Outrage in China over US “double standards” on doping at the Olympics

[艹艹艹]

Outrage in China over US “double standards” on doping at the Olympics​

After months of pressure against China, the US admits and even stands by an illegal scheme involving athletes who violated doping rules.

August 15, 2024 by Mauro Ramos

In the last days of the Paris Olympics, Chinese media, agencies and social media users showed outrage at the United States’ attitude towards doping in the competition.

This past Monday August 12, the hashtag “China guarantees significant victory in the anti-doping battle against the USA”, was trending for more than 4 hours on Weibo, the Chinese social network equivalent to Twitter. The hashtag refers to the understanding that China had managed to overcome “extreme pressure from the United States”, without letting its athletes be affected by the doping campaign promoted by the United States. China tied with the USA with 40 gold medals and came in second place, based on the number of silver medals (44 against 27). It is also worth remembering that both Hong Kong and Taiwan won two gold medals each, which led Chinese social media users to count 44 gold medals for China.

In April, two months before the games began, The New York Times and German broadcaster ARD published a story with the headline: “Top Chinese Swimmers Test Positive for Banned Drug and Win Olympic Gold.” The report was about a positive test of Chinese swimmers for trimetazidine (TMZ), during competition in China in June 2021, just before the Tokyo Olympics.

Following publication, other US media and the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) accused China of disrespecting international rules. USADA President Travis Tygart accused the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) of covering up, together with the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA), the use of the drug by Chinese swimmers. In an interview with Politico, Tygart even stated that WADA and Chinese athletes threatened to make the Paris Olympics a “disaster”.

In turn, both WADA and the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) rejected the insinuations and accusations. The Chinese agency stated that what it had found at the time was an “extremely low concentration” of TMZ, which investigated the “organization of the event, accommodation, use of medicines and supplements, as well as doping testing procedures”, and concluded that the athletes were exposed to the substance through food/environment contamination as a result of TMZ detected in the event kitchen. The body decided not to hold the athletes responsible, and informed both WADA and World Aquatics (formerly the International Swimming Federation [FINA]), the only regulatory body for water sports worldwide.

Following the report, WADA released a statement stating that its Science department analyzed the case in June and July 2021, collecting “additional unpublished scientific information about TMZ” and consulting independent scientific experts, both to “test the theory of contamination” as to verify whether low doses of TMZ could have benefited the athletes. Based on the data, the agency concluded that it was not possible to question the contamination hypothesis and that the athletes would not be considered guilty or negligent.

An important piece of information revealed in the international agency’s statement was that USADA contacted WADA last year to inform them that “an unspecified source” reported to them that positive cases of TMZ had been hidden by China.

“This information was clearly erroneous as TMZ’s positive cases had been reported and decided by CHINADA, as well as thoroughly reviewed by WADA and World Aquatics, almost two years earlier,” WADA said in its statement.

In other words, the United States had the information since 2023, but only decided to make the matter public two months before the Paris Olympics.

In fact, reports of alleged cover-ups of doping cases in Chinese swimming had been made by the United States to WADA, as early as 2020, even before the case of TMZ contamination in 2021.

Both Wada and the Chinese agency said they could take legal action for defamation.

Imbalance in testing​

The campaign ended up resulting in the Chinese swimming team having the highest average number of anti-doping tests per athlete heading to Paris. Adding up all the tests conducted by different anti-doping organizations, China was the swimming team (among the largest) that was subjected to the most tests at these Olympics, and by an important difference, according to data from World Aquatics .

With 46 swimmers, the United States had an average of 6 tests per athlete, while China, with 31 swimmers, had an average of 21 tests per athlete. The average for other countries (all from the Global North, see chart) was also well below that applied to China.

Media hype and accusations of doping skyrocketed after Chinese swimmer Pan Zhanle’s and China team won gold. Zhanle broke his own world record in the men’s 100 meters freestyle. Australian coach Brett Hawke stated that the record was “humanly impossible”. Clearly the amount of testing functioned as a way to fuel the speculation about doping on the Chinese team.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes’ Commission member Pau Gasol said he found the situation “regrettable”. “We saw the number of tests that Chinese swimmers were exposed to just to ensure and give peace of mind to the rest of the world…especially USADA, to see that there is nothing, that there is absolutely nothing.” Gasol, a former Spanish basketball player, called for respect for the authority of WADA and its testing system.

Absurd twist at the end ​

Four days before the end of the Olympics, the United States pivoted to a vehement defense of violations of the global anti-doping code. On August 7, Reuters revealed a scheme used by the US agency that allowed drug rule violators to continue competing to act as informants, from 2011 to 2014.

WADA, which was informed of the scheme in 2021, stated that the practice violated international rules. After the article was released, WADA released a statement confirming the allegations.

The international agency revealed that there was a case of an elite athlete who “competed in Olympic qualifiers and international events in the United States, admitted to having taken steroids and EPO [erythropoietin, a substance that can be used for doping], but was allowed to continue competing until retirement.”

“His case was never published, the results were never disqualified, the prize money was never returned and no suspension was served,” reported WADA.

In response to Reuters, Tygart defended the illegal scheme carried out by the organization he represents: “It’s an effective way of dealing with these larger, systemic problems…If you have agents or others who are preying on athletes and trafficking…I think which is entirely appropriate.”

CHINADA called for an independent investigation into the case. “USADA has long ignored its own anti-doping deficiencies while trying to impose double standards on other countries, exposing their hypocritical and inconsistent approach to anti-doping law enforcement,” the Chinese agency said in a note to the Global Times.

The Chinese agency also called for more tests to be carried out on athletes from the United States, citing the recent example of sprinter Erriyon Knighton who tested positive for the anabolic steroid called Trenbolone in March this year, but was cleared by USADA to compete in Paris, under the claim that the result was due to eating meat.

“Why did USADA never warn American athletes about the risk of trenbolone contamination in meat?” asked the Chinese agency.

“If trenbolone is indeed a common contaminant in the United States, CHINADA would like to remind athletes around the world, including American athletes, to pay close attention to the meat contamination problem in the country.”