British swimmer Adam Peaty has called out anti-doping authorities for not being strict enough. He questioned the presence of two Chinese swimmers on the gold medalist 4x100m medley relay team at the 2024 Paris Olympics who were accused in a doping scandal.
Peaty was referring to the Chinese doping scandal that occurred in 2021.
Some of the accused were allowed to participate at the Paris Olympics this year, including two members of the Chinese swimming team that won the gold medal in the 4x100m medley relay. The USA and France won bronze and silver, respectively. Peaty recently said on the issue (via The Guardian):
"I think one of my favorite quotes I've seen lately is, 'There's no point winning it if you don't win it fair.' I think you know that in your heart. Even if you touch and you know that you're cheating, you know you're not winning, right? So, for me, if you've been on that (banned substances) and you have been contaminated twice, I think as an honorable sport, you should be out of the sport. But we know sport isn't that simple."
23 Chinese swimmers were tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine a few weeks before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which were held a year later due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Chinese authorities alleged it was due to environmental contamination, and the World Anti-Doping Agency agreed to their claims.
The presence of some of those swimmers at Paris 2024 has led to criticism from several swimmers, including Peaty.
"We have our faith in system, but also we don't. The Americans have been very vocal, we don't want to get distracted with that, but I think it's got to be stricter. I think that the people that need to do the job, wake up and do your job," he added.
Great Britain was one of the strong contenders for an Olympic podium finish in the men's 4x100m medley relay. However, they missed by a whisker, finishing fourth with a time of 2 minutes, 29.6 seconds. The team consisted of Oliver Morgan, Peaty, Duncan Scott and Matt Richards
Adam Peaty on overcoming COVID-19 at Paris Olympics
Adam Peaty jointly won the silver medal in the men's 100m breaststroke at the 2024 Paris Olympics with Nic Fink of the USA, with no bronze medal awarded in the event. However, he was later surprised to learn that he was infected with the COVID-19 virus.
The infection wasn't very serious and Peaty recovered fairly quickly. However he had to miss out on the mixed 4x100m medley relay final due to the illness. He said about his recovery before the men's 4x100m medley relay heat 2 (via Mirror):
"It's probably the worst week of my life in terms of how my body is, and that's no exaggeration. Everything's come at once. Since COVID, it's just waking up everyday with a different thing. The medical team's been brilliant. I think it's just a victory getting on that start block there."
With that, Peaty will return with a single silver medal from the Paris Olympics, compared to the two gold medals and a silver he had won for Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics.