Twenty-three Chinese swimmers are known to have tested positive for doping prior to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The Chinese Anti-Doping Organization did not ban them on the grounds that their samples indicated contamination, not doping. Some people would already redistribute the Tokyo medals, and others have shaken their trust in the International Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), while there is also a good chance that the detected substance really had nothing to do with performance enhancement, and that all the actors in the case acted in good faith.
All of the twenty-three Chinese swimmers tested positive for the same banned substance: trimetazidine, which is primarily used as an active ingredient in heart medications. Those who follow sports news may be familiar with this name, it was also found in the case of the 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamilya Valieva, who was banned after lengthy procedures and stripped of her Olympic gold medal. His case is eerily similar to the Chinese story. Valieva also pleaded guilty to doping, according to the defense, her grandfather chopped fruit for her on the same board he used to cut her heart medication, and trimetazidine got into her body from its remains. He was also checked by his own country’s agency, and the Russians didn’t think he could compete in the Olympics either.
The Chinese did not ban their swimmers because they were doping without their knowledge, and the banned substance was present in very small amounts, only in traces. The Chinese Anti-Doping Agency (Chinada) investigated the case, the records of which were obtained by the New York Times.
At the time, the world was still very much in the midst of the Covid epidemic, and China, which had already introduced strict restrictions, tried to keep its athletes in a bubble. At the very end of 2020, at the very beginning of 2021, the country’s best approximately two hundred swimmers were invited to a test competition, and they were accommodated in the same hotel in Sicsiacsuang. Two months later, the Chinada report was published, which included a large number of positive doping cases. They took samples from a total of 39 swimmers – in addition to the first two places in the numbers, athletes were also randomly selected – and 28 of the urine samples turned out to be positive, of which 23 were from the competitors, trimetazidine was detected in all of them.
The heart medicine that is mysteriously everywhere
Trimetazidine is a prescription drug for heart patients, but it can also enhance sports performance. Increases endurance and shortens regeneration time. Many drugs know this, but an important feature of trimetazidine is that it is quickly excreted, so its detection is also problematic.
“There has been a long-standing scientific debate about whether trimetazidine has a performance-enhancing effect, and if so, to what extent. It would give a Tour de France cyclist a fit of laughter, but this heart-acting medicine can help a lot in a three-minute figure skating session. This substance is being detected more and more often in athletes, but presumably mostly because it is included in the manufacturing process of some dietary supplement or medicine. Based on the literature data, it is also present in Europe, the United States and Asia,” said Ágnes Tiszeker, head of the Hungarian Antidoping Group (MACS).
Although we are talking about the same substance as the one that was detected in Valijeva’s case, Ágnes Tiszeker emphasized that each case must be treated separately. In the case of the Russian figure skater, the amounts and time of defecating were not in accordance with what he said, while in the case of the Chinese swimmers, according to him, it can be rightly assumed that it was actually contamination.
“We have already seen an example of this. Clenbuterol is an excellent muscle mass-increasing agent, bodybuilders also take it on purpose, but let’s remember the U17 World Cup in Mexico in 2011, where it was detected in more than a hundred young people. There was no question that it was taken as a doping agent. In Mexico, farm animals receive clenbuterol, which then enters the human body with the meat, in which case we are clearly talking about contamination,” said Tiszeker.
The Chinese discovered trimetazidine in the kitchen of the Huayang Holiday Hotel in Xishuangbanna, traces of it were also found in the sink drains, spice racks and hotplates, but they could not find an explanation as to how it got there, even though they also looked at the hotel’s video cameras and even conducted human experiments. looked at how the body processes trimetazidine. In any case, the report does not include the conclusion that the food that the athletes then ate was contaminated in the kitchen.
The names of Olympic champions were also mentioned
According to information from the New York Times, two Olympic gold medalists are among the 23 failed athletes. Jufej Csang won both the women’s 200-meter butterfly and the women’s 4×200-meter relay. And Vang Sun was the men’s 200 medley champion in Tokyo. It is possible that their start went against the rules, and if they were to be disqualified afterwards, it would also benefit the Hungarian swimmers. Boglárka Kapás could win a bronze medal in the 200 butterfly, while the women’s relay would jump from seventh to sixth place.
In many places, the protocol is that if someone tests positive for doping, their name will be made public, and at least they will be suspended until a possible review is completed, which can clarify the situation. China did not do this and told WADA and the International Swimming Association (WA) that trimetazidine was found in swimmers in such small amounts that it ruled out intentional doping. Of course, not everyone agrees with this, according to experts, a small amount can also mean that the drug is at the end of its excretion phase.
According to the head of MACS, the fact that the Chinese Doping Agency (Chinada) submitted a report to WADA indicates that they did not want to sweep the matter under the carpet, and it would not be practical that if the athletes had been doped, they would miscalculate the dosage so much that so many fail. According to him, the names were not made public because the samples were not unequivocally positive, but rather atypical – this is usually true in the case of contamination – and in such cases the names of those involved do not have to be disclosed.
WADA also issued a statement saying that, taking into account previously unpublished scientific data, they had carefully examined the Chinese theory with scientists and legal advisers and accepted it. “Ultimately, we came to the conclusion that there is no concrete basis to question the alleged contamination,” said WADA’s scientific and medical director, Olivier Rabin. According to WADA, the contamination theory is supported by the fact that several swimmers were tested multiple times and their samples fluctuated between positive and negative values. According to information from the New York Times, WADA was contacted several times by anti-doping officials based on intelligence information, but the organization rejected them citing a lack of credible evidence.
The International Swimming Federation also upheld the Chinese decision, a doping control committee and an independent expert investigation accepted their argument. “International Swimming is confident that these positive cases were handled carefully and professionally and in accordance with all relevant anti-doping rules, including the International Anti-Doping Code,” the organization said.
America and half the swimming world are outraged
There are critics of the inaction: “This appears to be a stab in the back for clean athletes and a deep betrayal of all athletes who compete fairly and abide by the rules,” said US Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis T. Tygart, who acknowledged that since 2020 he has repeatedly provided information to WADA regarding the doping of Chinese swimmers.
An element of the case questioned by many is that the Chinese investigation did not prove anything of substance. There were several cases where athletes actually gave a positive sample by unknowingly taking a prohibited substance with contaminated food or nutritional supplements, and if they could prove this scientifically and with evidence, they were exempted from punishment. China, on the other hand, only says that there is nothing to see here, without providing a possible reason. That is why WADA seems too permissive. If he had commissioned an independent group to conduct a more thorough investigation to clarify the matter, it would certainly not be such a scandal now. WADA justified its failure to do so with closures due to Covid.
The swimming community was understandably upset by the developments: “Who really benefits from the lack of transparency and secrecy? What about strict liability? This is all so disappointing from WADA” – https://twitter.com/adam_peaty/status/1781695350878732373, whose great rival, Qin Haijang, the world champion in all three breaststroke events, is also on the list published by the New York Times. Another British Olympic champion, James Guy, was even more stark: “Ban them all and never compete again! Return the gold medal to Slam immediately!” The Slam moniker covers Duncan Scott, who finished second in the 200 medley in Tokyo behind Vang Sun.
According to Global Athlete, an organization that brings together athletes, WADA did not follow its own rules, and they also questioned the anti-doping agency in an open letter. They are also curious as to why the athletes were not suspended during the investigations and why their names were not made public. According to them, WADA in previous cases did not accept as an argument if the samples fluctuated between positive and negative, and they do not understand why this attitude has changed now. Global Athlete is also puzzled as to why WADA is investigating whether or not low-dose trimetazidine is a performance enhancer. According to them, the rules are clear, if something is on the doping list, the dose does not matter. Athletes now expect WADA to release all evidence it has.
“The fact that twenty-three positive tests in one sport, from one country, have gone without consequence and/or investigation, clearly highlights the need to rebuild WADA and its leadership because it has failed to uphold the rules it is supposed to enforce and protect” – was written in the announcement.
The head of the MACS believes that the case is a bit related to the upcoming Olympics, the United States, which is always considered a big rival in the medal table, can now attack China in the field of communication, but according to Ágnes Tiszeker, the USA should not forget that they also have trimetazidine in the samples, only they tend to be considered contamination and not doping.
Some of the athletes, in order not to accidentally give a doping sample, take nutritional supplements that have been previously tested in a laboratory. Despite this, they are most likely consuming a product contaminated with trimetazidine, according to Tiszeker, because it can be very small amounts, for which the current analytical methods are not good enough. He expects that WADA will develop a new protocol for this drug in the near future.
Tags: heart medicine triggered Chinese doping scandal causing outrage America
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