Latest doping scandal threatens to overshadow day of dra drama
So much history is being made at the Olympics, it’s hard to know quite where to look.
Golf returned to the Games for the first time in 112 years – and Justin Rose promptly shot a hole-in-one. In the other new sport, Fiji shocked the big boys to take gold in the men’s rugby sevens. Elsewhere, China had another 1-2 in the men’s table tennis to keep its hopes for another clean sweep alive.
Simone Biles – all four foot nine of her – dominated in the gymnastics, while another American Simone – Manuel – became the first black female gold medalist in the pool in a rarely-seen tie for gold with Penny Oleksiak, who herself became the first athlete born in the 2000s to win an individual Olympic gold medal.
Meanwhile, Michael Phelps won yet another gold medal – his 22nd – although the poor commentator on Canadian TV mixed Phelps up with his rival Ryan Lochte for the entire race.
There were so many highlights to mention, but perhaps the most significant news to emerge on Day 6 of the Games was also the most depressing.
News trickled out towards the end of the day that 18-yearold swimmer Chen Xinyi, who finished fourth in the women’s 100m butterfly final, tested positive for a banned substance earlier in the week and will have her case heard on Friday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
More history: Chen is the first Chinese athlete to test positive at an Olympics since 1992.
Given the furore already surrounding the swim team, following Australian Mack Horton labeling Sun Yang a “drug cheat” both before and after beating him in the 400m freestyle, the timing of this latest case couldn’t be worse.
No matter how the CAS rules, Chen will inevitably be seen as tainted by many international observers, given the history of doping cases with which China has been linked.
John Leonard, the Australian coach who openly questioned Ye Shiwen’s dominant performances in London four years ago, has said he plans to launch a breakaway “Super League” for the world’s top swimmers in response to these controversies, while Bob Bowman, the respected coach of Michael Phelps, has said the twin governing bodies, FINA and the IOC, have repeatedly dropped the ball on the issue of doping.
The system is broken, Bowman said, and has to be fixed.
The three Olympic ideals are excellence, friendship and respect, and while there has been plenty of excellence on display in Rio, the other two ideals have often been set aside.
Instead of being united by the Games, athletes appear increasingly divided and, the way things are progressing, China will be left on the wrong side of that divide.