The China Anti-Doping Agency issued a statement on Thursday demanding the world force American athletes to take more tests for banned substances, an apparent respond to growing condemning of the Chinese Olympics team for allowing athletes who tested positive for banned substances compete in Paris.
China’s national swimming team, in particular, has faced scrutiny and outrage after the New York Times revealed in April that 23 swimmers on the team tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ), a drug used to treat heart conditions abroad but not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), prior to the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics. The athletes were allowed to compete in Tokyo after Chinese anti-doping officials claimed they had ingested contaminated food and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the highest authority on the matter, accepted the explanation.
Several of those identified by the New York Times report went on to compete in the ongoing 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. Shortly before the Games began, the New York Times revealed in July that two Chinese swimmers tested positive again for another banned substance and were similarly cleared. One of the two athletes in the July report is competing in Paris.
China has won 12 swimming medals in Paris so far, two of them gold. One of the two golds, in the men’s 4 x 100m medley relay, was won by a team featuring two athletes implicated in the New York Times‘s reporting. Both athletes and swim team staff have expressed disgust with the presence of the Chinese players at the Games and called for more stringent measures to prevent athletes who test positive from participating in competition.
The China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) responded to the scandal on Thursday by claiming that American athletes are the ones flaunting substance regulation and demanding international athletic regulation bodies address the alleged “systemic doping problem “in the United States.
According to the Chinese state propaganda newspaper China Daily, CHINADA issued a statement condemning American track and field athletes Erriyon Knighton, who reportedly tested positive for trenbolone, a hormone used in the United States in the beef industry in March. Knighton was cleared after the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) concluded that Knighton likely ingested the hormone through eating beef. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) lists trenbolone acetate as a synthetic hormone ranchers. can use to “promote efficient growth,” administering it through an ear implant on cattle.
“If there is indeed widespread beef contamination of trenbolone in the US market, has USADA ever conducted extensive market research and collected supporting data?” CHINADA asked in its statement. “Has it warned the American athletes about the problem of meat contamination? Has it studied how much contaminated meat can cause a positive test?”
The Chinese agency called for global bodies to “intensify testing on U.S. track and field athletes” and “strengthen anti-doping supervision of the U.S. track and field, prevent the doping risks and strictly investigate relevant cases, in an endeavour to truly protect the legitimate rights and interests of the clean athletes around the world, and to rebuild the trust of global athletes in fair play.”
Notably CHINADA did not offer any evidence that American athletes were consuming banned substances.
CHINADA published its statement shortly after the U.S. Olympic team overtook China’s in medals. While America had consistently maintained a significant lead during this year’s Games in the total medal count, China had led in gold medal counts. As of Thursday press time, the American team has won 27 gold medals to China’s 26 – and 95 medals total, compared to China’s 67.
The Chinese anti-doping agency’s call for more testing also follows belligerent commentary in the Global Times, a top Chinese state-run newspaper, condemning increased tests on its athletes as a form of “psychological” abuse intended to weaken athletes’ performances in the Games. It also accused public figures demanding more scrutiny of the Chinese team of “racial determinism,” claiming that attitudes considering the Han Chinese people inherently worse swimmers we behind concerns that gold medalist Pan Zhanle, who has not been named in the New York Times reports, may have illicitly enhanced his abilities.
On Monday, the most decorated Olympian of all time, American swimmer Michael Phelps, told reporters at a press event that he believed athletes who tested positive should not be allowed to play and demanding a uniform global standard for testing.
“If you test positive, you should never be allowed to come back and compete again, cut and dry,” Phelps told reporters. “I believe one and done.”
“If everybody is not going through that same testing, I have a serious problem because it means the level of sport is not fair and it’s not even,” he continued. “If you’re taking that risk, then you don’t belong in here.”
Phelps testified before Congress in May, suggesting that current testing standards are insufficient.
“Right now people are just getting away with everything. How is that possible?” Phelps said in May. “It makes no sense. I’m one [who believes] if someone does test positive, I’d like to see a lifetime ban.”