China’s Swimmers Tested Positive. What Happens to Their Medals?

At any time when a suspicion of doping arises in an Olympics, consideration can shift rapidly from the athletes who received gold, silver and bronze medals to those who missed out.

On Saturday, The New York Occasions published an investigation into an unreported case during which 23 prime Chinese language swimmers examined constructive for a strong banned drug in 2021, solely months earlier than the Tokyo Olympics. The swimmers — who made up about half of the Chinese language swimming workforce at these Video games — had been cleared by China’s antidoping authorities and the World Anti-Doping Company and allowed to compete.

The episode has not solely alarmed consultants within the antidoping neighborhood, but additionally raised different questions on athletes who examined constructive, and what comes subsequent: Which athletes? Which races?

And what in regards to the medals they received in them?

For now, the reply — each for the Chinese language athletes and the handfuls of swimmers who completed behind them, on and off the medals stand — is that nothing has modified.

By evaluating the names of the 23 swimmers who examined constructive with outcomes from the Video games, The Occasions recognized 5 occasions during which Chinese language swimmers who had examined constructive for a banned substance received medals:

Ladies’s 100-meter butterfly

The third day of the Tokyo Video games opened with the primary of 4 medals for Zhang Yufei, a silver. Torri Huske of america was fourth, lacking out on the primary Olympic medal of her profession by one-hundredth of a second.

Ladies’s 200-meter butterfly

Three days later, Zhang claimed her second medal — and first gold — with an Olympic-record time. The People Regan Smith and Hali Flickinger touched the wall greater than a second behind to assert silver and bronze.

Ladies’s 200-meter freestyle relay

Simply over an hour after profitable a person gold, Zhang helped China win a relay gold. China’s time, a world document, was practically half a second quicker than that of america workforce. The People additionally broke the earlier world document however went house with the silver.

Males’s 200-meter particular person medley

Wang Shun turned solely the second Chinese language man to win a person swimming gold.

Blended 4×100-meter medley relay

Britain set a world document in profitable the combined occasion, which was being held on the Olympics for the primary time. However China’s workforce edged Australia to win the silver, delivering Zhang’s fourth and closing medal of the Tokyo Video games.

Chinese language antidoping officers and the World Anti-Doping Company, the worldwide authority that oversees nationwide drug-testing applications, defended their actions in dealing with the case of the pre-Olympic doping positives in statements to The Occasions this week.

China stated it had acknowledged the constructive checks and notified WADA. However in a report created by China’s antidoping company and quietly submitted weeks earlier than the Olympics, the Chinese language authorities stated their investigators concluded that the swimmers had ingested the banned substance unwittingly and in tiny quantities, and that no motion was warranted.

WADA, citing “a scarcity of any credible proof” to problem China’s model of occasions, defended its resolution to not take additional motion. It known as any criticism unsubstantiated, regardless that it took a far harder line in a case involving a Russian determine skater solely months later.

In that case, Russia was eventually stripped of a team gold medal, and a number of international locations have appeals, looking for to improve their very own finishes.

On Friday, the Worldwide Olympic Committee declined to touch upon the constructive checks, saying solely that “anti-doping issues have been made unbiased from the I.O.C.,” and referring inquiries to WADA.

However with the antidoping company adamant that it acted accurately and inside its guidelines, there isn’t any indication that any of the outcomes of races will likely be affected, or any the medals reallocated.