Of the two swimmers who The New York Times reported failed a 2022 doping test, one is scheduled to compete at the current Paris Olympics after both were cleared by Chinese authorities who concluded that the detected steroids were accidentally ingested after they ate hamburgers in Beijing. According to the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency, trace amounts were more consistent with food contamination rather than doping.

According to anonymous sources cited by the American newspaper, one of the athletes was a repeat offender, as he was among the 23 swimmers who originally tested positive for trimetazidine, a potent and banned drug enhancer, between late 2020 and early 2021 ahead of the Tokyo Games. 

The case was uncovered back in April between The New York Times and German broadcaster ARD leading to global outrage; especially from the United States Anti-Doping Agency, athlete-led pressure groups and even the US Congress, as the suspected dopers were also cleared while alleging food contamination and allowed to compete and win Olympic medals.

The back-and-forth between WADA and USADA’s chief, the outspoken Travis Tygart, has been harsh and put the International Olympic Committee in a hard spot as it pressed last week to deter further criticism from the American side with an unprecedented move during its 142nd session in Paris: forcing the arm of Salt Lake City 2034 organisers, it threatened to revoke the decision to award them the Winter Games unless hostilities ceased sooner rather than later.

Despite diplomatic overtures from Utah governor Spencer Cox, among others, the message did not apparently ring through.

In a separate press conference in Paris, the head of WADA, Witold Banka, deflected blame on a possible mishandling of the cases and suggested that American athletes are the ones who should be drug-tested more aggressively while once more voicing concerns that the pressure was part of a political American power play.

After the Times’ Tuesday report again sparked calls for urgent reform, WADA responded by stating that this latest case was part of a "wider series of cases" also including a shooter and a BMX rider who all tested positive for the steroid methandienone in late 2022 and early 2023.

"Upon notification, the athletes were all immediately provisionally suspended, pending investigation and remained so until late 2023 when the investigation concluded. Therefore, in the case of the two swimmers, they were suspended for more than one year," the agency said, detailing that the provisional suspension was "with the view to asserting a four-year period of ineligibility before a CHINADA anti-doping tribunal” and that investigation “included the testing of hundreds of meat samples from various sources, with dozens revealing positive results for methandienone."

WADA added that CHINADA had also analysed supplements used by the athletes and conducted hair tests -- which were negative. Neither the shooter nor the BMX rider are at the Paris Olympics. 

"Following its investigation, CHINADA concluded that the four cases were most likely linked to meat contamination and, in late 2023, closed the cases without asserting a violation, with the athletes having remained provisionally suspended throughout that time," the statement said.

Tygart himself did not mince words after news of the two new positive cases broke. "A mountain of evidence shows that the system has failed. WADA has accepted China can play by its own set of rules, and the public is losing faith in the Olympic values. It must change," he said in his own statement. “It’s crushing news to wake up to for all athletes and fans of the Olympic movement that the failures of the global anti-doping system have overshadowed what should be a moment to bring the world together.”

A member of the International Testing Agency who reviewed the case argued that World Aquatics should have appealed the Chinese decision to clear the swimmers, the Times revealed. The International Federation did not comment on the matter but denied receiving such a recommendation.

WADA underlined it had “reviewed the full case file with considerable scepticism and all due diligence” and found “no evidence to challenge the contamination scenario presented by the athletes and CHINADA” while adding that it was generally concerned “about the number of cases that have been closed without sanction when it is not possible to challenge the contamination theory.”

As tempers keep flaring despite the chairman of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee Gene Sykes’ calling for an end to the acrimony on Wednesday, WADA concluded its latest statement with an ardent defence of its handling of both Chinese doping cases and unveiled criticism of the American sporting powers that be.

“The politicization of Chinese swimming continues with this latest attempt by the media in the United States to imply wrongdoing on the part of WADA and the broader anti-doping community. As we have seen over recent months, WADA has been unfairly caught in the middle of geopolitical tensions between superpowers but has no mandate to participate in that,” it said.