{"id":587398,"date":"2024-06-15T06:05:47","date_gmt":"2024-06-15T13:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=587398"},"modified":"2024-06-15T09:39:44","modified_gmt":"2024-06-15T16:39:44","slug":"extremely-frustrating-and-disappointing-lilly-king-other-americans-share-displeasure-at-chinese-doping-controversies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/extremely-frustrating-and-disappointing-lilly-king-other-americans-share-displeasure-at-chinese-doping-controversies\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Extremely Frustrating\u2019 and \u2018Disappointing:\u2019 Lilly King, Other Americans Share Displeasure at Chinese Doping Controversies (VIDEO)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Extremely Frustrating\u2019 and \u2018Disappointing:\u2019 Lilly King, Other Americans Share Displeasure at Chinese Doping Controversies<\/strong><\/p>\n

When news first emerged that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for trimetazidine months before the Tokyo Olympics but received no sanction, American swimmers were ticked off \u2014 and rightfully so. The lack of a sanction had directly cost the U.S. multiple gold medals, including in the women\u2019s 200 butterfly with Zhang Yufei<\/strong> finishing ahead of Regan Smith<\/strong> and the women\u2019s 800 freestyle relay with multiple swimmers racing after positive tests.<\/p>\n

Then, in the hours before the U.S. Olympic Trials<\/a> kicked off in Indianapolis<\/a>, more news emerged regarding anti-doping violations from China, this time that a world-record holder (Qin<\/strong> Haiyang<\/strong>) plus two Olympic champions (Wang<\/strong> Shun<\/strong> and Yang<\/strong> Junxuan<\/strong>) had tested positive for clenbuterol years before<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The explanation of food contamination for the test results in early 2021? The argument from the World Anti-Doping Agency that the newly-revealed Chinese positives were at too small a concentration to matter? None of that mattered to the figures in American swimming who met with the media Friday evening at Lucas Oil Stadium. Simply the notion that Chinese swimmers were repeatedly caught up in these controversies was reason to doubt the country\u2019s entire anti-doping apparatus.<\/p>\n

Good timing that Lilly King<\/strong> was already scheduled to speak at the press conference: King has never been afraid to share her mind on controversial issues, including the infamous finger wag directed at Russia\u2019s Yuliya Efimova at the 2016 Olympics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s extremely frustrating for the athletes to always have in the back of our mind that maybe this sport\u2019s not fair,\u201d King said. \u201cYou know, when we put everything on the line, our privacy, really, everything that we do to compete with a level playing field, it\u2019s extremely frustrating to not have faith that others are doing the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

King referenced the requirement from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) that top athletes disclose their whereabouts at all times so they can be called upon for drug testing. Additionally, USADA has a track record of publicly disclosing all irregular test results regardless of circumstance, a far cry from the Chinese pattern of covering up results that the country\u2019s anti-doping agency is able to explain<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just really disappointing, and I think it\u2019s just frustrating for all the athletes that, you know, do go through the process of dealing with,\u201d 2016 Olympic medalist Cody Miller<\/strong> said. \u201cThey show up at my house when I\u2019m trying to put my kids to bed and trying to feed them dinner, and I have to go stand in the restroom with a stranger and pee in a cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis happens, like this is commonplace for the United States that has USADA, an actual doping agency. It\u2019s just frustrating, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

Rowdy Gaines<\/strong> and Elizabeth<\/strong> Beisel<\/strong>, both multi-time medalists for the United States in the past (Gaines in 1984, Beisel in 2012) and now commentators for NBC Sports, expressed their sorrow at the situation which has dominated headlines in the sport in recent months and again this week. Gaines compared the situation to that of Shirley Babashoff<\/strong> at the 76 Olympics, when Babashoff accused her East German rivals of doping, only to be proven correct years later.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was called Surly Shirley and everybody was making fun of her and didn\u2019t believe her,\u201d Gaines said. \u201cThat\u2019s a heavy-duty accusation. And I\u2019m not prepared to say that [about the Chinese swimmers] because I just don\u2019t know. I\u2019m disappointed, I think, in the process, and I can certainly feel for the athletes. I think the only thing that can hurt our sport is the anti-doping effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beisel, meanwhile, communicated sympathy for the swimmers competing to represent their country on the highest level this summer. \u201cThe foundation to fair sport is having faith in your anti-doping agencies,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that has been shaken over the past few months, decades; it\u2019s always been shaken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, several of the press conference attendees shared optimism \u2014 or perhaps naivete \u2014 about the future of efforts to ensure clean sport. USA Swimming President and CEO Tim<\/strong> Hinchey<\/strong> proclaimed confidence in the current leadership at World Aquatics in promoting compliance with such regulations while Gaines shared a belief that he hoped above almost anything else to be true.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really do believe that the vast majority of athletes around the world are clean,\u201d Gaines said. \u201cI don\u2019t think this is a situation where it\u2019s just rampant across the world.\u201d<\/p>\n