New suspected doping cases WADA waves through further Chinese acquittals
Two Chinese swimmers who tested positive for an anabolic steroid in 2022 were secretly acquitted - which the World Anti-Doping Agency once again accepted without proof.
The scandal surrounding Chinese swimmers suspected of doping is becoming bigger still. According to new doping revelations, top Chinese swimmers have tested positive in another previously unknown case, involving two Chinese national team members.
who were found to have used the substance methandienone, which is banned in sport, in 2022. The two athletes were later acquitted in China because there was allegedly another case of contamination. The World Anti-Doping Agency did not take any action against them.
Tokyo Olympic champion affected
The claim by the Chinese anti-doping agency, CHINADA, that meat contamination was the suspected cause was accepted by WADA, although no proof was provided. One of the athletes concerned, Tang Muhan, was part of the team that won the 4x200 metre freestyle relay at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Although the other, He Junyi, is not taking part in the competitions in the French capital, he was also one of the 23 swimmers who were allegedly contaminated with the heart medication trimetazidine in 2021. He was therefore secretly cleared of doping suspicions twice within three years.
Cases were never made public despite provisional bans
The latest cases, which were reported in the New York Times on Tuesday and confirmed separately by ARD sources, raise further questions about preferential treatment for Chinese swimmers. Their cases with positive doping samples were also never made public, even though these swimmers - unlike the trimetazidine cases - were at least provisionally banned for a time.
There has long been controversy in many countries as to whether WADA is adequately fulfilling its role as global controller of doping cases. WADA and CHINADA had previously been criticised for weeks after it became known in April that 23 swimmers had tested positive for the heart medication trimetazidine in 2021 due to alleged contamination in a Chinese hotel kitchen, but had been quietly acquitted.
Chinese investigators had claimed that the banned substance had allegedly accidentally got into the food in the restaurant of the hotel where the athletes were staying. CHINADA could not substantiate this scenario either, but WADA supported their explanations.
Positive test is attributed to contaminated hamburgers
Positive test is attributed to contaminated hamburgers An investigation into the case of the two swimmers who tested positive for the anabolic steroid methandienone, which has now come to light, and which again involved state security forces, was unable to determine exactly how they had ingested the substance. However, it concluded that accidental contamination through eating a burger with meat in a restaurant in Beijing was the most likely cause.
Speculation was rife as to whether beef imported into China from Australia was responsible.Only small amounts of the substance were allegedly detected, which, according to the investigators, indicated contamination rather than deliberate doping.
"No evidence to call the contamination scenario into question"
WADA did not appeal against this ruling. They told the New York Times that they had "reviewed the entire file with great scepticism and due care," adding, "Ultimately, there was no evidence that would have questioned the contamination scenario presented by the athletes and CHINADA."
WADA-Funktionäre Witold Banka, Olivier Niggli und Darren Mullaly (v.l.).
There are proven cases where contaminated meat has been blamed for doping cases involving another anabolic steroid, Clenbuterol. This has led to the rules being changed and cases of low dosage could be considered either contamination or intentional doping.
However, no such changes have been made in the case of methadienone, and only a very small number of links between the substance and contaminated meat have been demonstrated.
No public announcement - as in the trimetazidine cases
The anti-doping regulations state that positive tests are usually treated as doping violations. Unless the athlete was exceptionally allowed to take it for therapeutic purposes or evidence of contamination is found. Even if it turns out that the athlete is not at fault, the cases are usually publicly announced in the course of the investigation. The Chinese authorities and WADA have been massively criticized in recent weeks after the trimetazidine cases became known.
Their defence is based on the claim that the substance, which is normally used as a heart medication, was able to get into the kitchen of the team hotel and, from there, somehow into the food of the 23 athletes concerned. However, this has never been proven beyond doubt, and the source of the kitchen contamination has allegedly never been discovered.
New information brought to ARD by a Chinese whistleblower raises doubts as to whether all 23 swimmers were even accommodated in the same hotel and whether they were all informed about the incident. WADA said that it would only follow up on these indications on the condition that the Chinese whistleblower reveals his identity to WADA and is willing to talk.
