Adam Peaty did not hold back in criticising ‘cheating’ at Paris 2024, slamming previously ‘contaminated’ Chinese swimmers after the 4x100m medley.
Team GB finished fourth in the medley, with China winning gold, but Peaty was not happy seeing the team stand atop the podium.
Two of the four-man team, Qin Haiyang and Sun Jiajun, were among 11 swimmers allowed to compete in Paris despite testing positive for a banned substance.
They were allowed to swim because the China Anti-Doping Agency decided the positive tests were down to food contamination.
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Peaty is certainly not entirely accepting of that judgement, suggesting that the athletes who tested positive should not be in Paris.
‘One of my favourite quotes in sport is that there is no point winning if you’re not winning fair,’ said Peaty said. ‘I think you know that in your heart. If you touch and you know you’re cheating, then you’re not really winning.
‘So for me, if you’ve been “contaminated” twice, I think as an honourable person you should be out of the sport. But we know sport isn’t that simple.
‘We’ve got to have faith in the system, but we don’t. It’s just got to be stricter. What I’ve said from the start is that it is fraud. If you’re cheating, it is fraud.
‘It’s not about the podium. We did our best job as a team, it may have been bronze, who knows, shoulda woulda coulda, who knows? But I’m glad I was able to come out of my illness this week and give my best and be fair. I don’t need anything else to do that, just my heart, that’s what sport is. And for me, being a man of faith, we can’t take any of this with us, but we can take our pride and we can take the memories we share with our families, knowing we did it true.’
Peaty made it clear that he wasn’t referring to the entire Chinese team, or other athletes, saying: ‘I’ve also been asked about people who weren’t contaminated and I respect that. I don’t want to paint a whole nation or a group of people with one brush. I think that would be very unfair.’
The 100m breaststroke silver medallist at this year’s Games also hit out at swimming chiefs, suggesting that they have not done their job properly.
Speaking of Team GB’s performance going forward, he said: ‘I think we’re going to use it to our advantage in the next four years, whether I’m there or not. I know these boys will carry that and we’ll see how they do in four years’ time.
‘But, the people that need to do their job, need to wake up and do it.’
Xu Jiayu and Pan Zhanle completed the Chinese team, with Xu saying: ‘There’s no problem for the team. We follow the rules.
‘I don’t want to have any excuses. We overcame some challenges and just like in the past we won some battles, this is something that’s rooted in the Chinese spirit.’
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