Chinese swimmers had to eat 5kg of food to fail 2021 drug tests, Usada chief says

Key part of the case was World Anti-Doping Agency’s acceptance that the swimmers had been contaminated by traces of a banned drug in a hotel kitchen

The head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency told senators that Chinese swimmers would have had to eat around 11 pounds (5kg) of food to test for the amounts of the performance enhancer that resulted in the much-debated positive drug tests from 2021 that were later disregarded.

“It’s unbelievable to think that Tinkerbell just showed up and sprinkled it all over the kitchen,” Travis Tygart said in a Senate hearing on Tuesday focused on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s response to the doping case.

A key part of that case was Wada’s acceptance of the explanation from Chinese authorities that the swimmers had been contaminated by traces of the drug trimetazidine (TMZ) in a hotel kitchen.

Usada scientists analysed data from a report commissioned by Wada to come up with the amount of food (5kg) or liquid (4.9 litres) the athletes would have had to have consumed to test positive at the levels they did.