Chinese swimmers at Paris Olympics deny doping accusations as diplomatic row grows

NANTERRE, France — Standing in a scrum of reporters Saturday night, after competing in the Olympic 400 meter freestyle final, China's Fei Liwei shrugged off questions about the doping scandal that has embroiled his national team.

"Our Chinese government on our team always tells us we have the clean model and the clean results and our results right now are based on hard work and training," Fei said, speaking through an interpreter.

The 21-year-old from Hangzhou is one of 23 elite Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2021 ahead of the last Summer Games in Tokyo.

Eleven of those athletes are scheduled to compete in Paris.

Among them is two-time Olympic gold medal winner Zhang Yufei, who also told reporters she rejects the doping claims.

But in comments reported by the AFP news service, Zhang acknowledged the scandal and questions raised by fellow athletes weigh on her.

"I am very worried that my good friends to look at me with colored (suspicious) eyes and they do not want to compete with me," Zhang said.

Positive drug tests, kept quiet

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the lead global organization monitoring drug use by athletes, now acknowledges it kept the 2021 results secret and accepted China's explanation that the positive tests were the result of accidental contamination.

WADA never conducted its own independent investigation and allowed the athletes to continue competing without interruption.

"We believe we are clean," Fei said. "We cooperate on all the tests with WADA. We oppose doping."

His comments came on a day when two other Chinese swimmers who tested positive in 2021 won an Olympic bronze medal in the women's 4-by-100 freestyle relay final.

The women were scheduled to take part in a press conference after their win, but failed to appear.

U.S. faces growing pushback over case

While Chinese athletes face intense scrutiny, the U.S. finds itself facing growing diplomatic pushback from international sports officials - and from official Chinese media.

At issue are American probes into WADA's handling of the case.

Last week, the International Olympic Committee threatened to revoke Salt Lake City's 2034 Winter Games unless the U.S. backs off investigations by the U.S. Congress and the Justice Department.

Ingmar De Vos, an IOC committee member from Belgium said the criminal probe launched by the U.S. Department of Justice is "extremely worrying and basically, for us, unacceptable."

In a press conference in Paris, the head of WADA, Witold Banka, blasted the U.S. and suggested that American athletes are the ones who should be drug-tested more aggressively.

Echoing the IOC's accusation, Banka described U.S. concerns as part of a diplomatic power play designed to give American officials more clout.

"It’s highly incorrect that one country to impose jurisdiction on antidoping decisions on the rest of the world," Banka said.

During the press conference where Banka appeared, Chinese media repeatedly suggested their nation's athletes are being treated unfairly, with more aggressive testing in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics compared with other nations.

U.S. not backing down

WADA officials have said repeatedly that the case was handled properly, while refusing to explain why the test results were kept secret in an apparent break with drug testing protocol.

So far at least, U.S. officials appear unwilling to back down. In a statement sent to NPR, U.S. lawmakers on a House panel probing the China doping scandal said pressure to drop their inquiry was inappropriate.

“It speaks volumes that the IOC would...protect WADA rather than work together to ensure it is fulfilling its mission to protect clean sport," the statement said.

The head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, Travis Tygart, suggested in a statement that diplomatic pressure to drop the case is part of an on-going coverup.

"If WADA has nothing to hide, they would welcome the chance to answer questions, not run and hide," Tygart said. "There are basic unanswered questions of how WADA allowed China to sweep 23 tests under the rug."