46 tests in 52 weeks: How China’s swimmers are being targeted by drug testers

Paris: China’s best swimmers are being targeted by drug testers more than any other country in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics as doping data reveals the close eye being kept on athletes who will go head-to-head with Australia’s best in the coming weeks.

It comes as China’s team nutritionist claimed, in a now-deleted social media post, that team members had tested nearly 200 times in the 10 days since arriving in France.

World swimming was rocked by news in April that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive to trimetazidine (TMZ) before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Athletes were not provisionally banned and allowed to compete because the World Anti-Doping Agency accepted China’s explanation that it was a case of contamination.

Earlier this month, World Aquatics announced that Chinese swimmers going to the Paris Olympics would be drug tested at least “eight times” in 2024 before the competition begins on Saturday.

However, drug-testing data, seen by this masthead, reveals that the International Testing Agency (ITA) had Chinese swimmers in its sights before news of their positive tests were made public in April.

Of the top 20 tested swimmers in 2023, all were Chinese, including multiple Olympic medallists.

Zac Stubblety-Cook placed second to Qin Haiyang in the men’s 200m breaststroke final at the world championships in 2023.Credit: Getty

Qin Haiyang, the main rival of Australian breaststroker and reigning Olympic champion Zac Stubblety-Cook, was one of the 23 swimmers who tested positive to TMZ three years ago.

According to World Aquatics records, which is managed by the Aquatics Integrity Unit, Qin was subjected to 46 drug tests last year, which was the most of any swimmer in the world.

Qin, who barely competed in longcourse (50-metre pool) swimming in 2022, won gold medals in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke events at last year’s world championships in Japan.

The 25-year-old also broke Stubblety-Cook’s 200m world record.

The data also shows that China’s Zhang Yufei (43 times) and Li Bingjie (42) were tested in and out of competition in 2023. Like Qin, Zhang Yufei was also embroiled in the controversy, as were a number of other swimmers.

Yu Yiting (31 tests), Liu Yaxin (29), Pan Zhanle (29) and Yang Junxuan (27) are next on the list of the most tested pool swimmers in 2023.

Even China’s Sun Yang, who was serving a suspension last year, was tested 10 times.

In comparison, Australian athletes were not subjected to anywhere near the same level of drug testing.

Kaylee McKeown, who also won three gold medals in Japan last year, underwent 11 drug tests in 2023, slightly more than fellow world champions Mollie O’Callaghan (10), Kyle Chalmers (8) and Shayna Jack (8).

Ariarne Titmus, Cam McEvoy and Zac Stubblety-Cook were each tested seven times.

Hong Kong’s Siobhan Bernadette Haughey (17) was the most tested non-Chinese swimmer, ahead of USA’s Robert Finke (16) and Canada’s Summer McIntosh (16).

World Aquatics has said it will publish details of tests undertaken this year before the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday.

Meanwhile, the South China Morning Post reported that China’s swimming team nutritionist, Yu Liang, had commented publicly about the amount of testing the group has been subjected to in France.

“We came [for the tests] at six in the morning and during the lunch break – we had nowhere to take a rest but a sofa in the hotel lobby,” Yu wrote on Weibo, in a post that has since reportedly been deleted. “We came again at 9pm, and had to stay up until the middle of the night.”

China has sent 31 swimmers to the Olympics. Yu said swimmers were tested five to seven times in the 10 days since they arrived on July 6.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams was asked on Saturday about the China issue.

“The way that ITA works, as you know, is they pick out sports and individuals who they think should be tested more,” Adams said. “ITA will continue to do targeted testing, and that may or may not include those athletes.”

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