In the mid-'90s, investigators "unleashed a raft of positive tests" in what would be described as a state-sponsored doping program for Chinese swimmers, according to Nazvi Careem of the SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST. And the world reacted "much like students celebrating the exposure of a cheating brainiac classmate." It is what they had been waiting for "after Chinese swimmers, especially their women, swept away opposition in a wave of gold at the Olympics and world championships." Led by the skeptical U.K. and Australia, "they high-fived each other with glee while sternly tut-tutting a mainland system" that had "virtually copy-and-pasted" its doping and coaching program from East Germany, which a few years earlier disintegrated with the Berlin Wall, "leaving a bunch of skilled dope-pushing coaches twiddling their thumbs -- until China came calling." Last week, reports emerged that six Chinese swimmers tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Whistle-blowers "also accused mainland officials of covering up those positive tests, though a high-ranking official from China’s anti-doping agency, Chinada, denied this." It has "only been a few days since the revelations but the reaction of the world has been much more muted" toward China than it was 20 years ago. Maybe it is because China is "not the same swimming powerhouse" it was in the early '90s, or because it "is hidden in the shadow of an infinitely more sinister doping scandal that has rocked Russia." Or "quite simply, the world is tired, cynical and afraid." Tired because since the "supposedly landmark case" of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson in '88, the situation is "actually much worse nearly 30 years down the road." Cynical because, "let’s be honest, we all think that everyone’s on drugs and it’s just a case of who gets caught." Afraid because "you simply don’t know what’s hiding in your own closet." After a string of Chinese athletes tested positive from the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, and the world shouted, "Gotcha!," skeletons "started to rattle everywhere, even in countries that claimed to be cleansed of doping." For China, doping "goes beyond succeeding" at int'l level. Bitter provincial rivalries "create a win-at-all-costs culture within the country that is even harder to police." But like the "smart kid cheating at exams, the world is no longer shocked" (SCMP, 3/26).
PETROVA ISSUES DENIAL: REUTERS' Angel Krasimirov reported Bulgarian triple jumper Gabriela Petrova, runner-up at the 2015 European indoor championships in Prague, "has denied any wrong-doing after testing positive for the banned substance meldonium." Petrova: "I have not violated, in any way, the anti-doping rules and I can move on with my head held high. I stopped taking this medication in September. I haven't touched it in 2016." Meldonium, which helps boost blood flow and increases the amount of oxygen taken in by the body, allowing athletes to "recover faster while training," was added to WADA's list of banned substances on Jan. 1. Since then, more than 100 athletes have been found to have used it (REUTERS, 3/28). REUTERS' Dmitry Solovyov reported Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Friday that a total of 27 Russian sportsmen "had already tested positive for the banned substance meldonium." Mutko said that a total of around 127 sportsmen have "tested positive for meldonium globally" (REUTERS, 3/26).
FEELING 'BETRAYED': In Sydney, Daniel Cherny reported Australian Football League side Richmond player Alex Rance said that AFL players "feel betrayed by last week's leak of statistics of positive hair tests for illicit drugs." While Collingwood has "borne the brunt of reports placing them in the top three clubs for off-season positives," Rance said that most players "are upset that confidential information has become public." Rance: "My initial reaction was a lot of disappointment. I can speak for a lot of AFL players, if not all of them, that there's a real sense of betrayal about what's happened here. It's really disappointing, because it is for the health and wellbeing of the players, and to be kept relatively in-house, or completely in-house, so that if there is a problem that it can be knocked on the head to help that individual player. Not to be aired as a juicy story, or us to be plastered over the newspaper or any media outlet" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 3/28).
