Maria SharapovaCredit: AP
All 23 positives were recorded at the same time and place and traced back to meals at a training camp, which is too wholesale and clumsy to fit into a conspiracy theory and lends itself to the possibility of an unfortunate accident Traces of TMZ were found, but in such small amounts that they are unlikely to improve performance.
This is believable as far as it goes. But it does not explain why the drug, designed as a heart disease medicine, was present at the training camp. And it doesn't explain why the details of this course of events, if they were so innocent, were buried in archives unlikely to return to human eyes until they did.
Now it's hard not to pinch your nose with your fingers.
Then there is the role of WADA, the international body. It accepted XINADA's explanation and did not insist on even provisional suspensions, as incurred by Australian swimmer Shayna Jack in 2019 after testing positive for a banned substance she said she unknowingly ingested.
Jack was cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to return to swimming two years later, but too late to take part in that year's Tokyo Olympics. All 23 Chinese swimmers competed in Tokyo and three won gold.
Does anyone have any air fresheners?
Heavy penalty: Australian swimmer Shayna Jack.Credit: Getty Images
We've heard a lot in this country lately about the burden of proof. In defending its actions, the WADA said it lacked “scientific evidence and intelligence” to challenge China's findings and was “not in a position to disprove the possibility that contamination was the source of TMZ”. In other words, it proceeded from a presumption of innocence.
But a distinguishing feature of the anti-doping regime since it was formulated is so-called strict liability, which inverts responsibility. Instead of forcing anti-drug authorities to establish guilt, it requires an athlete to prove his innocence. Because of this, Jack was suspended. However, two years later, the Chinese swimmers were not.
Won't someone open a window, please?
And then the AMA swept it all under the table anyway, transparency be damned. Even if there was nothing to see here, surely the world anti-doping regulator had a duty to report that it had seen nothing? It is puzzling that he chose to let this sleeping dog lie. Again, China is a very big dog.
The thing about bad breath is that sometimes it's just a fart. But it still needs to be clarified.
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