32 most drug-tested swimmers globally in 2024 were all Chinese, data reveals

Updated figures for last year continue the pattern before the Paris Olympics, when China’s swimmers were targeted for extra testing

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China’s quartet, including Qin Haiyang (second from left), display their gold medals after winning the men’s 4x100m medley relay at the Paris Olympics. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:39pm, 13 Feb 2025Updated: 6:30pm, 13 Feb 2025

Data released this month by World Aquatics has confirmed the extent to which China’s swimmers were subject to anti-doping measures last year, with the top 32 most tested athletes all being Chinese.

The full figures for tests carried out in 2024 on more than 1,500 athletes, updated on February 4 and disclosed by the governing body’s Aquatics Integrity Unit, follows a build-up to last year’s Paris Olympics in which Chinese swimmers were chosen for testing twice as much as their rivals.

World Aquatics (WA) revealed in mid-July that, while those “from specific nations” were expected to be tested four times between January 1 and the opening of the Olympics on July 26, China’s swimmers would be tested out of competition “no less than eight times”.

On the eve of the Games, WA updated that forecast, saying it had carried out 418 tests on 31 Chinese swimmers since January 1 last year, with an average of 13 each – or 21 each when tests by other anti-doping organisations were added. That compared with an average of six in total for American swimmers and four for Australians.

Tang Qianting (centre) collects 100m breaststroke gold at last year’s world championships in Doha. Photo: EPA-EFE

This month’s year-end figures showed that Tang Qianting, the reigning 100 metres breaststroke world champion, was tested the most, on 38 occasions.

The next, with 35 tests, was Qin Haiyang, the multiple world champion in breaststroke events and a member of the men’s 4x100m medley relay team who won gold in Paris – the first time the United States had been beaten since the event’s inclusion in 1960.