Twenty-three top Chinese swimmers tested positive for the same powerful banned substance seven months before the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021 but were allowed to escape public scrutiny and continue to compete after top Chinese officials secretly cleared them of doping and the global authority charged with policing drugs in sports chose not to intervene.

在2021年东京奥运会开幕前7个月，23名中国顶尖游泳运动员的药检结果呈阳性，他们摄入了同一种强效违禁物质，但在中国高层官员悄悄帮他们洗清了禁药嫌疑，且负责监管体育兴奋剂的全球机构决定不予干预后，他们得以逃避公众的审视，继续参加比赛。

Several of the athletes who tested positive — including nearly half of the swimming team that China sent to the Tokyo Games — went on to win medals, including three golds. Many still compete for China and several, including the two-time gold medalist Zhang Yufei, are expected to contend for medals again at this year’s Summer Games in Paris.

其中几名检测结果阳性的运动员（包括近一半参加东京奥运会的中国游泳队队员）后来还赢得了奖牌，包括三枚金牌。许多人目前仍在为中国队效力，一些人预计将在今夏巴黎奥运会上再次角逐奖牌，其中包括两枚金牌得主张雨霏。

China acknowledged the positive tests in a report by its antidoping regulator, saying that the swimmers had ingested the banned substance unwittingly and in tiny amounts, and that no action against them was warranted.

中国在其反兴奋剂监管机构的一份报告中承认了阳性检测结果，称游泳运动员是在不知情的情况下摄入了微量违禁物质，因此没有必要对他们采取任何行动。

But an examination by The New York Times found that the previously unreported episode sharply divided the antidoping world, where China’s record has long been a flashpoint. American officials and other experts said the swimmers should have been suspended or publicly identified pending further investigation, and they suggested that the failure to do so rested with Chinese sports officials; swimming’s international governing body, World Aquatics; and the World Anti-Doping Agency, the global authority that oversees national drug-testing programs.

但《纽约时报》的调查发现，这一此前未经媒体曝光的事件在反兴奋剂界引发严重分歧，长期以来，中国在这方面的记录都是一个导火索。美国官员和其他专家表示，这些游泳运动员本应被禁赛或公开身份，等待进一步调查，他们表示，中国的体育官员、世界游泳联合会（游泳项目的国际管理机构）、世界反兴奋剂组织（全球兴奋剂检测监管机构）却听之任之。

Those authorities decided not to act despite an email exchange between a Chinese antidoping official and a top world swimming official appearing to indicate that a violation may have taken place and would, at the least, have to be publicly acknowledged.

尽管中国反兴奋剂官员与世界泳联高级官员之间的电子邮件似乎表明可能存在违规行为，而且至少必须公开承认，但这些机构还是决定不采取行动。

Even after other national and international antidoping officials repeatedly provided the global regulator, known as WADA, with intelligence suggesting a cover-up and doping by Chinese swimmers, the agency chose not to try to hold the athletes accountable, asserting “a lack of any credible evidence” to challenge China’s version of events. WADA defended its decision not to take action, calling the criticism unsubstantiated.

虽然其他国家和国际反兴奋剂官员多次向世界反兴奋剂组织提供情报，表明中国游泳运动员存在掩盖事实和使用兴奋剂的情况，该机构选择不追究运动员的责任，并表示对于中国的说法，“缺乏任何可信证据”来予以质疑。世界反兴奋剂组织为其不采取行动的决定进行了辩护，称这些批评没有根据。

The F.B.I. learned in the past year about the positive tests, the Chinese rationale for clearing the athletes of wrongdoing, and the inaction by WADA, according to two people familiar with the matter and a document examined by The Times.

根据两位知情人士和《纽约时报》查阅的一份文件，美国联邦调查局在过去的一年获悉了这些阳性药检结果，中国为这些运动员开脱的理由，以及世界反兴奋剂组织的不作为。

Federal investigators have taken steps in recent weeks to learn more about what occurred. A spokesman for the F.B.I. declined to comment. Any inquiry by the American authorities would come with a powerful new tool: a law passed in 2020 giving the Justice Department powers to criminally prosecute attempts to corrupt international sports events through doping, no matter where they take place.

最近几周，联邦调查人员已采取措施，进一步了解相关情况。联邦调查局发言人拒绝置评。美国当局的调查所基于的是一个强大的新工具：2020年通过的一项法律赋予司法部权力，对于试图通过兴奋剂破坏国际体育赛事的行为进行刑事诉讼，无论使用兴奋剂的行为是在哪里发生的。

In a statement in response to questions from The Times, the United States Anti-Doping Agency accused WADA, its global counterpart, of failing in its mission.

在回应时报采访的声明中，美国反兴奋剂机构指责世界反兴奋剂组织未能履行使命。

“This appears to be a devastating stab in the back of clean athletes and a deep betrayal of all the athletes who compete fairly and follow the rules,” said the U.S. antidoping agency’s chief executive officer, Travis T. Tygart, who acknowledged providing WADA with allegations of doping in Chinese swimming multiple times since 2020. “All of those with dirty hands in burying these positives and suppressing the voices of courageous whistle-blowers must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the rules and law.”

美国反兴奋剂机构首席执行官特拉维斯·泰格特表示：“对于清白的运动员来说，这像是从背后捅了一刀，也是对所有公平竞争、遵守规则的运动员的严重背叛。”他承认自2020年以来，该机构曾多次向世界反兴奋剂组织提出中国游泳运动员使用兴奋剂的指控。“所有那些掩盖这些阳性结果、压制勇敢举报者声音的肮脏之手，都必须依照法规充分追究责任。”

This article is based on a review of confidential documents and emails — including a report compiled by the Chinese antidoping agency and submitted to WADA — and interviews with people involved in antidoping efforts around the world. Some interviews were conducted on the basis that sources not be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly or had concerns about retaliation.

本文是建立在对机密文件和电子邮件的查阅（包括由中国的反兴奋剂机构编撰并提交给世界反兴奋剂机构的一份报告），以及对世界各地参与反兴奋剂工作的人士采访基础之上。一些采访是在不透露消息来源的基础上进行的，因为他们未获授权公开发言或担心遭到报复。

During the course of the reporting for this article, journalists for The Times learned that a team from ARD, Germany’s public broadcaster, was also examining the episode. ARD shared some of its reporting and video footage with The Times and the two news organizations agreed to coordinate publication of their findings, which were arrived at independently.

在报道过程中，时报的记者了解到，德国公共广播公司ARD的一个团队也在调查这起事件。ARD与时报分享了一些报道和视频片段，两家新闻机构同意协调发布他们的调查结果，这些调查结果是双方各自独立得出的。

Experts in antidoping, drug-testing and compliance interviewed by The Times said the handling of the case of the Chinese swimmers and the lack of disclosure about the positive tests ran counter to long-established precedents meant to ensure transparency, accountability and competitive fairness in elite sports.

接受时报采访的反兴奋剂、药检和合规方面的专家表示，对中国游泳运动员事件的处理，以及对阳性检测结果的秘而不宣，违反了长期以来旨在确保精英体育运动的透明度、问责制和公平竞争的先例。

The episode also exposes shortcomings in the system set up to police doping in sports, with one of the world’s most powerful countries able to send athletes who had recently tested positive for a banned drug to the world’s highest-profile athletic competition, where they set world and Olympic records without any public disclosure.

事件还暴露了在体育运动中兴奋剂监管制度的缺陷。作为世界上最强大的国家之一，中国能够将最近违禁药物检测呈阳性的运动员派往世界上最引人注目的体育赛事，他们在那里创造了世界和奥运会纪录，而没有任何的公开披露。

An investigation by the Chinese antidoping agency, known as Chinada, suggested that the incident stemmed from a tainted food supply, a finding that some experts considered implausible.

中国反兴奋剂中心的一项调查显示，事件源于受污染的食品供应，一些专家认为这一结论不可信。

In their report, Chinese investigators described how many of the country’s best swimmers were staying at the same hotel for a domestic meet in the final days of 2020 and the first days of 2021. Two months after the swimmers tested positive for the banned substance — a prescription heart drug that can enhance performance — Chinese investigators reported finding trace amounts of the substance in the hotel’s kitchen.

在报告中，中国的调查人员描述了中国许多顶尖游泳选手在2020年最后几天和2021年头几天入住同一酒店，参加一场国内赛事。在游泳运动员的违禁药物（一种可以提高成绩的心脏处方药）检测呈阳性两个月后，中国调查人员报告说，在酒店的厨房里发现了微量的这种物质。

Their report offered no evidence of how the drug got there, despite enlisting the help of China’s national police. But they concluded that the swimmers had unwittingly ingested it in small amounts.

尽管得到了中国警方的帮助，但他们的报告没有提供证据证明这种药物是如何出现在那里的。但他们得出的结论是，游泳运动员在不知情的情况下摄入了少量药物。

WADA confirmed in a statement that it had “carefully reviewed the decision” made by the Chinese and chose not to act after consulting scientists and external legal counsel “to thoroughly test the contamination theory presented by Chinada.”

世界反兴奋剂组织在一份声明中证实，它“仔细审议了”中方的决定，并在咨询了科学家和外部法律顾问“以彻底检验中国兴奋剂中心提出的污染理论”后，决定不采取行动。

“Ultimately, we concluded that there was no concrete basis to challenge the asserted contamination,” WADA’s senior director of science and medicine, Olivier Rabin, said in the statement.

世界反兴奋剂组织的科学与医学高级主任奥利维尔·拉宾在声明中表示，“最后我们得出结论认为，没有确凿的依据来质疑所声称的污染。”

In contrast to WADA’s position, the International Testing Agency, a group based in Switzerland that was created after an earlier Russian doping scandal to provide an extra layer of independent oversight for global athletic competition, said its own assessment of the case remained ongoing.

与世界反兴奋剂机构的立场相反，总部位于瑞士的国际检测机构表示，它对此案的评估仍在进行中。该机构是在早些时候俄罗斯爆出兴奋剂丑闻后成立的，旨在为全球体育竞赛提供额外的独立监督。

Chinada said in a statement that it determined its athletes had not violated any antidoping laws and therefore it was not obliged to publish any details related to the case without the athletes’ consent.

中国反兴奋剂中心在一份声明中表示，该协会确定其运动员没有违反任何反禁药法律，因此没有义务在未经运动员同意的情况下公布与此案有关的任何细节。

The Chinese Swimming Association did not reply to a fax seeking comment on the tests.

中国游泳协会没有回复就检测结果置评的传真。

Swimming’s governing body confirmed that the cases had been reviewed by a doping control board and been subjected to independent expert scrutiny, without providing further details. “World Aquatics is confident that these A.A.F.s were handled diligently and professionally, and in accordance with all applicable antidoping regulations, including the World Anti-Doping Code,” it said, referring to adverse analytical findings, the term for positive tests.

游泳运动管理机构证实，反兴奋剂委员会已经对这些案例进行了审查，并接受了独立专家的严格检查，但没有提供更多细节。“世界游泳联合会相信，这些AAF都得到了认真和专业的处理，并且符合所有适用的反兴奋剂规定，包括《世界反兴奋剂条例》，”该联合会称。AAF指的是不良分析结果，即阳性检测。

The story that the swimmers had ingested the substance unknowingly provided a rationale for the Chinese authorities to break with normal antidoping protocols. Those would typically involve a public declaration that the athletes in question were being temporarily suspended pending further investigation, particularly if a finding of food contamination had not yet been established.

游泳运动员在不知情的情况下摄入这种物质的说法为中国政府打破正常的反兴奋剂规定提供了依据。通常情况下，政府会公开宣布相关运动员暂时停赛，等待进一步调查，尤其是在食品污染调查结果尚未确定的情况下。

The handling of the matter by the Chinese authorities and the global regulators came at an especially sensitive moment. The swimmers were planning to compete in just a few months at the Summer Games in Tokyo, and China, battered by the pandemic, was to host the Winter Games the following year.

中国政府和全球监管机构当时对此事的处理遇上了一个特别敏感的时刻。这些游泳运动员计划在几个月后参加东京夏季奥运会，而饱受大流行肆虐的中国将在第二年举办冬季奥运会。

WADA’s handling of the positives involving the Chinese swimmers stood in stark contrast to how it acted less than a year later when faced with a strikingly similar episode involving a Russian figure skater who tested positive for the same banned heart drug, trimetazidine, just before the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games. That skater, Kamila Valieva, blamed contaminated food and tested for relatively low levels of the substance.

世界反兴奋剂组织对涉及中国游泳运动员的阳性检测结果的处理方式与不到一年后它在面对一名俄罗斯花样滑冰运动员的极其相似事件的处理方式形成了鲜明对比，这位名叫卡米拉·瓦利耶娃的花滑运动员在2022年北京冬奥会前夕也被检测出同一种不得使用的心脏药物曲美他嗪结果呈阳性。她被检测出相对较低的药物含量，她将结果归咎于食物受到了污染。

俄罗斯花样滑冰运动员卡米拉·瓦利耶娃在曲美他嗪检测呈阳性后被禁赛四年。俄罗斯反兴奋剂官员最初认定她无罪。

In that case, WADA swiftly and successfully appealed the Russian antidoping agency’s decision to clear her, and the top court in sports eventually barred her from international competition for four years.

在这起事件中，世界反兴奋剂组织迅速且成功地对俄罗斯反兴奋剂机构宣称瓦利耶娃没有违规的决定提出了上诉，最高体育法院最终裁定禁止她参加国际比赛四年。

The Valieva case came after WADA was accused of ignoring clues to Russia’s systematic doping for years. Since that scandal, some antidoping authorities have agitated for reform at the agency, hoping to ensure that the world’s doping watchdog would never again defer to a nation to investigate itself. Now it appears to be facing similar questions.

瓦利耶娃事件发生前，世界反兴奋剂组织被指控多年来无视俄罗斯系统性使用兴奋剂的迹象。自该丑闻发生以来，一些国家的反兴奋剂机构推动该机构的改革，希望确保这个世界兴奋剂监督机构再也不会任由一个国家自己调查自己。现在，该机构似乎再次面临类似的质疑。

National Pride

国家荣耀

The Olympic Games are a point of pride for the Chinese government, as a way to project the country’s strength and competence. In recent years, China has focused in particular on sports — marquee ones like swimming, but also minor ones like women’s weight lifting — where it can collect medals in bulk.

作为展示国家实力和能力的一种方式，奥运会是中国政府的骄傲。近年来，中国尤其重视可以大量获得奖牌的体育项目，包括游泳等大型项目，也包括女子举重等小型项目。

But the Games are also hugely popular among the broader population, and the sudden rise of Chinese athletes in swimming — a source of great success but also great scandal — has only increased the sport’s profile. The state news media is already forecasting “glory” at the Paris Olympics.

奥运会在广大民众中也深受欢迎，中国运动员在游泳项目上的突然崛起——这既带来了巨大成功，也带来了巨大的丑闻——更加提高了这项运动的知名度。国家新闻媒体已经开始预测巴黎奥运会的“辉煌”。

The story of the positive tests began unfolding a year into the coronavirus pandemic, a period when antidoping authorities feared that travel bans and closed borders in many countries would make it easier to cheat. Those restrictions would reduce the opportunities for testing at international events and lead to an almost total reliance on national antidoping agencies.

新冠大流行一年后，药检阳性的事件开始出现，当时反兴奋剂机构担心许多国家的旅行禁令和边境关闭会使作弊变得更加容易。这些限制会减少在国际赛事中进行药检的机会，并导致几乎完全依赖各国自己的反兴奋剂机构。

The roughly two dozen positive tests involving Chinese swimmers were collected at a New Year’s event held over four days in December 2020 and January 2021 in Shijiazhuang, a provincial city of about 11 million people a few hours southwest of Beijing.

在2020年12月到2021年1月于石家庄举行的一个为期四天的新年赛事中，二十多个中国游泳运动员的药检结果呈阳性。石家庄是一个拥有约1100万人口的省会城市，位于北京西南部数小时车程的地方。

The meet, hosted by China’s national swimming association, was designed to be a competitive warm-up for 200 of the country’s top athletes, a group that had been training in seclusion during the pandemic but that was then only months away from the national qualifying event for the Summer Olympic Games, which were set to open in late July in Tokyo.

这次比赛由中国国家游泳协会主办，目的是在为200名中国顶尖运动员进行竞技热身，这些运动员在大流行期间一直在进行封闭训练，但当时距离夏季奥运会的国家预选赛只有几个月的时间，奥运会将于7月底在东京开幕。

At the meet, as is typical at such competitions, Chinada tested the top two finishers in each event and a couple of others from each of the 29 races.

在比赛中，按照惯例，中国反兴奋剂中心对每个项目的前两名选手，以及29场比赛中的其他一些选手进行了检测。

2021年1月，张雨霏在比赛中被检测出禁药阳性。几个月后，她在东京奥运会上赢得四枚奖牌，其中包括两枚金牌。

Samples are supposed to be immediately sent to an accredited laboratory, analyzed and reported to WADA and World Aquatics, the association that governs world swimming. But for reasons that remain unclear, the results of the tests in Shijiazhuang were not reported to the computer management system that tracks all testing of athletes until March 15, 2021, two and a half months later. Chinada said that WADA had allowed it to freeze the tests for a month after they were collected because of the pandemic.

按规定，样本应立即送往有资质的实验室进行分析，并向世界反兴奋剂机构和世界游泳运动的管理机构世界泳联报告。但由于尚不清楚的原因，石家庄的检测结果直到2021年3月15日，即两个半月后才上报给跟踪所有运动员检测情况的计算机管理系统。中国反兴奋剂中心称，由于大流行，世界反兴奋剂组织允许它将检测结果采集后冷冻一个月。

Ultimately, according to the 61-page investigative report compiled by Chinada and reviewed by The Times, a total of 60 tests were conducted on 39 swimmers. Those urine samples produced 28 positives involving 23 of the meet’s competitors — a shockingly high failure rate. All of the samples tested positive for the same drug, trimetazidine, known as TMZ.

最终，根据中国反兴奋剂中心撰写的61页调查报告（时报查看了该报告），共对39名游泳运动员进行了60次检测。这些尿样中有28份呈阳性，涉及23名参赛选手，不合格率之高令人震惊。所有样本都检测出了同一种药物——曲美他嗪，即TMZ。

TMZ is a prescription medication designed to help people with heart disease. It is included in a category of performance-enhancing drugs that come with the harshest penalties. It can help athletes increase stamina and endurance and hasten recovery times, and is difficult to detect because it quickly clears through the body.

TMZ是一种处方药，用于心脏病患者。它被列入一类可受到最严厉惩罚的提高成绩药物。它可以帮助运动员增强体力和耐力，加快恢复时间，由于在体内迅速排出，因此很难被发现。

In the court ruling explaining the decision to ban Ms. Valieva, the Russian figure skater who tested positive for the same substance, arbitrators referred to scientific studies that state TMZ “is widely recommended in elite sport in particular in support of the heart in connection with heavy training.”

俄罗斯花滑运动员瓦利耶娃对TMZ的检测结果也呈阳性。在解释对其禁赛决定的法庭裁决中，仲裁员引用了一些科学研究，指出TMZ“在精英体育运动中被广泛推荐，特别是作为在大运动量训练中对心脏的支持”。

Chinada’s testing lab reported finding only trace amounts of TMZ in the samples of its swimmers. But any amount is enough to register as a failed test and prompt an immediate temporary suspension except in the rarest circumstances — including the one explanation China offered.

中国反兴奋剂中心的检测实验室报告称，在其游泳运动员的样本中仅发现了微量的TMZ。但任何数量的TMZ都足以被认定为检测不合格，并被立即暂时停赛，除非是在最罕见的情况下，其中包括中国给出的那种解释。

No such suspensions were imposed, no public disclosure was made, and the swimmers were able to go on to the Olympic qualifying meet months later, and then the Tokyo Games, without any attempts by WADA to block their participation. Had any of them been suspended even temporarily, that most likely would have endangered their ability to compete at the qualifying meet, not to mention subjecting China to international scrutiny and criticism.

没有实施任何停赛处罚，也没有进行任何公开披露，这些游泳运动员参加了几个月后的奥运会预选赛，然后是东京奥运会，而世界反兴奋剂组织并没有试图阻止他们参赛。如果他们中的任何人被禁赛，哪怕只是暂时的，也很可能会危及他们参加预选赛的能力，更不用说会让中国受到国际监督和批评了。

Contrary to claims in the Chinada report, TMZ would not have been an unfamiliar drug in Chinese swimming circles. In 2014, the country’s greatest and most famous swimmer, the Olympic champion Sun Yang, was suspended for three months after testing positive for the drug at a major meet. (He is currently serving an eight-year doping ban from a different episode, which was reduced to four years on appeal.)

与中国反兴奋剂中心报告中的说法相反，TMZ在中国游泳界并不是一种陌生的药物。2014年，中国最伟大、最著名的游泳运动员、奥运冠军孙杨在一次重要比赛中被检测出TMZ阳性，被禁赛三个月。(他目前正因另一起事件被禁赛八年，后经上诉减为四年）。

This time, the testers collected positive results from an even larger group of Olympians, including such stars as:

这次，检测人员甚至从更多奥运选手身上采集到了阳性结果，包括以下明星运动员：

• Ms. Zhang, who would go on to win four medals in Tokyo, including two golds, and help set a world record with her freestyle relay teammates

• 张雨霏，她后来在东京奥运会上夺得了四枚奖牌，包括两枚金牌。她还帮助她的自由泳接力赛队友们创下了世界纪录

• Wang Shun, who in winning the 200 individual medley at the Olympics became only the second Chinese man to win an individual swimming gold

• 汪顺，他在东京奥运会上夺得了200米个人混合泳冠军，成为中国仅有的两名在奥运会个人游泳项目上夺金的男运动员

• Qin Haiyang, who last year became the world-record holder in the 200-meter breaststroke

• 覃海洋，他在去年成为男子200米蛙泳世界记录保持者

All would have been subject to testing at the Olympics, and there were no reports of positive results there.

这三人都会在参加奥运比赛期间接受药检，没有他们在东京检测阳性的报告。

The final report by the Chinese said investigators had discovered traces of TMZ in sink drains, spice containers and cooktop vents in the kitchen of the Huayang Holiday Hotel in Shijiazhuang, where most of the swimmers and coaches at the meet had stayed. But at no time did they claim to have found it in any food eaten by the swimmers.

中国人最终提交的报告称，调查人员在参加比赛的大多数游泳运动员和教练入住的石家庄华阳假日酒店厨房的水槽下水管、香料容器，以及炉灶通风口处发现了微量的TMZ。但调查人员从未宣称在游泳运动员吃的任何食物中发现过这种物质。

The report said that the Chinese investigators went so far as to conduct human experiments to see how the body processed TMZ. Video surveillance tapes were scoured. All of the athletes were questioned. But they did not identify where the drug came from or why it was in a kitchen.

报告称，中国调查人员为观察身体如何处理TMZ，甚至进行了人体实验。他们仔细看了视频监控录像，询问了所有的运动员。但他们没有确定违禁药是从哪里来的，也没有说明它为什么会出现在厨房里。

There is also evidence that the Chinese antidoping authorities knew on March 15, 2021, the day they reported the positive tests, that they faced the possibility of having to publicly disclose the names of the swimmers. That day, the top legal official at Chinada wrote an email to her counterpart at the world swimming association that an “initial review and preliminary investigation shows that these are not normal” positive tests.

还有证据表明，中国的反兴奋剂当局在2021年3月15日（即提交药检阳性结果报告的当天）就知道，他们面临不得不将运动员的姓名公开出来的可能性。那天，中国反兴奋剂中心的最高法律官员在发给她在世界游泳联合会的同级官员的电子邮件中写道，“初步审查和初步调查表明，这些不是一般的”阳性检测结果。

“We are doing our best to conduct investigation on these cases at the moment,” the official, Lin Haiyan, wrote.

“我们目前正在对这些结果展开全力调查，”这位名叫林海燕（音）的官员写道。

At the same time, Ms. Lin cited existing rules and asked that “in order to protect athletes’ privacy and cooperate with the investigation, please keep athletes’ information and the case strictly confidential until it is publicly disclosed by Chinada.”

同时，林女士在信中引用现行规定提出要求，“为了保护运动员的隐私，确保他们配合调查，请对运动员的信息和情况严格保密，直到中国反兴奋剂当局公开披露为止。”

Emails obtained by The Times also show that by April 2021, at least two of WADA’s top officials — the most senior executive at the agency and its top legal officer — had been informed that the Chinese swimmers had tested positive.

时报获得的电子邮件还显示，到2021年4月时，至少两名世界反兴奋剂组织的高级官员——该机构的最高级官员和最高法律官员——已获悉了中国游泳运动员的药检阳性结果。

In their report, filed in June 2021, Chinese investigators ruled out contaminated supplements or sabotage as reasons for the positive tests. They offered no explanation, however, for how a prescription drug available only in pill form had contaminated an entire kitchen.

中国调查人员在2021年6月提交的报告中排除了膳食补充剂受污染、或有人故意破坏是药检阳性的原因。但他们没有解释一种只能口服的处方药如何污染了整个厨房。

石家庄华阳假日酒店，游泳运动员在参加奥运会预选赛期间住在这里。据中国反兴奋剂调查人员报告，他们在厨房里发现了违禁药物的痕迹。

WADA said “the contamination scenario was further supported” by the low concentrations of the drug and the fluctuation of test results between positive and negative.

世界反兴奋剂组织说，样品中药物的浓度低，以及药检结果时而阳性、时而阴性的情况，“进一步支持了厨房受污染的情况”。

The Chinese pointed to low concentrations of TMZ in the urine samples to conclude intentional doping was “impossible.”

中国的报告指出尿液样本中的TMZ浓度低，因此得出了“不可能”是故意服用兴奋剂的结论。

That claim was rejected by five independent experts who discussed the matter with The Times. The low concentrations, they said, could just as easily have meant the athletes had been at the end of the excretion period for the drug.

这个说法遭到了时报就此事咨询的五名独立专家的驳斥。他们说，低浓度的另一种很可能的解释是，运动员服用的药物已处于排泄的末期。

According to antidoping rules, procedures that would lead to provisional suspensions for athletes found to have tested positive for the type of drug found in the Chinese swimmers’ samples could be waived only in the rarest circumstances and after meeting a high bar — usually only when accidental food contamination can be proven.

根据反兴奋剂的规则，在中国游泳运动员的样本中发现的那类药物的阳性检测结果，会导致启动运动员被临时禁赛的程序，该程序只是在最罕见的情况下、在满足了很高的标准后才会被中止——通常只有在证明了食物被意外污染的情况下。

In that way, the theory advanced but not proved by the Chinese report — tainted food — offered a potential path to clearing the swimmers without punishment.

这给中国的报告提出但没有给出证明的理论——食物被污染——提供了一条让运动员在不受到惩罚的情况下被证明清白的潜在途径。

Global Concerns

全球担忧

The global antidoping system is in many ways built on trust, since WADA must rely on a network of national antidoping officials to police each country’s own athletes. The failure of national bodies to carry out their responsibilities, as the world found after revelations of a large-scale state-sponsored doping program orchestrated by Russia a decade ago, can corrupt entire sports and the results of the Olympic Games and other world championships.

全球的反兴奋剂体系在很多方面建立在信任的基础上，因为世界反兴奋剂组织必须依靠各国反兴奋剂官员网络来监管每个国家自己的运动员。正如十年前俄罗斯策划的国家支持的大范围服用兴奋剂的行为曝光后，世界发现的那样，一个国家的反兴奋剂机构不履行其责任，能腐化整个体育项目以及奥运会和其他世界锦标赛的结果。

To reduce that risk, WADA is expected to step in whenever doubts emerge, or if national bodies appear to have favored their own athletes.

为了降低这种风险，只要有人提出怀疑，或如果国家的反兴奋剂机构似乎偏袒本国运动员时，世界反兴奋剂组织按理就该介入。

A large cluster of positive tests and an unusual claim of mass contamination through tainted food, then, might have merited a deeper, and independent, investigation.

这样的话，集中出现的大量药检阳性结果，以及这种不寻常的说法——这些结果是众多运动员吃了受污染食品造成的——可能原本值得进行更深入的独立调查。

世界反兴奋剂组织主席维托尔德·班卡。

Word of the positive tests, though, began leaking out.

不过，药检结果阳性的消息开始泄露出来。

The International Testing Agency received whistle-blower evidence about the episode around the same time as the Tokyo Olympic Games, and later did its own examination that challenged China’s findings.

在举行东京奥运会的大约同一时间，国际检测机构收到了举报上述事件的有关证据，该机构随后进行了自己的调查，对中国的调查结果提出了质疑。

“In parallel to a full assessment of the information received that remains active, the I.T.A. conducted many targeted follow-up testing missions in 2021, 2022, 2023 and up until today,” the agency said in a statement.

这家简称ITA的机构在一份声明中写道，“在对收到的仍然有效的信息进行全面评估的同时，ITA已在2021年、2022年、2023年，乃至今日，进行了多次有针对性的后续检测任务。”

In the United States, antidoping officials collected and passed on multiple tips to WADA from its own whistle-blowers, who accused China of covering up not just the nearly two dozen tests in question. Some of the swimmers identified by the whistle-blowers matched those who tested positive.

美国的反兴奋剂官员收到了举报人提交的多条举报，并将它们转交给了世界反兴奋剂组织。举报人指责中国不只是掩盖了20多个存在问题的药检结果。举报人给出姓名的几名游泳运动员与报告中药检阳性的人相符。

In response to one tip passed on by the Americans, World Anti-Doping Agency officials told their U.S. agency counterpart that “they remember the allegations quite well,” that they held “the same intelligence in the summer of 2021” and that “there was no impetus for WADA to investigate,” USADA said in response to questions from the The Times.

世界反兴奋剂组织官员在收到美国人转交的一项举报后告诉美国反兴奋剂组织官员，“他们对这些指控记得很清楚”，他们掌握着“2021年夏天的相同情报”，但“没有推动世界反兴奋剂机构进行调查的动力”，美国反兴奋剂机构在回答时报记者的提问时表示。

That decision bothered several scientists and experts with years of experience on sports doping cases who were interviewed by The Times. They all rejected the Chinese report’s claim that low concentrations of the drug found in athletes’ samples meant that intentional doping was all but impossible, but were divided over the possibility that contamination was the most likely cause of the positive tests.

这一决定让时报采访的几名拥有多年体育兴奋剂案件经验的科学家和专家们感到不安。虽然他们都拒绝接受中国报告的说法，即运动员样本中发现的低浓度药物意味着故意使用兴奋剂几乎是不可能的，但他们在污染是最可能导致药检阳性的原因的可能性上存在不同意见。

David Cowan, one of the world’s leading experts on drugs in sports and the former longtime director of Britain’s WADA-accredited laboratory, said he could not come to a conclusion on whether there had been “a contamination or a pharmacologically effective dose.”

体育运动兴奋剂方面的世界顶级专家之一戴维·考恩曾长期担任世界反兴奋剂组织认可的英国实验室主任，他说，他无法就是否“发生了污染，或（服用了）药理上有效剂量”的药物得出结论。

But even the experts’ discord revealed a common thread: They all agreed that the high number of positives in one place and the stakes — for China, for the antidoping movement, and for the looming Tokyo and Beijing Olympic Games — should have prompted WADA or World Aquatics to act far more aggressively.

但即使是专家们存在的分歧也揭示了一个共同点：他们都一致认为，在一个地方得到了大量的阳性结果，以及这些结果对中国、对反兴奋剂运动，以及对不久召开的东京和北京奥运会的利害关系本该促使世界反兴奋剂组织或世界游泳运动联合会采取更加积极的行动。

覃海洋去年在日本举行的世界游泳锦标赛上打破了200米蛙泳的世界纪录。

What is known is that WADA’s own data shows a spike in the number of TMZ cases in 2021. A year earlier, there had been only three positive tests worldwide. A year later, there were 18. But in 2021, there were 37.

已知的是，世界反兴奋剂组织自己的数据显示，2021年检测出TMZ阳性结果激增。2020年，全球范围内只检测到三例TMZ阳性结果。2022年检测的阳性结果是18例。但2021年检测的阳性结果是37例。

David Howman, a former director general of WADA, said he had seen the Chinada report. He described the situation as “shocking.”

世界反兴奋剂组织前总干事戴维·豪曼说，他看过中国反兴奋剂中心的报告。他把中国的情况描述为“令人震惊”。

“My concern is intense,” said Mr. Howman, who is now the chairman of track and field’s independent antidoping body, the Athletics Integrity Unit. Important processes that should have been followed after the discovery of the positive tests, he said, appeared not to have been.

“我十分担心，”豪曼说，他现在是田径运动的独立反兴奋剂机构田径诚信组织的主席。他说，发现药检阳性结果后本该遵循的重要程序似乎并未遵循。

“What it would say to me immediately is that perhaps there was some form of program in this sport to ‘prepare’ swimmers for the Tokyo Olympics,” Mr. Howman said.

“那种结果立刻给我的印象是，也许这项运动中有某种形式的让游泳运动员为东京奥运‘做准备’的计划，”豪曼说。

Mr. Howman spoke in an interview on the sidelines of an annual symposium hosted by WADA in Lausanne, Switzerland. On its final night, the organization held a gala evening bringing together more than 1,000 officials to celebrate 25 years in existence.

豪曼是在世界反兴奋剂组织在瑞士洛桑举行的年度研讨会间隙接受采访的。在研讨会的最后一晚，该组织举办了一场盛大晚会，1000多名官员齐聚一堂，庆祝该机构成立25周年。

Celebratory speeches were made, including one by Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee. In it, he lauded WADA’s role in taking on drug cheats.

许多人在晚会上发表了贺词，包括国际奥委会主席托马斯·巴赫。他在贺词中赞扬了世界反兴奋剂组织在打击比赛作弊方面所起的作用。