Photos of legendary swimming coach Michael Bohl with Chinese swimmers rocks Australian team

A legendary Australian swim coach has been pictured with Chinese swimmers who have been at the centre of a doping scandal.

The Australian swim team has been rocked after photos of iconic swim coach Michael Bohl with several Chinese athletes who secretly escaped punishment after testing positive for a banned performance-enhancing drug emerged.

Dressed in a Chinese team shirt and with a big smile, Bohl took happy snaps with swimmers Qin Haiyang and Zhang Yufei.

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The pictures rub salt in the wounds of the Dolphins, who were blindsided by the legendary coach’s decision to defect to China to help them try to beat the Aussies at the upcoming Los Angeles Olympics.

Bohl, who oversaw Olympic superstars such as Emma McKeon and Kaylee McKeown, is now currently coaching 13 Chinese swimmers, including four who competed at the Paris Olympics, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua.

And instead of being poolside for this week’s Australian championships – where he spent decades finetuning Australia’s best in the pool – he is instead overseeing more than a dozen of China’s top swimmers, at least two of which are in the group of 23 competitors who tested positive to trimetazidine (TMZ).

TMZ is the same prohibited drug that controversial Chinese swimmer Sun Yang was previously banned for.

Aussie swim coach Michael Bohl has defected to help Chinese swimmers. Picture via Xinhua

However, Chinese anti-doping authorities (CHINADA) acquitted all 23 swimmers after ruling that the positive samples were caused by contaminated food prepared in a hotel kitchen.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has controversially backed China’s ruling without appealing, sparking serious complaints of bias from various past and present swimmers, many of whom Aussies who feel they were not only robbed of medals but that justice has not been served.

It comes as an investigation by CODE Sports found that 25 Australian swimmers including Emma McKeon, Kyle Chalmers, Ariarne Titmus, Kaylee McKeown, Mollie O’Callaghan and Zac Stubblety-Cook – were all beaten by rivals from China who had tested positive for the banned heart drug during the three-year cycle from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics to the 2024 Paris Games.

Kaylee McKeown with Michael Bohl. Picture: Adam Head

Mack Horton famously took a stand against Sun Yang in 2019. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

The lack of punishment for those Chinese athletes has led to former Australian swimmer Mack Horton, who famously refused to share the podium with Yang due to his questionable doping history, calling out the lack of consistency in his sport.

“We ask questions and push focus to the nth degree on our own shores,” Horton said.

“I don’t know if we draw the line at our border or our nation or if we need to take on more ownership globally, I actually don’t have the answer.

“But if we all want this to work better, and we want a better world, which is kind of a big statement, it starts with us and us being better at expecting high standards of others as well.”

Olympic gold medallist in the 200m breaststroke Zac Stubblety-Cook also echoed Horton’s concerns.

The 26-year-old pointed to the lack of transparency in the Chinese swimmers’ case, saying it was totally unfair that some athletes had been robbed of Olympic glory.

“It’s frustrating to know that medals, moments, and recognition may have been taken away from clean athletes, and yet here we are a year later with little clarity and no real resolution,” he said.

“As athletes, we’re taught that clean sport is non-negotiable, but this situation undermines that principle. It’s frustrating to know that medals, moments, and recognition may have been taken away from clean athletes, and yet here we are a year later with little clarity and no real resolution.”

Originally published as Photos of legendary swimming coach Michael Bohl with Chinese swimmers rocks Australian team