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In April the NY Times revealed that a group of elite Chinese swimmers had tested positive for a banned substance, but for reasons that still aren’t clear the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) didn’t follow normal procedures and announce the findings and the names of those involved.
The incident happened in early 2021 about 7 months before the start of the summer Olympics which had been delayed a year because of the pandemic. In all, 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned heart drug called TMZ. China’s doping agency came up with an unconvincing explanation for how this happened.
In their report, Chinese investigators described how many of the country’s best swimmers were staying at the same hotel for a domestic meet in the final days of 2020 and the first days of 2021. Two months after the swimmers tested positive for the banned substance — a prescription heart drug that can enhance performance — Chinese investigators reported finding trace amounts of the substance in the hotel’s kitchen.
Their report offered no evidence of how the drug got there, despite enlisting the help of China’s national police. But they concluded that the swimmers had unwittingly ingested it in small amounts.
For some reason, WADA decided to accept this explanation saying there was no proof that it didn’t happen as China claimed. And this is where things get even more sketchy. In cases like this, the country involved is supposed to make a public announcement naming the athletes involved. China never did. Several of the athletes who tested positive moved on to the Olympics and won five medals, including three gold medals. The US anti-doping agency accused China of cheating and accused WADA of helping them cover it up. In response, WADA denied doing anything wrong and threatened to sue the NY Times and the US anti-doping agency.
