The spotlight will be on the Chinese swim team at the Paris Olympics as they deal with the ongoing drugs scandal engulfing the team. 7NEWS tracked down their training camp to ask athletes and officials if the squad is clean.
Behind a mess of steel fences with padlocked gates and doors with signs for the public to keep out, there is no doubt at all about who has taken over the Deauville Olympic Swimming Pool.
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Welcome to Camp China.
Nestled in Normandy, beside the D-Day beaches, the Chinese team landed about a month ago.
They have been training and living here since.
“How are you feeling about the Olympic Games? Confident?” I asked.
The athletes are camera shy, and so, too, are the team officials.
“Can we just ask one quick question about the Chinese team? One quick question?”
No answer.
The team has been under intense international attention and suspicion since April when it was revealed 23 swimmers had tested positive for the banned drug TMZ.
Eleven of them are still in the squad.
“Can you promise the world this Chinese team is drug-free?”
Still no answer.
The World Anti-Doping Agency accepted China’s excuse that their food had somehow been contaminated.
WADA allowed them to compete at the Tokyo Olympics, winning three gold.
Canadian coach Pierre Lafontaine, who once worked for Australia’s Institute of Sport, and is now a Chinese team coach.
“They’re training really hard, they’re awesome,” he said.
Asked if we can guarantee they’re drug-free, he said: “That’s a crazy question, though. I think it’s a crazy question. The team is doing really well. I think they’ve been tested more than anyone else.”
An official was quickly on our trail to stop the interview, the coach halted — but he is right.
The Chinese have been tested nearly 200 times in their first 10 days here in Paris, more than any other country.
“Is it hard when they get criticised about drug allegations?” I asked one Chinese official.
“No, we just be ourselves, that’s it,” she said.
Intense criticism was directed at WADA for taking no action at the time.
Australian star Shayna Jack, making her Olympic debut in Paris, was banned for two years in her drawn-out contamination case.
An independent inquiry found WADA had no case to answer over its handling of the China situation.
But the issue has damaged its credibility, and shaken the faith of the athletes heading into these Olympics.
The Chinese less so.
“I can guarantee about us. Just wait for the next week and we will all see,” the official said.
And the coach?
“But you’ve got 100 per cent confidence in the team?” I asked.
He replied: “I don’t know, I’m going home.”
