The 4x100m medley relay at the Paris Olympics offered so much promise and it delivered. Team USA, China, and Great Britain all went in full flow. But in the end, Pan Zhanle swam one of the best races of his life with a terrific 45.92 in the freestyle leg. The USA came in second while the host nation France and Leon Marchand won bronze. Yet, the biggest losers of the day, one might say Great Britain. And their star swimmer, Adam Peaty, was disgruntled.

“One of my favourite quotes I’ve seen lately is that there’s no point winning if you’re not winning fair. I think you know that truth in your heart,” said Peaty, down with a doping scandal that arose.

According to Sky Sports, before the Olympics, the New York Times and German broadcaster ARD reported that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ). Moreover, this happened seven months before the Tokyo Games 2021. Yet, they competed in the event. It caused a lot of uproars amongst most athletes and Peaty wanted a fair race in the final of the medley relay.

Reportedly, breaststroke swimmer Qin Haiyang and butterfly swimmer Sun Jiajun have come into the limelight. Despite controversies, these two swimmers were cleared to compete at the Paris Olympics. After unknowingly ingesting drugs through contaminated food, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) stepped in. They could not discredit the explanation provided by the Chinese anti-doping agency, which stated that the swimmers had eaten contaminated meat at a training camp. Notably, these justifications were sufficient for WADA to refrain from banning the swimmers.

Meanwhile, another report showed no bias by WADA toward China while handling this case. However, a similar incident occurred in 2017. The New York Times reported that Qin tested positive for a different performance-enhancing drug in 2017, which was also traced to food contamination. Consequently, Adam Peaty explained the gray areas surrounding the case.

Adam Peaty dissatisfied with Chinese swimmers

“If you touch and you know that you’re cheating, you’re not winning. For me, if you’ve been on that and you have been ‘contaminated’ twice, I think as an honourable person you should be out of the sport,” mentioned Peaty, aggrieved with some decisions. But he also didn’t want to paint an unfair picture of the entire nation. China is chasing the United States of America for the most gold medals, with both claiming 19 gold medals each.

Qin, however, accused his opponents of feeling threatened, stating on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, as reported by the BBC. “Some tricks aim to disrupt our preparation rhythm and destroy our psychological defence. But we are not afraid,” he retaliated because of the accusations drawn towards him.

The Chinese contingent has done exceptionally well in swimming, claiming 12 Olympic medals. As for Adam Peaty, he looks to take a break from swimming after monopolizing the breaststroke events for a long time. According to Sky Sports, he mentioned, “I’m going to take some time off everything and I don’t really know what the answer is. I’m taking time, if my family needs me they need me.”

With the swimming competitions done and dusted in Paris, a long, well-deserved rest beckons for all swimmers.