On April 20, Beijing time, less than 100 days before the Paris Olympics, some Western media, led by the American media, could discredit and spread rumors that 23 players of the Chinese swimming team tested positive for trimetazidine, and also said that the gold medal in the Chinese swimming women's 4x200m freestyle relay was canceled. Now WADA has officially issued a statement to refute the rumors, denying that the Chinese swimming women's 4x200m freestyle relay gold medal was canceled, and also saying that there is no evidence that there is a problem with the Chinese athletes.
In the schedule of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the Chinese swimming team sent Yang Junxuan, Tang Muhan, Zhang Yufei and Li Bingjie to participate in the women's 4X200m freestyle relay final, breaking the world record with a time of 7:40.33 to win the gold medal, and Dong Jie and Zhang Yifan participated in the preliminaries.
However, recently, the Western media, led by the American media, can spread rumors to smear the Chinese swimming team, they said in the report that 23 players of the Chinese swimming team tested positive for trimetazidine, and also claimed that the Chinese swimming women's 4x200m freestyle relay gold medal was canceled, while the American team, which won the silver medal at the time, won the gold medal in a substitute, and the Australian team, which won the bronze medal at that time, won the silver medal in a substitute.
Now, WADA has officially issued a statement to refute some misleading and potentially defamatory reports about the Chinese swimming team. Professor Olivier Rabin, WADA Senior Director of Science and Medicine, said: "WADA's Science Department thoroughly reviewed this case in June and July 2021. In fact, we even sought out new pharmacokinetic and metabolic information about TMZ from manufacturers and tested several hypotheses, including doping strategies at low TMZ doses, to assess the feasibility of contamination scenarios submitted to WADA. Ultimately, we conclude that there is no concrete basis to question the alleged pollution. ”
Back in 2022, international testing agencies raised concerns with WADA about possible false positives in TMZ samples. The World Anti-Doping Agency's Intelligence and Investigation Department conducted an independent review of this and concluded that the investigation followed due process and that there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
The allegations made again by the US media are completely unsubstantiated, and WADA says the threshold for opening an investigation has not been met. WADA offered to reassess the situation if USADA provided any evidence, but it did not do so.
A spokesperson for the World Swimming Association said, "It is not yet known of any anti-doping rule violations that could lead to the cancellation of the gold medal in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay at Tokyo 2020, and the consequences that would follow." ”
Gantt Young, WADA Director of Intelligence and Investigations, said: "The data we have clearly shows that China is not trying to conceal a positive test result, as it is reporting in a normal way. As a result, based on the available information and the lack of any credible evidence, the threshold for initiating an investigation has not been met. ”
WADA reserves the right to take appropriate legal action against misleading information posted this week, including on social media.