Chinese swimmers testing often, seek acceptance

NANTERRE, France — Zhang Yufei hopes her international rivals will believe she is competing clean after the Chinese swimming star estimates she took between 20 and 30 drug tests monthly in the lead up to the Paris Olympics.

“I don’t think there’s a single athlete, Chinese or foreign, who would test positive for doping. They would not want to destroy all the hard work they’ve put in over the years on doping,” Zhang told reporters in Chinese in the mixed zone Saturday, when she was the top qualifier for the 100-meter butterfly semifinal.

Zhang said she and her teammates have tested three to four days a week in the past couple of months leading up to the Paris Games and in the wake of a doping scandal involving 23 Chinese swimmers — including Zhang — ahead of the Tokyo Olympics three years ago. The World Anti-Doping Agency stood by its decision to clear the swimmers who tested positive for a banned heart medication months before the Tokyo Games began.

She won her preliminary race during the first day of swimming competition at Paris La Defense Arena, then had the third-fastest time after Saturday night’s two semifinal heats going into the final Sunday.

Later Saturday night, Zhang was part of the Chinese 4×100-meter relay team that earned a bronze medal behind the gold-medal winning Australians and the American team that took silver. Zhang’s relay teammate Yang Junxuan was also on the list of Chinese swimmers who tested positive. They captured the first Chinese swimming medal in Paris.

“It was the first medal in swimming of this Olympic Games,” Zhang said, beaming with the medal around her neck and a special poster medalists received.

Zhang said after her first swim of the day she is anxious about what her friends and competitors in the swim world are thinking about Zhang and others from the Chinese team.

Zhang said she sensed some relief finally getting started in Paris, and when asked if it has been stressful she emphatically said in English, “Of course!”

“This is a wonderful competition. I feel easier, not easier for my competition, just easier for my mood,” Zhang said, speaking briefly during the interview in English. “A lot of of fans have come to watch our competition, so I’m excited.”

Chinese officials said the swimmers tested positive because of contamination from spice containers in a hotel kitchen where some of the Chinese team stayed for a national meet in January 2021. American anti-doping officials complained, and the FBI is investigating WADA based on a new federal law that allows U.S. officials to prosecute doping globally.

Zhang won four medals, including two golds, in Tokyo.

“I get along very well with friends from different countries and now I come to participate in the Olympic Games and I’m very worried that my good friends look at me with colored eyes and they do not want to compete with me or watch my races,” she said. “I am more worried that the French people do not think the Chinese deserve to stand on this stage. So I would feel very aggrieved. This is only my personal opinion, not on behalf of everyone. I also hope that everyone will be objective with bright eyes to look at objective facts.”

World Aquatics, swimming’s governing body, announced earlier this month that the Chinese swimmers were undergoing extensive testing ahead of the Olympics. Eleven of the athletes who tested positive were scheduled to compete here.

WADA Director General Olivier Niggli was pressed by China state media Thursday to address testing of the Chinese. The competition testing program is overseen by IOC-funded International Testing Agency based in Lausanne, Switzerland, so it is separate from WADA.

“I think the Chinese swimmers should be happy they can show they have been tested so many times,” Niggli said.

Hungary’s Ajna Kesely said after swimming her 400-meter freestyle heat that she is focused on improving her swimming on the big stage and expects that’s the same goal for the Chinese.

She appreciates their regular testing protocols and said: “If they feel that it’s OK and they feel it’s better to prove that they don’t use anything, it’s a good idea.”