By Tom Decent
Olympic gold medallist Zac Stubblety-Cook says he has to trust doping authorities have followed the correct processes after it was revealed 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned substance before the Tokyo Olympics but were still allowed to compete.
It comes as Travis Tygart, chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), slammed the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for not disclosing China’s positive drug results three years ago.
More than half of China’s swimming team tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) just seven months before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 but were granted permission to continue competing.
According to a New York Times report: “China acknowledged the positive tests in a report by its anti-doping regulator, saying the swimmers had ingested the banned substance unwittingly and in tiny amounts, and that no action against them was warranted.”
WADA accepted China’s version of events that athletes were inadvertently exposed to the substance in a kitchen of a hotel where the swimmers had stayed and agreed there were only low amounts of the drug.
Qin Haiyang, a male Chinese breaststroker, was revealed by the New York Times as one of the swimmers who tested positive to TMZ before Tokyo.
China’s Qin Haiyang (right) after winning a gold medal over Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook in the men’s 200m breaststroke final at the 2023 world championships. Credit: Getty
Stubblety-Cook won Olympic gold in the 200m breaststroke in Tokyo but two years later lost his world record in the same event to Qin, after the rising Chinese star claimed a memorable world championships gold medal in July.
Stubblety-Cook touched the wall in second place and watched as Qin celebrated loudly above him on the lane rope.
Qin, who won another two breaststroke gold medals at last year’s world championships, is eligible to compete at the upcoming Paris Olympics later this year.
Asked about his reaction to the story, Stubblety-Cook told this masthead: “That’s up to WADA and that whole system. I’m an athlete and I just have to trust the system.”
Zac Stubblety-Cook, Qin Haiyang and Matt Fallon at the World Championships in 2023.Credit: Getty
Australian freestyler Kyle Chalmers echoed Stubblety-Cook’s comments.
“I love being Australian. It is so frowned upon to be a doper in Australia,” Chalmers told reporters at the Australian Open Swimming Championships. “It gets so hugely criticised. I’m very, very proud to be an Australian and I’m very proud that I know that everyone here is, I believe, to be clean.
“I’m forever getting tested, so I hope that that’s happening globally as well. I’m getting random drug tests all the time, almost weekly at the moment leading into the Olympics.”
Australia’s women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics behind China, who broke the world record. Credit: Getty
Ariarne Titmus was a member of Australia’s women’s 4x200m freestyle team in Tokyo that won a bronze medal behind China, who finished first in a world record time.
China’s Zhang Yufei swam in that relay final and recorded a positive drug result before the Games.
“Every time you race you just hope you’re racing people that are in the same boat as you and they’ve worked as hard as they can to get to that position in a fair manner,” Titmus told Channel Nine’s Today program. “I hope it’s like that in Paris as well.”
Meanwhile, Tygart, the man who exposed Lance Armstrong as a drug cheat, has slammed WADA for what he believes to be a lack of transparency at the time.
“It’s crushing to see that 23 Chinese swimmers had positive tests for a potent performance-enhancing drug,” Tygart said. “It’s even more devastating to learn the World Anti-Doping Agency and the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency secretly, until now, swept these positives under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.
“Our hearts ache for the athletes from the countries who were impacted by this potential cover-up and who may have lost podium moments, financial opportunities, and memories with family that can never be replaced. They have been deeply and painfully betrayed by the system. All of those with dirty hands in burying positive tests and suppressing the voices of courageous whistleblowers must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the rules and law.”
In a second statement Tygart added: “When you blow away their rhetoric, the facts remain as have been reported: WADA failed to provisionally suspend the athletes, disqualify results, and publicly disclose the positives. These are egregious failures, even if you buy their story that this was contamination and a potent drug ‘magically appeared’ in a kitchen and led to 23 positive tests of elite Chinese swimmers.
“Transparency is the key to shining the light in the darkness, and here, by not following the rules, WADA and CHINADA have left clean athletes in the dark.”
US anti-doping boss Travis Tygart.Credit: Getty Images
WADA says it is considering legal action after what it described as “outrageous” and “completely false and defamatory” comments from Tygart.
“WADA notes that the damaging comments have been delivered without any supporting evidence whatsoever,” WADA said in a statement.
“The truth of this matter is that according to all available scientific evidence and intelligence, thoroughly gathered, assessed and tested by leading anti-doping experts, WADA had no basis to challenge the explanation of environmental contamination.
“At all times, WADA acted in good faith, according to due process and following advice from external counsel when it decided not to appeal this case. In the absence of any other evidence WADA, still today, stands by the results of its rigorous scientific investigation as well as the approach of its Intelligence and Investigations Department.”
In a statement, Swimming Australia chief executive Rob Woodhouse said the organisation was making inquiries with World Aquatics.
“We welcome the stringent testing our athletes face to ensure a level playing field,” Woodhouse said.
“As an organisation we will always advocate for fairness and integrity, and we believe that all athletes deserve the right to earn success by their own hard work, effort, and dedication. Clean sport is about respect for your competitors. It’s about respect for yourself. It’s about respect for sport.
Lani Pallister, who won the women’s 1500m freestyle national title on Saturday, was also asked about the issue.
“If claims are true, it’s extremely disappointing for the athletes that had those opportunities taken away from them,” Pallister told Nine’s Wide World of Sports program.
“I wasn’t there, so I can only dream of how they would feel. Not all the details are out yet but my heart is with the athletes who might be affected by that.”
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