Olympic swimmers spoke out about the Chinese doping scandal that has hung over these Paris Olympics as the events finished.

Chinese doping scandal that has hung over these Paris Olympics as the events finished Sunday night.

China won the men’s 4x100-meter medley relay in 3 minutes, 27.46 seconds, with two of the four members on the team listed among 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive ahead of the Tokyo Olympics three years ago. The swimmers were allowed to compete after a Chinese investigation ruled that they consumed food that had been contaminated. 

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The New York Times reported last week that two more Chinese swimmers had tested positive, including one 2024 Olympian, for a banned substance in 2022 but were cleared by Chinese officials to compete.

The World Anti-Doping Agency stood by its decision to clear the 23 swimmers who tested positive for a banned heart medication.

  • zephyreksEnglish
    186·
    5 months ago

    Sprinter Erriyon Knighton tested positive for a banned substance that an arbitration panel determined came from contaminated meat, a decision that keeps the 200-meter specialist eligible to run at the upcoming U.S. Olympic trials.

    Food contamination is a real issue. It helps that everyone tested positive for the exact same substance in basically the exact same concentration, because usually it’s better to design your doping protocols tailored to each athlete’s body and training. Just intuitively, it’s not exactly standard practice to have your entire Olympic-level team shoot up on steroids at the same exact time.

    Nevertheless, the pool isn’t slow: the US set the 1500m free and 4x100 medley women’s records. Meanwhile, WADA has been testing Chinese athletes far more than everyone else.

    Edit: just to be clear, I don’t think his spread is even unreasonable in context. Phelps swam a 22.93 50m and a 47.51 100m (1.65s pace difference). Pan swam a 21.92 50m and a 46.40 100m (2.56s pace difference). For reference, Dressel did 50m in 21.04 and 100m in 46.96… but while Dressel is basically specialized at training for short stints, Pan also trains for 400m events so his back half is expected to not fall off as hard anyway (not to the level of Michael “my lactic acid doesn’t build up” Phelps, though).