中国、競泳２３選手の薬物陽性報道は「フェイクニュース」

【北京ＡＦＰ＝時事】中国政府は２２日、２０２１年東京五輪の前にドーピング検査で、陽性が発覚した同国の競泳選手２３人が五輪に出場していたとの報道を「フェイクニュース」だと断じた。（写真は、２０１２年ロンドン五輪の競泳男子１５００メートル自由形で、金メダルを獲得して喜ぶ中国の孫楊〈左〉と、オーストラリア人コーチのデニス・コッテレル氏）
　水泳界を揺るがしたこの件では、国内大会の検査で２３人に禁止されているトリメタジジン（Ｔｒｉｍｅｔａｚｉｄｉｎｅ）の陽性反応が出たが、世界反ドーピング機関（ＷＡＤＡ）は、選手たちがトリメタジジンの混入した食べ物から意図せず同物質を摂取したという中国側の調査結果を受け入れ、処分は下さなかった。
　２３人の中には金メダルを含むメダリストもいると報じられ、その多くは今夏のパリ五輪でも上位を争うことが予想されている。
　中国外務省はこの日、２０日に米紙ニューヨーク・タイムズと独公共放送ＡＲＤが報じた件に反発。同省の汪文斌報道官は、「関連報道はフェイクニュースであり、事実ではない」と述べた。
　汪氏は「ＷＡＤＡは非常に明確な回答を出していることも、ご承知のことと思う」 とコメント。ＷＡＤＡは中国側の見解を覆すほどの「信頼に足る証拠を欠く」ことを理由に、特定の措置は講じていない。
　汪氏によると、中国の反ドーピング当局はこの件について「詳細かつ綿密な」調査を行い、選手たちが「知らないうちに」汚染された薬物を摂取していたことを突き止めたという。「関与した中国の水泳選手たちには過失や非はなく、彼らの行為はドーピング違反には当たらなかった」と述べ、「ＷＡＤＡが中国反ドーピング当局の調査結果を支持した」と続けた。
　一方で、中国水泳協会（ＣＳＡ）と長年仕事をしている豪競泳指導者のデニス・コッテレル氏も、国家規模の組織的なドーピングだとの意見に反論しており、「私の見てきた限り」そうした事実はないと断言。この日公開されたシドニー・モーニング・ヘラルド紙のインタビューでは、「組織的なものだったというあらゆる推測」を否定した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/04/22-18:40）

Beijing on Monday called reports about 23 Chinese swimmers testing positive for a banned substance ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 fake news.
The sport was rocked at the weekend by revelations that the swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) -- a prescription heart drug that is banned in athletes because it can enhance performance -- before the Games three years ago.
The swimmers were allowed to compete in Tokyo after world governing bodies accepted China's findings that they had ingested it unwittingly from food during a competition in late 2020 and early 2021.
Several went on to win medals, including gold, and many are in line to compete at the Paris Olympics this summer.
China's foreign ministry on Monday hit back at the widespread reports, which first emerged in the New York Times and German broadcaster ARD on Saturday and cited a review of confidential documents and emails.
The relevant reports are fake news and not factual, said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.
World anti-doping agency WADA has said there was a lack of any credible evidence to challenge China's version of events.
I believe you will also have noted that the World Anti-Doping Agency has put out a very clear response, Wang said.
However, the United States Anti-Doping Agency called news of the failed tests crushing and has blasted WADA's response as a devastating stab in the back of clean athletes.
- 'Detailed' probe -
Wang said China's anti-doping centre conducted an in-depth and detailed probe into the incident, which found the athletes had ingested contaminated drugs without their knowledge.
The Chinese swimmers involved were neither at fault nor guilty of negligence, and their behaviour did not constitute a doping violation, he told a regular press conference in Beijing.
After an investigation, WADA affirmed the findings of the China anti-doping centre.
An Australian coach who works with the Chinese Swimming Association also rejected claims of systemic state-run doping, saying it is so far from anything I have seen.
Denis Cotterell, who has coached drug-tainted Chinese swimmer Sun Yang, told The Sydney Morning Herald he disputed any suggestion of anything orchestrated.
Am I confident that it's not dastardly? Not for one minute (do I believe that). I wouldn't be here (if it was), Cotterell told the newspaper by phone from the pool deck of the Chinese Olympic trials in Shenzhen, in comments published Monday.
I am happy to say I'm absolutely in support of my swimmers and dispute any suggestion of anything orchestrated, the 74-year-old said.
Cotterell, who has had an on-off association with Chinese swimming for more than a decade, said he was speaking from first-hand experience.
I see what they (the swimmers) go through, I see the measures, I can tell you the stories. I know the facts and I am comfortable, he said.
The suggestion that it's systemic is so far from anything I have seen here the whole time.
- Chequered history -
ARD aired a documentary on the subject Sunday, with the Montreal-based WADA issuing a fresh statement afterwards.
The agency still stands firmly by the results of its scientific investigation and legal decision concerning the case, it said.
Wang said the Chinese government consistently upholds a resolutely zero-tolerance position when it comes to doping, adding China upholds fair competition in sport.
Chinese swimming has a chequered doping history. Seven Chinese swimmers tested positive for steroids at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima.
In 1998, swimmer Yuan Yuan was banned after Australian customs officers discovered a large stash of human growth hormone in her bags at the world championships in Perth.
More recently, three-time Olympic champion Sun is just about to finish a second doping ban. His first, in 2014, was for taking TMZ.
burs-je/pst