidt
Tariq Panja is a global sports correspondent, focusing on stories where money,
geopolitics and crime intersect with the sports world. More about Tariq Panja
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