Aussie swimmers respond as US doping boss blasts ‘egregious’ China drugs scandal

Qin, who won another two breaststroke gold medals at last year’s world championships, is eligible to compete at the upcoming Paris Olympics later this year.

Asked about his reaction to the story, Stubblety-Cook told this masthead: “That’s up to WADA and that whole system. I’m an athlete and I just have to trust the system.”

Australian freestyler Kyle Chalmers echoed Stubblety-Cook’s comments.

“I love being Australian. It is so frowned upon to be a doper in Australia,” Chalmers told reporters at the Australian Open Swimming Championships. “It gets so hugely criticised. I’m very, very proud to be an Australian and I’m very proud that I know that everyone here is, I believe, to be clean.

“I’m forever getting tested, so I hope that that’s happening globally as well. I’m getting random drug tests all the time, almost weekly at the moment leading into the Olympics.”

Ariarne Titmus was a member of Australia’s women’s 4x200m freestyle team in Tokyo that won a bronze medal behind China, who finished first in a world record time.

China’s Zhang Yufei swam in that relay final and recorded a positive drug result before the Games.

“Every time you race you just hope you’re racing people that are in the same boat as you and they’ve worked as hard as they can to get to that position in a fair manner,” Titmus told Channel Nine’s Today program. “I hope it’s like that in Paris as well.”

Meanwhile, Tygart, the man who exposed Lance Armstrong as a drug cheat, has slammed WADA for what he believes to be a lack of transparency at the time.

“It’s crushing to see that 23 Chinese swimmers had positive tests for a potent performance-enhancing drug,” Tygart said. “It’s even more devastating to learn the World Anti-Doping Agency and the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency secretly, until now, swept these positives under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.

“Our hearts ache for the athletes from the countries who were impacted by this potential cover-up and who may have lost podium moments, financial opportunities, and memories with family that can never be replaced. They have been deeply and painfully betrayed by the system. All of those with dirty hands in burying positive tests and suppressing the voices of courageous whistleblowers must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the rules and law.”

In a second statement Tygart added: “When you blow away their rhetoric, the facts remain as have been reported: WADA failed to provisionally suspend the athletes, disqualify results, and publicly disclose the positives. These are egregious failures, even if you buy their story that this was contamination and a potent drug ‘magically appeared’ in a kitchen and led to 23 positive tests of elite Chinese swimmers.

“Transparency is the key to shining the light in the darkness, and here, by not following the rules, WADA and CHINADA have left clean athletes in the dark.”

WADA says it is considering legal action after what it described as “outrageous” and “completely false and defamatory” comments from Tygart.

“WADA notes that the damaging comments have been delivered without any supporting evidence whatsoever,” WADA said in a statement.

“The truth of this matter is that according to all available scientific evidence and intelligence, thoroughly gathered, assessed and tested by leading anti-doping experts, WADA had no basis to challenge the explanation of environmental contamination.

“At all times, WADA acted in good faith, according to due process and following advice from external counsel when it decided not to appeal this case. In the absence of any other evidence WADA, still today, stands by the results of its rigorous scientific investigation as well as the approach of its Intelligence and Investigations Department.”

Swimming Australia released a short statement on Sunday morning.

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“At this stage we are making our own inquiries with World Aquatics,” a spokesperson said. “Until we know more, we aren’t in a position to comment.”

Lani Pallister, who won the women’s 1500m freestyle national title on Saturday, was also asked about the issue.

“If claims are true, it’s extremely disappointing for the athletes that had those opportunities taken away from them,” Pallister told Nine’s Wide World of Sports program.

“I wasn’t there, so I can only dream of how they would feel. Not all the details are out yet but my heart is with the athletes who might be affected by that.”

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