Staff Reports
Cities from all over the world will assemble in Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics in just two months. According to certain reports, Chinese athletes may be permitted to compete in the games even if they use performance-enhancing drugs.
https://twitter.com/Dopinglist/status/1792654363875332242
It was discovered that 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for the prohibited drug trimetazidine were nevertheless allowed to compete and win medals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. China's explanation that the adverse tests resulted from contamination from a spice bottle in the hotel kitchen was approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
WADA's purpose is to stop athletes from using illicit substances, yet it has a troubled past. For instance, WADA's credibility was damaged by the Russian doping scheme during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. China, on the other hand, generously gave WADA additional funding, which may have influenced the organization's judgments. This contrasts with Russia.
Clean athletes may be at a disadvantage as the Paris Olympics get near as it's probable that some Chinese swimmers who tested positive for doping in the past may be on the country's delegation.
China has a history of doping in swimming, as demonstrated by the case of Sun Yang, a gold medallist from the country, who tested positive for the same drug that was discovered in the samples of 23 swimmers in 2021. In addition, Sun destroyed his own blood samples after a routine examination, which resulted in a 2020 ban.
The fact that WADA seems to be favoring Chinese athletes in spite of their past drug offenses is troubling. WADA and the International Olympic Committee must prevent the Chinese Communist Party's influence from undermining fair competition if they are to preserve the integrity of the Olympic Games. Any Chinese athlete who tests positive for performance-enhancing drugs should be immediately banned, and those implicated in the 2021 cover-up should be removed. This degree of accountability is appropriate for clean athletes.
