NANTERRE, France (AP) — Chinese swimming star Zhang Yufei estimates she took 20 to 30 drug tests each month in the lead up to the Paris Olympics and hopes international rivals will believe she’s competing clean.
“I don’t think there is a single athlete, Chinese or foreign, who will test positive for doping. I’m sure the athletes don’t want to ruin all the hard work they’ve put in over the years by doping,” Zhang, who will advance to the 100m butterfly semi-finals that evening in the top position, told reporters in Chinese in the mixed zone.
She won her qualifying race in 56.50 seconds on the first day of swimming at La Defense Arena in Paris, then after two semifinal races Saturday night she was the third-fastest going into Sunday’s final. American Gretchen Walsh ran a world record of 55.18 at last month’s U.S. Trials and set an Olympic record of 55.38, beating the 56.00 of U.S. teammate Tori Huske in the final race.
After her first swim of the day, Zhang said she was nervous about what her friends and competitors in the swimming community thought of her and the other swimmers on the Chinese team.
Zhang said over the past few months leading up to the Paris Olympics and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, she and her teammates have been getting tested three to four days a week. Doping scandal involving 23 Chinese swimmers Zhang and other swimmers tested positive for doping ahead of the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, and the World Anti-Doping Agency stood by its decision to exempt swimmers who tested positive for banned substances just months before the Tokyo Olympics began.
Zhang said she felt some relief that she had finally started work in Paris, and when asked if she had been stressed, she replied emphatically in English, “Of course!”
“This is a great tournament. I feel like it’s more comfortable for me than it is for my opponents,” Chan said in a brief English interview. “I’m excited because so many fans came to watch us compete.”
Chinese authorities said the players’ positive tests were caused by contamination from a spice container in the kitchen of a hotel where part of the Chinese team stayed in January 2021 to compete in a national tournament.
Zhang won four medals in Tokyo, including two gold medals.
“I have very good friends from many countries, but I am very worried that I will be participating in the Olympics and that my good friends will look at me with discriminatory eyes and will not want to compete with me or watch me race,” she said. “I am even more worried that the French will think that Chinese people are not worthy of being on this stage. So I am very angry. This is just my personal opinion and does not represent everyone. I also hope that everyone will look at the objective facts with objective and bright eyes.”
Swimming’s governing body, World Aquatics, announced earlier this month that Chinese swimmers It had been extensively tested Ahead of the Olympics, 11 of the athletes who tested positive were scheduled to compete here.
WADA Director-General Olivier Niggli was pressed by Chinese state media on Thursday to comment on testing of Chinese athletes. The competition’s testing program is overseen by an IOC-funded international testing agency based in Lausanne, Switzerland, and is separate from WADA.
“I think the Chinese swimmers are happy to prove that they have been tested many times,” Niggli said.
Hungary’s Adna Keseli said after the 400m freestyle heats that she was focused on improving her swimming ability on the big stage and expected the Chinese swimmers to have the same goal.
She appreciated the regular testing protocols and said, “If they feel it’s better to prove that you’re not using anything, that’s a good idea.”
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AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar contributed to this report.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-Paris-Olympic-Games
