Chinese swimming doping scandal: In conversation with USADA CEO Travis Tygart
“Victory belongs to the most persevering.” This quote is attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, the Italian-born French emperor who conquered almost all of Europe between the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
And with the Olympic Games currently underway in Paris, this quote can also be thought of as the guiding principle for all athletes striving to achieve glory for their respective countries in the French capital.
In an ideal world this would be the scenario in every sport at the world’s greatest sporting spectacle, but since April this year the dark cloud of doping has overshadowed the swimming pool in Paris.
The swimming pool at the Paris La Defense Arena (Image source: Getty Images)
Twenty-three Chinese swimmers were found to have ingested a banned heart medication – trimetazidine (TMZ) – in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympic Games in a revelation by The New York Times and German broadcaster ARD, but were still allowed to compete by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).
Three years on, eleven of these twenty-three were once again given the go-ahead to participate in the Paris Olympics, with nine of them ending up winning a medal for the Chinese swimming contingent.
And despite robust coverage of the alleged doping scandal, there seems little to look forward to in terms of follow-up action from Wada.
Chinese ‘cheaters’ at Paris 2024?
Wada, in 2021, accepted an explanation from the China Anti-Doping Agency (Chinada) which stated that all athletes who had consumed TMZ came in contact with the drug unintentionally through contaminated food at the hotel where they were staying.
This wasn’t made public until April 2024, when The New York Times and ARD made the startling revelation in the build-up to the Paris Olympics.
Chinese swimmers won medals in over one-third of the swimming events at Paris 2024, including two gold medals.
These two gold-worthy performances involved Pan Zhanle shattering his own world record in the men’s 100m freestyle event, before helping China break the United States’ 64-year-long stranglehold on the gold medal in the men’s 4x100m medley race.
The latter achievement led to Adam Peaty giving his thoughts on the doping scandal, and calling out athletes who are doping to realise that there is no point in winning if one is using unfair means.
Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in the history of the modern Olympic Games, also came out in support of clean athletes, criticising the testing regime.
Michael Phelps won 23 Olympic gold medals in swimming events from 2004 to 2016 (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
“If everybody is not going through that same testing, I have a serious problem because it means the level of sport is not fair and it’s not even,” he said.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) is a vehement critic of Wada’s conduct in the alleged Chinese doping case, and in an exclusive interview with the Sports Gazette, Usada’s chief executive officer Travis Tygart explained their stance on the issue.
“We are here for no other reason than to support our athletes and athletes around the world,” he said.
“As the global watchdog, your (Wada’s) responsibility is to ensure the rules are fairly enforced, and that wasn’t done here,” he added.
Political jousting in full view: IOC and Wada vs. Usada and FBI
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Wada’s credibility is under threat, and apparently these two organisations are leaving no stone unturned in ending the controversy surrounding doping in the Olympic pool, by hook or by crook.
Wada has taken Usada to the Independent Compliance Review Court over Wada’s handling of the doping case of the 23 Chinese swimmers. If the review goes against the United States, it would mean stripping of its right to host the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
On the other hand, the IOC is involved in political muscle-flexing of a different kind. It has awarded hosting rights of the 2034 Winter Olympic Games to Salt Lake City in the American state of Utah.
But, it comes with a condition: Utah officials will have to lobby to end an ongoing FBI investigation into the Chinese doping case related to the Tokyo Olympics.
The FBI is investigating alleged doping by Chinese swimmers at Tokyo 2020 (Image source: Getty Images)
All this makes one thing amply clear, hosting sporting mega-events doesn’t come without political jousting of Olympic proportions.
ALSO READ – Mixing sports and politics: Paris 2024 meets French election
And at the end of the day, it looks like clean athletes are the biggest losers as countless hours of training, and pushing one’s body and mind to the limit day in, day out isn’t apparently rewarded with due recognition.
Chinese swimming doping scandal: Way ahead to solve conundrum
One apparent ray of hope in this saga is the International Testing Agency’s (ITA) resolve to make “best efforts” to have tests of Chinese athletes conducted by an authority other than Chinada, and to have tests analysed outside China.
“I think that’s a good outcome from this situation already. But let’s make no mistake, that doesn’t replace or substitute for how the 23 positive tests were handled,” says Tygart.
“We believe that we need a strong but independent Wada. Right now with its decision-making seemingly being done for what’s in the best interests of sport and not clean athletes, it’s the fox guarding the henhouse, and we need to remove the fox,” he adds.
Michael Phelps (left) and Usada CEO Travis Tygart have testified before a US House of Representatives Panel on Anti-Doping Measures (Image source: Getty Images)
Tygart is careful not to assume that Chinese athletes are complicit in this alleged doping exercise. “We have been very clear not to suggest that it’s intentional doping. We don’t know that.”
But on the other hand, he is also not one who would buy the food contamination theory. “[TMZ is] a potent performance enhancer that does not show up magically in kitchens or in meat or food. It just doesn’t happen with this drug,” he states.
Elsewhere, Phelps has unequivocally advocated for a strict ban on doping athletes. “If you test positive, you should never be allowed to come back and compete again, cut and dry. I believe one and done,” the 39-year-old was quoted saying.
And even though an FBI investigation is underway, it feels like the onus is on the IOC and Wada to set the record straight, once and for all.
They ultimately have to reinstil faith in the testing system, so that athletes like Peaty don’t feel hard done by, and the ones who are doping think twice before indulging in practices that undermine the very soul of sporting spirit.
If not, then Napoleon’s quote on the link between perseverance and victory will certainly ring hollow in the times to come.
