NANTERRE, France (AP) \u2014 Another Chinese doping allegation has flared up at the Paris Games, angering some swimmers who say officials need to enforce drug-testing rules consistently.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0New York Times reported<\/span>\u00a0Tuesday that two top Chinese swimmers \u2014 including one on this year\u2019s Olympic team \u2014 tested positive for a banned steroid in 2022 but were eventually cleared to compete by Chinese officials.<\/p>\n The Times cited two people with knowledge of the matter but did not name them.<\/p>\n This is the third incident reported over the last several months by the Times and others in which the Chinese have blamed food contamination for positive drug tests. The World Anti-Doping Agency\u00a0accepted the results<\/span>\u00a0of the Chinese investigations.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw the report this morning,\u201d American star Katie Ledecky said on Tuesday. \u201cI think\u00a0I\u2019ve made my thoughts clear<\/span>. It\u2019s disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n Italian distance swimmer Simona Quadarella said athletes aren\u2019t sure the testing system works in many countries.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we need some answers from this situation,\u201d she said. \u201cWe really don\u2019t have confidence, in the situation, in the testing system \u2014 in the testing system in other parts of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n In the most widely reported incident, 11 swimmers named to the Chinese Olympic team were among\u00a023 who tested positive<\/span>\u00a0for a banned substance six months before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. They were allowed to compete and went on to win gold medals in three events. One of those swimmers,\u00a0Zhang Yufei<\/span>, has won two bronzes in France, one in the women\u2019s 100 butterfly and another as part of the 4\u00d7100 freestyle relay<\/p>\n Chinese swimmers<\/span>\u00a0in Paris have pushed back against doping allegations and say they are tested more than athletes from other countries.<\/p>\n Rob Koehler, the general director of the athletes\u2019 advocacy body Global Athlete, criticized WADA in an email to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is another devastating blow to the credibility of both WADA and World Aquatics, and to clean sport,\u201d he said, referring to the global governing body of swimming. \u201cWith this new information, athletes and advocates are resigned to the fact that the guardians of the World Anti-Doping Code are no longer fit for purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n Koehler worked as a deputy director of WADA until 2018.<\/p>\n In a statement, WADA acknowledged the two Chinese swimmers had tested positive and were provisionally suspended for \u201ctrace amounts of a prohibited substance metandienone,\u201d a powerful muscle-builder known on the street as D-Bol. The provisional suspension lasted about a year.<\/p>\n WADA said the Chinese anti-doping agency, CHINADA, conducted testing on \u201chundreds of meat samples from various sources with dozens revealing positive results for metandienone.\u201d<\/p>\n WADA said CHINADA closed the case late in 2023 \u201cwithout asserting a violation,\u201d which lifted the provisional suspensions.<\/p>\n WADA also said it \u201cis generally concerned about the number of cases that are being closed without sanction when it is not possible to challenge the contamination theory.\u201d<\/p>\n It pointed out \u201cseveral\u201d similar cases in the past few months in the United States. Many U.S. cases, including a\u00a0highly publicized one involving sprinter Erriyon Knighton<\/span>, deal with substances such as trenbolone, which, unlike D-Bol, are usually given to promote muscle growth and appetite in livestock.<\/p>\n The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which handled that case, released a statement from its CEO, Travis Tygart, who is one of the most outspoken critics of WADA.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s crushing news to wake up to for all athletes and fans of the Olympic movement that the failures of the global anti-doping system have overshadowed what should be a moment to bring the world together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n One of the two swimmers mentioned in the latest Times report is Tang Muhan, who was on the 4\u00d7200 freestyle relay team that won gold and set a world record three years ago in the Tokyo Olympics.<\/p>\n The American team finished second and also broke the previous world mark.<\/p>\n Tang was named to China\u2019s Olympic team this year, and she could swim Thursday in the 4\u00d7200 relay.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NANTERRE, France (AP) \u2014 Another Chinese doping allegation has flared up at the Paris Games, angering some swimmers who say officials need to enforce drug-testing rules consistently. 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