Chinese swimming doping scandal rocks Paris Summer Olympics : NPR

Yufei Zhang of Team China competing during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Zhang won four medals in Tokyo including two gold and now is among 23 Chinese swimmers embroiled in a doping scandal.

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

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Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Yufei Zhang of Team China competing during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Zhang won four medals in Tokyo including two gold and now is among 23 Chinese swimmers embroiled in a doping scandal.

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Officials with the world’s leading sports anti-doping agency scrambled on Monday to contain a scandal involving 23 elite and Olympic swimmers from China who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug.

The scandal, which comes less than a hundred days before the Paris Summer Games, is linked to positive doping tests collected in 2021 that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and Chinese officials never publicly disclosed.

“We had no evidence of wrongdoing,” said WADA President Witold Banka during a press conference with reporters that often turned combative.

“At every stage WADA followed all due processes and diligently investigated. If we had it over again, we would do exactly the same thing.”

Banka went on to describe China’s athletes as “innocent” and “not a doping case involving cheaters.”

He said WADA had no obligation to suspend them from competition or report the case to sports officials from other countries.

Critics, however, said the scandal suggests a “potential cover-up” and raises troubling questions about the integrity of the international testing regime meant to keep Olympic sport clean.

“It’s crushing to see that 23 Chinese swimmers had positive tests for a potent performance-enhancing drug on the eve of the 2021 Olympic Games [in Tokyo],” said Travis Tygart, head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, known as USADA.

“We had no evidence of wrongdoing,” said World Anti-Doping Agency President Witold Banka. “At every stage WADA followed all due processes and diligently investigated. If we had it over again, we would do exactly the same thing.”

Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

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