More details have emerged about positive doping tests among elite Chinese swimmers.

As the Paris Olympics start this week, spectators from around the world will cheer on the remarkable athletes who have dedicated their lives to achieving their dreams. Sadly, a major doping scandal threatens to overshadow their feats.

In April, the New York Times and two news agencies in Australia and Germany reported that 23 elite Chinese swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) months before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The heart medication is a performance enhancer on the list of prohibited substances that triggers the harshest penalties, including a four-year suspension from competition.

But none of the Chinese swimmers were suspended. In fact, 13 went on to compete in Tokyo, where the team won six medals. Despite the World Anti-Doping Agency’s own rules requiring public disclosure for positive tests, the organization, which is tasked with enforcing anti-doping rules for international sports, only acknowledged them after news reports broke — more than three years after the failed tests.

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More egregious details have since emerged. Another Times investigation, published last month, found that three of the swimmers found with TMZ in 2021 had also tested positive in 2016 and 2017 for another potent drug, clenbuterol. Like TMZ, clenbuterol, which acts like an anabolic steroid by promoting muscle growth, is prohibited and should have resulted in a four-year suspension.

Again, the athletes were not sanctioned, and the incidents were not disclosed. Two went on to win gold medals in Tokyo, and the third has since become a world record holder. All three — and eight others who failed tests in 2021 — are representing China in this year’s Olympics.

In both instances, WADA accepted Chinese authorities’ explanation that the positive tests occurred because of environmental contamination. In the 2021 case, Chinese authorities claimed they found trace amounts of TMZ in the kitchen of the hotel where the swimmers were staying. They alleged that TMZ was unknowingly mixed in with the athletes’ food.

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There are multiple problems with this explanation. First, TMZ is a pill, not a powder or liquid. It is infrequently used and not found in supplements or given to livestock. So how did this substance somehow get into the kitchen? Furthermore, despite extensive investigation, not one kitchen staff or hotel employee was found to be taking TMZ, and no other guests came forward as being prescribed the medicine or testing positive for it.

WADA has denied any wrongdoing, claiming that a report it commissioned exonerates the organization. But the annex of that report shows two top scientists at the organization expressing skepticism, even incredulity, about the accidental contamination........

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