Tan Muhan and He Junyi According to The New York Times, they had tested positive for a banned substance in 2022. China cleared the swimmers, saying they had gone out for a Coke, burgers and fries.
Both players tested positive for methadienone, the anabolic steroid with the longest ban period, which stimulates protein synthesis, glycogenolysis and strength building in the short term.
He and Tan both tested positive after samples were taken on October 6, 2022. The samples were taken while the two were at the national team’s training facility in Beijing. The two had gone out to eat burgers, fries and coke at a restaurant a few days earlier. Approximately one month after taking the tests, the two returned positive results and both players were provisionally suspended. Both players were also tested several days before and after the date of their positive results, with other tests coming back negative.
CHINADA launched an investigation and, according to WADA, “tested hundreds of meat samples from various sources, with dozens of samples testing positive for methandienone.” CHINADA concluded that the positive reactions were likely due to meat contamination. WADA and World Aquatics were given the opportunity to review the case and appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but neither organization did so.
WADA reviewed these cases earlier this year and concluded there was “no evidence that the positive reactions were caused by contaminated meat.”
Tan was not one of the 23 members of the team TMZ identified as having tested positive in 2021, just months before the Tokyo Olympics, but he did test positive and competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but is not competing in this week’s Paris Olympics.
Tang is currently in Paris after being selected for China’s 2024 Olympic team in June and is scheduled to compete in the women’s 4×200 freestyle relay later this week. She is known for helping China break the world record in the women’s 4×200 freestyle relay with a flying start of 1 minute 55.00 seconds in Tokyo.
WADA issued a statement in response to the New York Times article: “The politicization of Chinese swimming continues with the latest attempt by U.S. media to implicate WADA and anti-doping organizations in wrongdoing.”
WADA also said both athletes’ samples contained “trace amounts” of the substance. In a statement, WADA added that it was “generally concerned about the number of cases in which contamination claims are unsuccessful and ended without sanctions” at CAS.
Rumours about Tnag circulated on Chinese social media in 2022, but nothing came to fruition.
