China celebrates record-breaking Olympic performance despite doping controversies

China is celebrating its best-ever performance at an overseas Olympics, achieving a historic tie with the United States for the most gold medals at the Paris 2024 Games. Both nations finished with 40 golds each, marking the first-ever tie for total golds at the Summer Games. However, the US maintained the overall lead with 126 total medals compared to China’s 91.

The competition was closely contested as the two sporting superpowers faced off once again in their ongoing geopolitical rivalry, which was occasionally overshadowed by a doping controversy.

In recent decades, China has emerged as one of the world’s most competitive sporting nations, viewing its Olympic success as a symbol of national strength. Notably, in 2008, China topped the gold medal table at the Beijing Games, surpassing the US for the first time.

At the Paris Games, the Chinese team initially appeared poised to lead the medal standings, building a significant early advantage through its dominance in shooting and diving. However, as track and field events commenced, the US swiftly caught up and ultimately overtook China.

China is now only the third country, following the US and the former Soviet Union, to top the gold medal count at a Summer Olympics held outside its home soil. Chinese state media hailed this “record-breaking” performance from Paris.

“Chinese analysts noted that this achievement demonstrates how the success of Chinese modernization can foster not just economic growth, but also advancements in public health and the sports industry, effectively energizing the concept of ‘sports for all,’” reported the state-run Global Times.

The Chinese public celebrated the team’s accomplishments with a surge of national pride on social media, where many criticized what they perceived as unfair attempts by US officials to tarnish China’s reputation with ongoing doping allegations against its swimming team. On the microblogging site Weibo, the hashtag “China tied for first place on the gold medal leaderboard” became the top trending topic, amassing over 500 million views.

“We won every gold medal square and fair!” read a popular comment that garnered over 28,000 likes. Some users argued that China should have surpassed the US by totaling 44 golds, including medals from Hong Kong and Taiwan in their count.

Taiwan competes at the Olympics as Chinese Taipei to avoid objections from China, which claims the democratically governed island as its territory. Hong Kong, a former British colony, competes under the name Hong Kong, China.

Doping Controversy

China’s swim team faced intense scrutiny during the Paris Games following revelations that nearly half of the athletes sent to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 had tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing substance months earlier. The China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) cleared the swimmers shortly before the Tokyo Games, ruling that the positive tests for a banned heart medication were likely due to contamination from a hotel restaurant—a finding accepted without appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The allegations, first reported by the New York Times and German public broadcaster ARD in April, ignited backlash within the swimming community, where doping violations can lead to lengthy bans for athletes. Concerns escalated last month after WADA acknowledged a separate case from 2022 involving two Chinese swimmers who tested positive for trace amounts of a banned anabolic steroid. They were provisionally suspended but later cleared by Chinese officials, again citing contamination.

In China, where the swim team has historically been a source of Olympic pride, the doping allegations fueled outrage and accusations of bias, with many perceiving it as an attempt by the US to undermine the Chinese team.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington accused the US of “using the doping issue to smear and suppress China,” while CHINADA and state media have pointed to perceived “double standards” in how doping scandals are handled.

Last week, CHINADA called for more rigorous testing of American track and field athletes, referencing past doping controversies in the US and highlighting the case of sprinter Erriyon Knighton, who finished fourth in the men’s 200 meters in Paris. Knighton had been provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned substance in March but was cleared to compete after an independent arbitrator determined his failed drug test was likely caused by contaminated meat.

On Monday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV shared an article on social media with the headline: “The Olympic Games have ended, but the shocking questions about the ‘United States of Addicts’ cannot be left unanswered.” The article emphasized that the upcoming Olympics in Los Angeles would require the US to restore global confidence in its sports integrity.

Credit: CNN