The fact that names of Chinese swimmers involved in a contamination case were leaked by certain media organizations has caused concerns for athletes, said Olivier Niggli, director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Thursday.

His comments followed a case involving 23 Chinese swimmers, in which names and other private details of the swimmers were disclosed, some of whom were minors, although they were later proved as no-fault and committed no violations.

According to Article 14 of the World Anti-Doping Code, if the athlete did not commit an anti-doping rule violation, the hearing or appeal decision “itself and the underlying facts may not be Publicly Disclosed except with the consent of the Athlete or other Person who is the subject of the decision.”

“This is a real concern for many athletes. We’ve got a lot of comments from athletes, including our athletes’ committee. They’re concerned that this could happen and how it happened,” said Niggli, who added that they are looking into it before proper actions are taken.

Niggli also pointed out that disclosing the information of the swimmers “is clearly a breach of the rules and potentially about violation of legislation,” he said at a press conference ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

The Chinese Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) already protested over the unauthorized disclosure in a statement in April as the names and other detailed private information should have been confidential.

The act “is a violation of the media ethics and morals and a serious infringement on the legitimate rights and interests of these athletes. CHINADA calls for WADA to investigate into the leaks of private information and reserves its right to take legal action as appropriate,” it said in the statement.

In fact, Chinese swimmers have been tested frequently over the years. In 2023, swimming stars Zhang Yufei, Qin Haiyang and Li Bingjie were all tested more than 40 times, more than four-fold of their counterparts from Australia and the United States.

According to the World Aquatics, Chinese swimmers have been tested an average of 21 times since January 1, 2024, far more than the Australian swimmers and U.S. swimmers who were tested four times and six times on average respectively.

Hopefully, with tests, the allegations put against them can be proven as wrong, said Niggli.

Worried about too many tests that could impact the swimmers’ preparation for the Games and affect their health, a lot of Chinese people took to the micro-blogging social media platform Sina Weibo to complain.

“Such frequency has seriously affected and even disrupted the normal life and training of the Chinese athletes,” said a web user called Migezhandoufeijilianheti, who has 911,000 followers.

“Certain countries would not like to see the rise of Chinese swimmers,” said another web user named Xipingjunyushi, who has 985,000 followers.

African Times has published this article in partnership with Xinhua News Agency