Investigation report before publication New evidence of cover-up - pressure grows on China and WADA
Since the revelations by the ARD Doping Editorial Team about a suspected doping case involving 23 top Chinese swimmers, the World Anti-Doping Agency has been criticised for its negligent handling of the case. Shortly before the publication of a controversial investigative report, ARD has received new incriminating information.
New evidence of a cover-up scenario in the suspected case of mass doping among 23 top swimmers is increasing the pressure on China and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Shortly before the publication of an investigative report commissioned by WADA, which according to information from the ARD Doping Editorial Team is due to be published this week, new suspicions cast the handling of the case by Chinese authorities and WADA in a more negative light than ever before.
Following the publication of the documentary "Doping Top Secret: China Files", the ARD Doping Editorial Team received information from a source with contacts in the Chinese swimming scene suggesting that athletes concerned were at least partially not informed of their positive tests by the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) at the beginning of 2021. This would be a clear violation of the anti-doping rules.
Chinese swimmer Zhang Ruixuan: "I am positive. Why didn't I know that?"
ARD has a screenshot of a social media post by one of the 23 swimmers. In a response to another post about the incident, Zhang Ruixuan wrote: "I am positive. Why didn't I know about this?". This message, which he wrote via his private account on the Chinese platform Weibo, has since been deleted.
The rules state that the body responsible for results management, in this case the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA), must "immediately notify" the athlete concerned. Furthermore, any scope for lenient treatment of a case should only be given after evidence has been provided "by the athlete".
In this case, an investigation by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, an agency with intelligence powers, provided the exculpatory evidence - which WADA accepted without question. It is not known whether WADA examined whether athletes may not have been informed of positive doping samples or given the opportunity to comment. WADA did not respond to ARD inquiries about this and referred to the forthcoming report by its appointed "independent prosecutor" Eric Cottier.
Sports law expert Summerer: "Definitely a violation of the rules"
ARD also has information that at least two more of the 23 swimmers were not notified of their positive tests. The CHINADA report, which was sent to WADA in June 2021, made no reference to the athletes being notified. It merely states that some athletes - from a group that included both those who tested positive and those who did not - were generally questioned about the incident. However, they were apparently not told whether they were among the athletes who failed tests. Nevertheless, the athletes were instructed to stay silent about the facts of the case under threat of legal consequences.
"If there is a doping finding as in this case, then the athlete must be informed immediately. In any case, there is a violation of the rules", Thomas Summerer, President of the German Association for Sports Law, told the ARD Doping Editorial Team: "The swimming association must also be informed and the athlete must be able to comment."
Allegedly not all athletes in the same hotel
ARD's information comes from Chinese sources - verbal and written - who allegedly have direct access to those involved. This could not be verified beyond doubt. One source referred to the enormously high risk for whistleblowers in China and refused to provide ARD with direct contact to the swimmers and other Chinese whistleblowers due to security concerns.
This source also claims that not all 23 swimmers were accommodated at the Huayang Holiday Hotel in early 2021, where the alleged contamination of the food with the doping agent trimetazidine, which was supposedly later discovered there, is said to have taken place. This is substantiated by chats from the Chinese swimming scene, which are available to the ARD Doping Editorial Team.
This would mean that these athletes almost certainly could not have consumed food from the hotel's kitchen and restaurant. This would collapse the argumentation of the Chinese authorities, who justified the positive tests of all 23 swimmers exclusively with the contamination of the food in the specified athletes' hotel.
Joint training measure?
The source also states that at least large parts of the Chinese national swimming team were repeatedly stationed in Beijing for longer periods of time in the weeks before the positive tests and trained together in the so-called National Sports Complex in the capital. The CHINADA report, on the other hand, had stated that the athletes had all been in their provinces in the weeks before the competition. Systematic doping by the national team was therefore ruled out.
In fact, as social media posts show, some athletes were also outside Beijing during this period. However, the ARD Doping Editorial Team also has screenshots from chat histories on Chinese social media platforms that present a different picture. According to these, at least parts of the national team were literally barracked in the capital's sports complex for a long time.
The athletes were not allowed to leave the grounds at times due to the Covid pandemic. These facts clearly contradict the allegations in the CHINADA report.
Summerer calls for a new investigation
If it were true that the swimmers had not been in different places before the competition as stated there, it would be another strong indication of a Chinese cover-up. The alleged fact that the swimmers had previously trained exclusively in their provinces was cited by CHINADA as a key argument against deliberate, systematic doping. WADA also repeatedly cited this argument after the publication of the ARD and New York Times investigations on April 20.
The ARD Doping Editorial Team was unable to verify all of this information due to the restrictions in China. WADA did not respond to an inquiry from ARD as to whether it had any similar suspicions or whether it would reinvestigate the case if it became aware of such information.
Sports law expert Summerer believes that a reassessment of the case by WADA is long overdue. "If there are new facts, as in this case, then a new investigation must be carried out", he said. "This means that WADA would have to instruct the authorities in China to reopen the case." He believes that a new, independent investigation of the case is also legally possible.
Cottier report criticised before publication
The revelations that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive in the run-up to the Olympic Games in Tokyo, but went unpunished, has caused outrage worldwide. Eleven of the swimmers involved are expected to compete at the Olympic Games in Paris in just over a month's time.
WADA, which had come under increasing pressure following the publication by ARD and the New York Times, commissioned the Swiss lawyer Eric Cottier as an “independent prosecutor” to review the handling of the affair. However, both the limited scope of the investigative mandate and Cottier's proximity to the world of sport immediately gave rise to further criticism.