Drug testers promised to heavily target Chinese swimmers. They kept their word

Paris: China’s top swimmers have been drug tested five times more on average than Australian athletes this year in the lead-up to Paris 2024 ahead of an Olympic competition where tensions could spill over onto the pool deck.

The lead-up to the Games in Paris has been shrouded in controversy following revelations in April that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to small doses of trimetazidine in early 2021 but were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.

The World Anti-Doping Agency accepted China’s version of events, after a state-run investigation, that the athletes’ food was contaminated in a kitchen.

Last week, this masthead published figures showing just how much drug-testers had targeted Chinese athletes last year but those efforts have been ramped up even more in the months leading into the biggest sporting event on the planet.

Since January 1, the 31 swimmers who will represent China at these Olympics have been tested 21 times on average – almost once a week – by World Aquatics and other anti-doping agencies, such as the International Testing Agency (ITA).

World Aquatics documents show that China’s Tang Qianting, favoured to win gold in the women’s 100m breaststroke, has been tested 23 times since the beginning of the year. It is the equal-highest number of tests in the world, along with teammates Wang Haoyu, Ji Xinjie, Yang Junxuan and Cheng Yujie.

By comparison, Australian swimmers who will compete in the pool have been tested four times on average since January. Moesha Johnson (7), Isaac Cooper (6), Shayna Jack (6) and Brianna Throssell (6) have been tested the most of the Australians, while gold medal hopes Mollie O’Callaghan (5) and Ariarne Titmus (5) have escaped the same level of scrutiny of their Chinese counterparts.

China has sent 11 of the 23 swimmers to France who were involved in the doping scandal. They include Zhang Yufei, a 200m butterfly and 4x200 freestyle relay gold medallist, as well as Wang Shun, who is the No.1 ranked swimmer and reigning Olympic champion in the men’s 200m individual medley.

Drug-testers are showing no mercy and desperate to make sure cheats are caught. The 31 athletes who have been tested the most in 2024 are all from China.

World record holder Qin Haiyang, who tested positive for TMZ before Tokyo, was subjected to 46 tests in 2023 and has already had to take another 21 this year as he looks to clinch a maiden Olympic gold medal. Qin will be up against Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook, who finished second to the rising Chinese star in the 200m breaststroke event at last year’s world championships in Japan.

World Aquatics says this has been a “successful implementation of the most comprehensive and rigorous testing programme in its history”.

“It is our top priority that our athletes compete in a clean and fair competition,” said World Aquatics president Husain Al-Musallam. “Our rigorous testing programme reflects our dedication to upholding the highest standards of integrity in aquatic sports and we are grateful for the ITA’s partnership in conducting it.”

Australian swimmers are privately upset at the lack of transparency from WADA and have lost faith in the system.

Australian freestyler Shayna Jack served a two-year ban after testing positive to Ligandrol in 2019, which deprived her of competing in Tokyo. Jack spent years fighting to clear her name after test results were made public.

“For now, I’m just focusing on my dream and not letting anything crush that,” Jack told this masthead last month at Australia’s Olympic trials in Brisbane.

The Olympic swimming program starts on Saturday, with gold medals up for grabs in the men’s and women’s 400m freestyle, as well as both 4x100m freestyle relays.

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