Members of the Australian swim team have expressed reservations about the integrity of the global anti-doping regime and called for a “clean” Olympics in Paris.
The swimming world was sent into turmoil in April when it was revealed that twenty-three Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned drug, trimetazidine (TMZ), months before the Tokyo Olympics. But the swimmers avoided sanction when local authorities and the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) accepted the cases had arisen due to environmental contamination. Three Chinese gold medals at the last Olympics were won by swimmers implicated in the case.
The positive tests only came to light following reporting by German broadcaster ARD and the New York Times earlier this year. Wada’s role in the case has faced heavy criticism, including by the American anti-doping authority, although Wada recently said that an interim report from an independent review had vindicated its position.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday on the eve of the Games, Tokyo 200m breaststroke gold medallist Zac Stubblety-Cook – who next week will race against Chinese world champion Qin Haiyang, among those to test positive – expressed concerns with the situation.
“I absolutely believe in clean sport and I hope that this is clean games,” said the Australian. “It’s obviously disappointing to hear that news and hear about the pre-Tokyo 23 athletes testing positive, some multiple times. And for me racing someone that was one of those athletes, or finding out he was one of those athletes, was disappointing.
“I think it’s less about what country they came from and more about the system and how the system ultimately, it feels like it’s failed,” Stubblety-Cook added. “That’s the truth. Obviously, I can have all the opinions, but I am now focused on what I can control going into these games – being a clean athlete and looking to that, and hoping that my competitors are doing the same.”
The anti-doping scandal has remained a major issue in the Games build-up. On Wednesday, the International Olympic Committee conditioned its award of the 2034 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City in the United States on the basis that local authorities seek to stop an FBI investigation into the saga. The move was seen as an heavy-handed attempt by the IOC to block criticism of Wada.
Veteran Australian swimmer Bronte Campbell, in Tokyo for her fourth Olympics, said that she was trying to stay focused on the racing ahead.
“Now that we’re getting into the Games period, your energy is purely focused on the things that you can control and your performance,” she said. “While that news when it came out was incredibly disappointing and I think incredibly frustrating, there’s nothing we can do about it two days before an Olympic Games. What we can control is the next two days, how we spend our time, and then once we start racing how that goes.”
The Australian swim team arrived in the Olympic village earlier this week with high hopes for a dominant nine days in the pool. The Dolphins have medal prospects across the program and are aiming to match or better their record-breaking nine gold medals in Tokyo.
“Obviously the athletes are all very highly motivated and competitive and if they get a chance to get on the podium, they’re to be wanting to do that,” said the Dolphins head coach, Rohan Taylor. “But we know that they’ve got to convert first to be able to put themselves in that position.”
The swim program in Paris begins on Saturday, with four blockbuster medal events for the Australians. Sam Short and Elijah Winnington will be the first Australians racing for gold, in the men’s 400m freestyle, before Ariarne Titmus looks to defend her crown in the women’s edition.
The first evening at the pool will conclude with both men’s and women’s 4x100m freestyle relays – with the Australian women heavily fancied to retain their Tokyo gold medal in the race, after smashing the world record at last year’s world championships.
“We want to get as many medals as we can,” said Taylor. “And we’re going to that, starting day one and all the way to day nine.”
