Chinese swimmers shine at Paris 2024 Olympic Games despite harassment

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games saw all Chinese athletes keep their promise to respect and honor anti-doping regulations and ensure their medals were won fairly and cleanly, as was publicly pledged before the Games by Gao Zhidan, president of the Chinese Olympic Committee.

However, the Chinese swimmers were subjected to severe harassment from the outset by their competitors in the United States. The New York Times chose an opportune moment to publish an article accusing the World Anti-Doping Agency of siding with Chinese swimmers by allowing some of them who had tested positive for a banned substance to compete at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. WADA responded by stating that an independent investigation had confirmed that the banned substance came from contaminated food. Yet, the US Anti-Doping Agency publicly criticized WADA for siding with China.

Worse, the US passed the Rodchenkov Act in 2020 allowing the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate WADA and any athletes anywhere in the world in competition with US athletes for any alleged doping cases, which is a clear breach of international law on extraterritorial enforcement.

Anyhow each Chinese swimmer had to undergo testing 21 times on average since the beginning of the year, compared with the average of five times for US swimmers. Some Chinese swimmers were subjected to as many as seven doping tests in a single day in the Olympic Village. They were often woken up at 5 am to queue for the test, severely disrupting their daily rest.

Despite all the intimidation, the Chinese swimmers clinched the two most prestigious gold medals in swimming, together with three silvers and seven bronzes. The 19-year-old Pan Zhanle's record-breaking victory in the men's 100m freestyle in 46.4 seconds made him the fastest recorded swimmer in history. China's gold medal in the men's 4x100m medley relay made them the fastest all-round swimming team in the world, breaking the US' run of 10 successive gold medals in this event, dating back to the Los Angeles 1984 Games.

As expected, the outstanding performance of the Chinese swimmers provoked jealousy and unfair accusations from Western rivals. An Australian swimming commentator and coach said Pan's record-breaking victory in the Olympic 100m freestyle was "not humanly possible", implying, without any evidence, that Pan had doped. He should have known that Pan had been tested 29 times since last year and had passed all the tests. It is a typical reaction of sour grapes that proliferated during the Olympics.

In a post-match interview, Pan said the US swimmers ignored his friendly greeting at the pool and during training, and they purposely splashed water directly on his coach. He said he felt that they were looking down on him, but he was pleased to have had the last laugh.

Meanwhile, a widely circulated report on social media revealed a blatant loophole in doping regulations. WADA apparently has an internal rule that provides exemptions for athletes suffering from injuries or illness. If, with a doctor's certificate, the medication needed for the treatment of injuries or illness contains stimulants, it can be reported to WADA. If approved, the athlete can legally use such drugs. To "protect the privacy of athletes", these exemptions are not made public.

This has opened the door for athletes to legally dope themselves under doctor's orders. It was revealed in the report that in 2016, the Russian hacker "Magic Bear" accessed the WADA database and found that in 2015 alone, with the assistance of USADA, 653 American athletes applied for immunity, of which 402 were granted, an approval rate of over 60 percent. Swimming, cycling, athletics, triathlon and skiing received the most medical exemption applications. Fewer than 10 Chinese athletes were granted immunity. In the interest of fair competition, WADA should publish its immunity list and subject it to public scrutiny.

Then came the reports revealing that the US sprinting star Erriyon Knighton tested positive for the performance enhancer trenbolone, a banned steroid, during an out-of-competition test on March 26. But the USADA decided, without notice or referral to WADA as should have been standard procedure, that Knighton would not be ruled ineligible, claiming that the athlete's positive result for trenbolone was caused by eating contaminated meat, and allowed him to eventually represent the US at the Paris Olympics, where he qualified for the men's 200m final.

On Aug 6, the China Anti-Doping Agency issued a statement, quoting the Knighton case and accusing USADA of embracing double standards when dealing with doping cases of athletes from the US and Chinese swimmers. CHINADA called for intensified testing of US track and field athletes and efforts to rebuild global trust in fair competition. The doubt over Knighton's case lingers even after the conclusion of the Paris 2024 Games.

WADA on Aug 7 issued a stern rebuke to USADA following revelations by Reuters that exposed a scheme to allow US athletes who had committed doping violations to compete without sanctions for years, which is a blatant violation of the World Anti-Doping Code and USADA's own regulations. WADA highlighted the severity of the allegations, which suggested that USADA permitted doped athletes to compete, including in Olympic events, greatly undermining the fairness and integrity of competitions in which clean athletes unknowingly competed against those who had been allowed to cheat. WADA criticized USADA's apparent double standards in enforcing anti-doping rules and called into question whether USADA's board of directors or the US Congress was aware of these practices.

The International Olympic Committee has warned the US to stop interfering with WADA. Otherwise, the IOC may withdraw the US' right to host the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and the Salt Lake City 2034 Winter Olympics. Indeed, all athletes attending the next Olympics should be warned that they can be subject to FBI investigation and prosecution for suspected doping, and this may trigger a massive boycott if the US Congress fails to repeal this draconian law.

The controversies have shown how international politics and the US' faultfinding with China have affected sports, and how the US and the Western world have discriminated against China. However, their efforts have been in vain. The Chinese swimmers shone through at the Olympics and proved they are a force to be reckoned with, ending the long-standing dominance of the West in swimming. The most heartwarming scene was the Chinese crowd singing their national anthem loudly during the gold medal ceremonies, demonstrating their national unity and patriotism to the world.

The author is an honorary fellow of HKU Space and Hong Kong Metropolitan University and an honorary adviser of the China Hong Kong Squash Association.