The scandal was uncovered last year ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris when the newspapers Daily Telegraph and New York Times as well as the German TV company ARD revealed what had happened.
23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidin (TMZ) before the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021.
Wada, the international anti-doping organization, and the International Swimming Federation silenced the incident and none of the swimmers were suspended as Wada accepted China's explanation that the athletes had ingested the substance through contaminated food.
13 of the 23 swimmers participated in the Olympic Games in Tokyo and took three gold medals. One of them was Sarah Sjöström's competitor Zhang Yufei. The Chinese athlete took two gold medals and two silver medals in 2021 and one silver medal and five bronze medals in Paris.
In a committee hearing, USADA claims that they have analyzed information from Wada's report on the incident and come to the conclusion that each individual athlete would have had to eat five kilograms of food or drink 4.9 liters of fluid to reach the levels that the positive tests correspond to.
It's unbelievable to think that something just showed up and splashed the entire kitchen, says Travis Tygard, CEO of USADA, in the committee hearing that deals with the doping scandal.
USADA has tried to persuade Wada to participate in the hearing, but the international anti-doping organization has declined.
The American government has withdrawn 3.6 million dollars, equivalent to 34 million kronor, in support for Wada due to long-standing criticism of the International Anti-Doping Organization. It is the largest annual support that Wada receives.
