U.S. Launches Investigation Into 23 Chinese Swimmers Who Tested Positive For Banned Substance

The United States has launched a criminal investigation into a case involving Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance in 2021 but were still allowed to compete and win medals in the Tokyo Olympics.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirmed in April that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) before the Tokyo Olympics. But WADA let it slide after China claimed the positive results were a result of accidental contamination. Typically found in heart medication, trimetazidine is listed as a "metabolic modulator," which can help with endurance in physical activity.

Eleven of those 23 Chinese swimmers are set to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned substance before the Tokyo Olympics.

(Photo by Ding Xu/Xinhua via Getty Images)

CHINADA, China's anti-doping agency, said the swimmers tested positive after inadvertently being exposed to the drug through contamination. WADA had the authority to appeal CHINADA's decision but, instead, decided to accept these findings and allowed the Chinese athletes to compete anyway.

China's 30-member swimming team took home six medals at the Tokyo Games, including three golds.

"WADA ultimately concluded that it was not in a position to disprove the possibility that contamination was the source of TMZ, and it was compatible with the analytical data in the file," WADA said in a statement. "WADA also concluded that ... the athletes would be held to have no fault or negligence. As such, and based on the advice of external counsel, WADA considered an appeal was not warranted."

But U.S. officials aren't so sure. So in May, the U.S. House select committee on China asked the FBI and the Justice Department to launch an investigation into the case under a 2020 law that allows for the criminal prosecution of people who help athletes dope at international competitions — even if it didn’t happen in the United States.

"This scandal raises serious legal, ethical, and competitive concerns and may constitute a broader state-sponsored strategy by the People’s Republic of China to unfairly compete at the Olympic Games in ways Russia has previously done," the committee said in the letter.

World Aquatics said its executive director Brent Nowicki was served with a subpoena and is "working to schedule a meeting with the government, which, in all likelihood will obviate the need for testimony before a Grand Jury."

U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygert says he has provided WADA with doping allegations against Chinese swimming multiple times since 2020.