Zhang Yufei, of China, competes during a heat in the women’s 100-meter butterfly at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday
Zhang Yufei hopes her international rivals will believe she is competing clean after the Chinese swimming star estimates she took between 20 and 30 drug tests monthly in the lead up to the Paris Olympics.
“I don’t think there’s a single athlete, Chinese or foreign, who would test positive for doping. They would not want to destroy all the hard work they’ve put in over the years on doping,” Zhang told reporters in Chinese in the mixed zone Saturday, when she was the top qualifier for the 100-meter butterfly semifinal.
Zhang said she and her teammates have tested three to four days a week in the past couple of months leading up to the Paris Games and in the wake of a doping scandal involving 23 Chinese swimmers — including Zhang — ahead of the Tokyo Olympics three years ago. The World Anti-Doping Agency stood by its decision to clear the swimmers who tested positive for a banned heart medication months before the Tokyo Games began.
She won her preliminary race during the first day of swimming competition at Paris La Defense Arena, then had the third-fastest time after Saturday night’s two semifinal heats going into the final Sunday.
Later Saturday night, Zhang was part of the Chinese 4×100-meter relay team that earned a bronze medal behind the gold-medal winning Australians and the American team that took silver. Zhang’s relay teammate Yang Junxuan was also on the list of Chinese swimmers who tested positive. They captured the first Chinese swimming medal in Paris.
“It was the first medal in swimming of this Olympic Games,” Zhang said, beaming with the medal around her neck and a special poster medalists received.
Zhang said after her first swim of the day she is anxious about what her friends and competitors in the swim world are thinking about Zhang and others from the Chinese team.
Chinese officials said the swimmers tested positive because of contamination from spice containers in a hotel kitchen where some of the Chinese team stayed for a national meet in January 2021. American anti-doping officials complained, and the FBI is investigating WADA based on a new federal law that allows U.S. officials to prosecute doping globally. JANIE McCAULEY, NANTERRE, MDT/AP
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