Top Chinese swimmers tested positive for banned drug, then won Olympic gold

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.

US 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.

The episode also exposes shortcomings in the system set up to police doping in sports, with one of the world’s most powerful countries able to send athletes who had recently tested positive for a banned drug to the world’s highest-profile athletic competition, where they set world and Olympic records without any public disclosure.

WADA confirmed in a statement that it had “carefully reviewed the decision” made by the Chinese and chose not to act after consulting scientists and external legal counsel “to thoroughly test the contamination theory presented by Chinada”. “World Aquatics is confident that these AAFs were handled diligently and professionally, and in accordance with all applicable anti-doping regulations, including the World Anti-Doping Code,” it said, referring to adverse analytical findings, the term for positive tests.

The story of the positive tests began unfolding a year into the coronavirus pandemic, a period when anti-doping authorities feared that travel bans and closed borders in many countries would make it easier to cheat. Those restrictions would reduce the opportunities for testing at international events and lead to an almost-total reliance on national anti-doping agencies.

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