Credit: X
An Australian newspaper claimed that China granted permission to their swimmers to participate in the Tokyo Olympics despite the 23 swimmers tested positive for doping. According to The Daily Telegraph in Sydney, the world governing body cleared the participation of the swimmers after agreeing with Chinese authorities on the part that the tests were contaminated.
The newspapers state that the swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine, which is related to heart medication, at the training camp which took place months before the original scheduling of the summer games in 2020, which was eventually shifted to 2021 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to them, the Chinese anti-doping authorities found the results as Adverse Analytical Findings (AAF).
However, it cleared the participation of the swimmers without imposing any penalties after concluding that the tests were contaminated and were false. It also stated that the World Anti-Doping Agency and World Aquatics were aware of the results of the tests but agreed to the Chinese officials’ decision of contaminated results. The 30 Chinese swimming contingent clinched six medals in the event, including three gold medals.
‘No concrete basis to challenge asserted contamination’: WADA Senior Director
The Daily Telegraph Sydney quoted World Aquatics as saying, “World Aquatics is confident that these AAFs were handled diligently and professionally and in accordance with all applicable anti-doping regulations, including the World Anti-Doping code.”
WADA’s senior director Professor Oliver Rabin was involved in the investigation of the case following the completion of the games. Summarizing the case, he said, “We even sought pharmacokinetic and metabolism information from the manufacturer of (trimetazidine) in assessing the plausibility of the contamination scenario that was presented to WADA.”
He added, “Ultimately, we concluded that there was no concrete basis to challenge the asserted contamination. Indeed, the contamination scenario was further supported by the combination of the consistently low concentrations of (trimetazidine) as well as no doping pattern with several athletes presenting multiple samples collected over the course of several days which fluctuated between negative and positive.”
