Olympics 2024: Chinese swimmer cleared to compete despite failing dope test

A Chinese swimmer who failed a dope test in 2022 has been cleared to compete at the Paris Olympics 2024, the New York Times reported.

In 2022, two Chinese swimmers failed the doping test, but the country's nodal authority has allowed both to compete.

The development came after a major controversy broke out concerning 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) at a domestic competition in late 2020 and early 2021 ahead of the Tokyo Games.

They have also received clearance, as the Chinese authorities cited food contamination as the reason for their positive test.

Following this incident, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) accused the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) of kowtowing to China.

In the latest report, the New York-based newspaper said that Chinese authorities claimed that a steroid had been accidentally ingested after the two swimmers ate hamburgers in Beijing.

Of the two swimmers who have been cleared by the Chinese authorities ahead of the Paris Olympics, one of them had also tested positive for doping in 2020-21.

In a statement in response to the article, WADA said that the latest case was part of a “wider series of cases” also including a shooter and a BMX rider who all tested positive for the steroid methandienone in late 2022 and early 2023.

“Upon notification, the athletes were all immediately provisionally suspended, pending investigation and remained so until late 2023 when the investigation concluded. Therefore, in the case of the two swimmers, they were suspended for more than one year,” the organisation said.

The WADA also said that the provisional suspension, imposed on November 3, 2022, was “with the view to asserting a four-year period of ineligibility before a CHINADA (China’s Anti-Doping Agency) anti-doping tribunal”.