China’s Haiyang Qin, who was found guilty of doping, is a favorite in Olympic swimming. Urheilu’s swimming expert Ville Kallinen gives him some boos.
Paris Olympics on channels 26.7.–11.8. Go to the competition website here.
The Paris Olympic swimming competitions start on Saturday. Urheilu’s swimming expert observes that you may see statements in the swimming pool Ville Kallinen.
Chinese breaststroker Qin Haiyang there are favorites for distances of 100 and 200 meters as well. A year ago, at the Fukuoka Long Track World Championships, he shook off the gold streak by exceptionally winning all three breaststroke distances from 50 meters to 200 meters.
In second place, a new shockingly hard world record of 2:05.48 was born.
However, since spring, there has been a stir around Haiyang. New York Times and the German ARD reported in April that 23 Chinese swimmers were caught using banned substances just a few months before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Haiyang’s name was also on that list.
The swimmers had suffered from a doping substance called trimetazidine. Cases from China were explained in such a way that the substance would have entered the body unintentionally from spoiled food that had been cooked. The anti-doping agency Wada swallowed the explanation.
In June, China named the swimming team for the Paris Games. As many as 11 athletes from the team were caught with a banned substance more than three years ago. Among them, Haiyang and those who won Olympic gold in Tokyo Zhang Yufei mixed Wang Shu.
Booing?
Many international star swimmers have been disappointed that Wada allowed the Chinese swimmers in question to participate in Tokyo, despite being aware of the doping scandals. One of the prominent critics is the two-time Olympic champion in the 100m breaststroke Adam Peaty.
In Paris, a duel between Haiyang and the British Peaty is expected in the 100-meter breaststroke.
There was a protest at the 2019 World Championships when Australia, who won silver in the men’s 400-meter freestyle Mac Horton did not agree to share the podium with the gold medalist Sun Yang’s with. At the time, the Chinese was in the midst of a doping frenzy after breaking a doping sample jar with a hammer.
– If Peaty and Haiyang are on the podium at the same time, will Peaty agree to shake hands or get on the podium? Peaty has been really aggressive about doping.
The audience’s reaction is also thought-provoking.
– Sun Yang was booed in many competitions. Will Chinese swimmers be booed in Paris?
“Embarrassing”
Haiyang therefore won three Olympic golds a year ago. Of the distances, the 50m breaststroke is not an Olympic distance.
The superiority of the Chinese surprised the swimming circles already at that time. Kallinen says that a quick distance of 50 meters and a longer distance of 200 meters are completely different distances in terms of physiological requirements.
Before his ME time in Fukuoka, 200 meters was clearly a weaker swimming distance for Haiyang. Kallinen takes the example of athletics.
– In terms of energy production, a 50-meter swim compares in time to a 200-meter run, and a 200-meter swim compares to an 800-meter run.
– In athletics, it is very rare to see that athletes who do well in 200 and 400 meters also run good 800 meter races. There is also a similar trend in swimming, so it is disconcerting.
In swimming, it’s more typical to do well in, for example, 100 and 200 meters.
– The fact that there are 50, 100 meters and 200 meters is a very rare combo.
Kallinen is very skeptical about Chinese swimming.
– In this case, there have been so many athletes that I would be more surprised if no systematic doping work was revealed.