Suspicions of doping by Chinese swimmers: "We demand that all the light be shed"launches the president of the French Swimming Federation
“We demand that all the light be shed, that the procedures be the same for everyone and that they be applied”, reacted Saturday April 20 Gilles Sezionale, at the Sports Directorate of Radio France. The president of the French Swimming Federation returns to the assertions of German public television ARD and the New York Times concerning prominent Chinese swimmers suspected of doping in 2021 but not sanctioned.
Three months before the opening ceremony of the Paris Games, the two media therefore affirm that 23 Chinese athletes tested positive at the start of 2021 for trimetazidine. Thirteen of them competed in the Tokyo Olympics a few weeks later and three came home with gold. Still according to the assertions of ARD and the New York Times, at the time, the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency (Chinada) submitted a report concluding food contamination. No provisional suspension was imposed between the positive controls and the submission of the report.
A situation that Gilles Sezionale struggles to explain: “In this procedure it is difficult to understand how a suspension could not be put in place […] There is definitely a failure somewhere.”. According to him, these revelations “cast opprobriume on all the performances of Chinese athletes”. He recalls that those who are suspected of doping “are active” And “they got medals”.
“If there was a malfunction of the World Anti-Doping Agency it is more than disturbing”continues the president of the FFN. “If this is the case, it is important to put things back in place, it is still very disturbing for everyone”he concludes.
In a press release published on Saturday, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) explained. According to her, the restrictions put in place at the time because of Covid-19 did not allow her investigators to go there. Independent experts were, however, consulted to test the contamination hypothesis put forward by Chinada. WADA concluded that it “was not able to refute the possibility of contamination as the source of trimetazidine”. Consequently, no negligence or fault was held against the athletes. WADA therefore considered that an appeal was not justified. Concerning the documentary on the subject, it will be broadcast on Sunday evening on the ARD channel.
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