"Ensure fair play and protect our rights" - American athlete groups send letter to National Drug Control Policy on Chinese swimmers doping controversy
American athlete groups have called for an independent investigation of the case related to 23 Chinese swimmers being cleared to take part in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics despite testing positive for a banned heart medication.
The USA Swimming Athletes’ Advisory Council and the Team USA Athletes’ Commission sent a letter to Rahul Gupta, the director of the federal government’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, on Monday.
Gupta is a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) executive committee and will take part in a special meeting on Tuesday in the USA to discuss the doping case.
”As athletes, we have to trust WADA to set and enforce standards that will ensure fair play and protect our rights,” the athletes wrote to Gupta, as per Sportstar. “WADA’s failure to follow its own rules and procedures in the wake of the positive tests of these 23 Chinese athletes has broken this trust.”
The meeting will be crucial as the USA funds half of WADA's budget and has held up its payments whenever it has seen a red flag in the overall functioning of the body.
The New York Times had reported that the Chinese swimmers tested positive for prescription heart drug trimetazidine (TMZ) in late 2020 and early 2021.
However, WADA claimed that Chinese anti-doping authorities found out that the positive tests were due to the ingestion of the substance from tainted food. Thus, they took no action against the athletes.
Last week, WADA appointed veteran Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottier to review the doping case. He was given access to all of WADA’s files and documents related to this matter.
“Today’s announcement is an important first step in addressing the recent doping allegations,” Gupta said in a statement (via The New York Times).
Chinese swimmers secured six medals in Tokyo Olympics
The Chinese contingent finished the Tokyo Olympics in the second position after claiming a total of 89 medals, including 38 golds, 32 silvers, and 19 bronze.
In the swimming category, China won six medals, including three golds. Zhang Yufei clinched a gold in the 200 m butterfly with a record time of 2:03.86. Yufei was one of the 23 athletes who tested positive for TMZ.
The women's 4x200 free relay, featuring Yang Junxuan, Yufei, Li Bingjie, Tang Muhan, Dong Jie, and Zhang Yifan, clinched a gold medal.
Meanwhile, Wang Shun clinched the gold medal in the 200m individual medley event.