China picks swimmers caught in doping scandal for Paris

China has selected eleven swimmers that are embroiled successful a awesome doping ungraded for adjacent month’s Paris Olympics.

Earlier this twelvemonth it emerged that 23 of nan country’s swimming squad were cleared to compete astatine nan Tokyo Games successful 2021, contempt testing affirmative for a banned constituent months earlier.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) said it was "not successful a position to disprove" an assertion from nan China Anti-Doping Agency (Chinada) that they had unintentionally ingested bosom medicine trimetazidine (TMZ), which tin heighten performance.

That sparked an outcry from Western anti-doping agencies and athletes, pinch United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) main executive Travis Tygart suggesting a screen up, a declare Wada rejected arsenic "completely mendacious and defamatory" .

A 3rd of nan 31-strong squad that China has now named for nan Olympics are swimmers that were reported astatine nan clip to person grounded narcotics tests, threatening to formed a protector complete nan Paris Games.

"This is nan train-wreck we were worried astir and it’s precisely why we called for a real, independent prosecution of these antecedently hidden affirmative tests, particularly fixed that nan statute of limitations hasn’t tally out", Tygart told BBC Sport.

"All athletes merit to cognize that it’s a adjacent and conscionable result for these Chinese athletes to beryllium astatine nan Paris Games competing against different athletes who person been held to nan strictest standards."

Wada launched an independent reappraisal of nan lawsuit successful April, pinch nan findings expected to beryllium delivered this summer. However, 2 cardinal bodies which correspond US athletes wrote to nan country’s supplier tsar calling for a "truly independent investigation".

Last period US Olympic champion Katie Ledecky said religion successful nan anti-doping strategy was astatine an "all-time low" successful nan aftermath of nan scandal, adding, "it’s difficult going into Paris knowing that we’re going to beryllium racing immoderate of these athletes."

In May World Aquatics appointed a five-person anti-doping audit reappraisal committee "to return distant immoderate learnings from this experience".

It said it hoped that nan results of nan investigation “will thief erase immoderate circulating uncertainty astir nan anti-doping activity and spot nan minds of our athletes astatine easiness heading into nan Paris Olympic Games”.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach has said he has "full confidence" successful Wada.

China’s overseas ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said connected Wednesday that nan state has "consistently adhered to nan patient stance of zero tolerance for doping", and it "safeguarded adjacent title successful sports competitions, and has made affirmative contributions to nan unified world conflict against doping".

In a statement, Wada said: "We are not astatine liberty to corroborate nan identities of nan athletes. Confidential individual accusation of nan 23 athletes was leaked and published illegally. We will not compound that superior breach of information protection."