Chinese swimmers tested positive, won golds: Report

Twenty-three top Chinese swimmers tested positive for the same banned substance seven months before the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021.

- 

But they were allowed to compete after Chinese officials secretly cleared them and the global authority in charge of policing drugs in sports chose not to intervene.

Several of the athletes who tested positive for the performanceenhancing heart drug trimetazidine including nearly half of the Chinese swimming team at the Tokyo Games - went on to win medals, including three golds.

Many still compete for China and several, including double gold medallist Zhang Yufei, are expected to contend again in Paris 2024.

China had acknowledged the positive tests in a report by its anti-doping regulator, saying the swimmers had ingested the banned substance unwittingly and in tiny amounts, and that no action against them was warranted.

But an examination by The New York Times and reported on April 20 found that the previously unreported episode sharply divided the anti-doping world, where China's record has long been a flashpoint.

US officials and other experts said the swimmers should have been suspended or publicly identified pending further investigation.