Katie Ledecky didn’t maintain again in her first interview addressing the 2021 Chinese language doping controversy that has known as into query the outcomes of the 4×200 freestyle relay on the Tokyo Olympics seven months later.
“It’s arduous going into Paris figuring out that we’re going to be racing a few of these athletes,” mentioned Ledecky, a seven-time Olympic champion. “And I believe our religion in a number of the programs is at an all-time low.”
The best distance swimmer of all time almost captured an eighth Olympic gold medal within the 4×200 free relay a number of years in the past, however China pulled off an upset en path to a brand new world file of seven:40.33. Final month, stories surfaced linking 23 Chinese language swimmers to optimistic assessments for trimetazidine (TMZ), the identical coronary heart medicine for which Russian determine skater Kamila Valieva was infamously banned 4 years. The record included two members of China’s triumphant 4×200 free relay group: Zhang Yufei and Yang Junxuan, who set a nationwide file of 1:54.37 on the leadoff leg.
Chinese language authorities concluded that swimmers unwittingly ingested TMZ by contamination from a resort kitchen, however they by no means recognized the supply of the banned substance. The World Anti-Doping Company (WADA) mentioned it didn’t have sufficient proof to problem China’s model of occasions.
Final month, WADA appointed an impartial prosecutor to evaluate the case after catching criticism from the White Home, the U.S. Anti-Doping Company, and worldwide swimming federations. Findings are anticipated to be launched proper earlier than the Paris Olympics this summer season. Among the many major questions is why the Chinese language swimmers weren’t provisionally suspended after testing optimistic for TMZ.
“I’d wish to see some accountability there,” Ledecky mentioned. “I’d wish to see some solutions as to why this occurred the way in which it did. And I’d actually wish to see that steps are taken for the longer term in order that we are able to regain some confidence within the international system. I believe the entire case must be reexamined independently and completely, and all the knowledge must be on the market.”
Ledecky is gearing up for the U.S. Olympic Trials subsequent month, the place she’s favored to make her fourth Olympics within the 1500 free, 800 free, 400 free, and 4×200 free relay. The 27-year-old world file holder dove into the pool because the anchor leg of the U.S. ladies’s 4×200 free relay in Tokyo trailing Australia by 1.53 seconds earlier than ripping a 1:53.76 cut up to assist her squad safe silver in an American file of seven:40.73.
Ledecky’s full interview with CBS Information will air on Sunday.
