Seven-time Olympic swimming champion Caeleb Dressel says he is not confident rivals are not doping at the Paris Olympics.
The build-up to the Games’ swimming event has been overshadowed by the continuing row over positive drugs tests from 23 Chinese athletes in the run-up to the last Olympics.
Earlier this month an independent report backed the decision not to dispute Chinese authorities’ claims the swimmers ingested trimetazidine (TMZ) by contamination.
Eleven of those swimmers will compete for China in Paris.
Asked if he had confidence authorities had ensured there would be a level playing field in Paris, American great Dressel said: “No, not really.
“I don’t think they have given us enough evidence to support them in how this case was handled.”
Dressel, 27, is one of the most high-profile names in the US Olympic squad, having won two Olympic golds in 2016 and five in Tokyo, and his damning comments come a day before the Games are officially opened on Friday.
Details of the case were first made public by the New York Times in April, which shared reporting with German broadcaster ARD. The positive tests were not made public at the time in 2021.
The World Anti-doping Agency (Wada) said it was “not in a position to disprove” the conclusion made by the China Anti-Doping Agency (Chinada) and opted not to appeal after consulting independent experts as well as external legal counsel.
That drew criticism from athletes and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada), whose chief executive Travis Tygart suggested a cover-up – a claim Wada rejected as “completely false and defamatory”.
A criminal investigation is under way in the US over the issues while a different report into World Aquatics’ handling of the case also found there was no mismanagement or cover-up.
Team GB’s Adam Peaty, US swimmer Katie Ledecky and American great Michael Phelps are among those to have also spoken out about the issue.
World Aquatics said earlier this week athletes competing in Paris have been tested 4,774 times and, speaking at the same press conference as Dressel, chief executive Brent Nowicki said there have been no positive tests.
World Aquatics president Husain Al-Musallam rejected Dressel’s suggestions.
“We do have confidence in the work that has been done through different experts, athletes and independent committees,” he said.
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“All of these individuals came with the same conclusion. We make sure every athlete coming to Olympic Games has been tested.”
Nowicki said: “This entire team worked tirelessly so when you hear someone like Caeleb say that, obviously it’s not what you want any athlete to say.
“We have to look forward, we have to regain his trust and those athletes’ trust who show that same opinion.”(BBC)
