The global anti-doping authority allows China to cheat in the Olympics

In two short months, the entire world will convene in Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics, and there is a decent chance that some Chinese athletes will be allowed to compete while using performance-enhancing drugs.

Last month, reports surfaced that the World Anti-Doping Agency had allowed 23 Chinese swimmers to compete and win medals in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics despite the fact that they had all tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned substance. Chinese officials had argued that the tested samples had been contaminated by a spice container in the hotel kitchen. This incredulous claim was accepted by WADA at face value, which said it has no way of proving otherwise.

WADA was established by the International Olympic Committee and ostensibly exists to police illegal substances that are used to enhance sports performance. Its governing structure is the product of a partnership of national anti-doping organizations that perform similar functions for each nation that competes in the Olympic Games.

But the organization has a pretty spotty track record. In 2014, the WADA-affiliated organization in Russia helped to facilitate a massive doping scheme at the Sochi Winter Olympics, which was later exposed as the largest international sports doping scandal in history. Russian athletes were subsequently prohibited from competing under their national colors and faced additional scrutiny.

But Russia’s mistake was that it did not buy off WADA first, a detail that the communist government of China did not neglect. Each WADA-participating nation is required to contribute a certain amount in dues, but China exceeded its required contribution by nearly $2 million, according to the Associated Press.

With the Paris Olympics a mere two months away, it is more than likely that a number of the Chinese swimmers who tested positive for doping three years ago will be a part of the nation’s delegation to this year’s games, meaning clean athletes could be forced to compete against serial drug cheats.

China has a history of doping violations in swimming. In 2014, Chinese gold medalist Sun Yang was banned from the sport for three months after he tested positive for the very same substance that was found in the samples provided by 23 swimmers in 2021. Four years later, Sun destroyed samples of his own blood after doping officials came to his home for a regular test. He was subsequently banned by the International Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2020 for four years.

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WADA’s deference to Chinese athletes is stunning, especially given the organization’s recent track record, but it betrays a fundamental unwillingness by international organizations to confront the Chinese Communist Party’s influence around the world.

If WADA and the International Olympic Committee are interested in preserving the integrity of the Olympic Games, the two entities must reject any influence from the Chinese Communist Party and swiftly ban any Chinese athlete who tests positive for performance-enhancing drugs. WADA should also remove anyone who was involved in the 2021 cover-up to avoid even the appearance of favoritism. The thousands of clean athletes that compete at the Olympics are, at minimum, owed this accountability.