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Former WR Holder Li Zhesi Banned for Two Years for Positive EPO Test

17-year old Li Zhesi of China has been banned for two years for testing positive for EPO, FINA revealed today.

Zhesi tested positive for the substance in March of 2012 in an out-of-competition test conducted by Chinese Swimming and CHINADA: China’s anti-doping agency, and the positive result earned a two year suspension for both her and her coach.

This positive test was first reported by the Associated Press in June, and the ongoing deliberations caused Zhesi to be left off of China’s Olympic team. In 2009, at only 14 years old, Zhesi swam a 52.81 medley relay anchor that rolled China to a World Record in the 400 medley relay: one that stood until this year’s Olympics when the Americans broke it.

Zhesi’s coach was not specifically named, but it is not uncommon for Chinese coaches to be banned along with their athletes. In 2010, at least three Chinese coaches were banned for the actions of their athletes.

EPO is a hormone that increases the body’s production of red blood cells, and is the same substance that Lance Armstrong recently admitted to using en route to his 7 Tour de France titles.

Zhesi was ranked as the #20 100 freestyler in the world in 2011, and the second-best in a struggling Chinese sprint group. The Chinese have a long history of doping, though their aquatics athletes came through relatively cleanly in 2012; Zhesi is the first public positive test out of the country for the year, though undoubtedly it is also the most significant.

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Mom
11 years ago

Y’all are a bunch of jerks for using this article to smear Ledecky – I bet she has been tested a ton , randomly too

JG
11 years ago

Iran has a very special guillotine that cuts off the fingers of thieves.

For very bad offenders eg Lance I recommend their bus execution. They tie a noose on to the bus shelter – put the guy on top of the bus & fix it & drive off.

The joy of public transport infrastructure. Multi purpose. Tax payer effective.

Peeterdeeter
Reply to  JG
11 years ago

You are either being serious, or “funny.” Either way, wtf?

JG
Reply to  Peeterdeeter
11 years ago

Peeterdeeter- wtf indeed . The whole thing long jumped the shark & we can ever beat sports fraud.

Dave Berkoff
11 years ago

I think the point is that China is a closed society with deplorable history with respect to doping. For John Leonard to say that Ye Shiwen’s performances were suspicious is not racist but rather is quite justified based upon China’s history as a doping leader and the circumstances of her swim. She absolutely destroyed a woman who is a 4:07 400 freestyler and nearly outsplit Lochte who is a 3:49 400 freestyler. I tend to agree with John on this issue.

The only way to get rid of doping, athetes who are willing to dope, and coaches who have no morals is to impose a death penalty. You get caught with EPO or steroids, you are out for life. If… Read more »

Yang Sun
Reply to  Dave Berkoff
11 years ago

I’m clean. LoL

David Berkoff
Reply to  Yang Sun
11 years ago

Good! That’s how it should be. Lol

Nadador
Reply to  Yang Sun
11 years ago

Big fan of the both of you!!!!

Nadador
Reply to  Dave Berkoff
11 years ago

I second that.

In the 80’s, the drugs where different I guess, and the chinese women had two distinctive indication of their doping (which was proved later): 1 – they were huge; 2 – their technique was way less than desirable or expected in an elite swimmer.

I couldn’t get past of how the chinese looked and swam. Just seeing them on the deck, and their terrible technique instantly raised a red flag for me..

Point number two above is what strikes me the most: poor turns and walls; poor streamline; lack of pull on the breaststroke.. and the list goes on..

OF COURSE, there are some elite athletes with some terrible technique problems (a male german WR-holder – a… Read more »

Rafael
Reply to  Nadador
11 years ago

There are Olympic Medalists with techniques that I did not admire at all.. Scherer looked like a psycho hitting the water compared to the fluid swimming of Popov and Borges.

I also could not be fond of Gary Hall breatj every time I can on a 50 style.. but hey.. it worked pretty well for them..

Ben
11 years ago

lets get a few things straight…

without even thinking about drugs… it is entirely possible..especially in the 4IM for splits to vary wildly from person to person.

I’m no elite swimmer, but at a meet last year my free split in 4 IM was 52 or 53 and was the fastest out of everyone, but I only got 10th at the meet and went 4:07 while the kid that won went 3:53… My point is that comparing the last split of a 4im for Shiwen to Lochte is not relevant to anything because Lochte was so much faster for the first 3/4 of the race and not to mention Lochte had no one to push him at the end while… Read more »

JG
11 years ago

Btw , Alicia does not lack endurance or stamina . she pulled out a – one for the team – 400 Im effort in Perth just 7 secs behind Ye.

With both swimming the 200 & 400 Ye was. (200 im x 2 ) + 18 secs. Alicia was + 21 . Ye had greater speed at this time of e season due to worlds sc 5 weeks earlier.

Whatever .

JG
11 years ago

Unfortunately the USA is highly discredited also by its rash of very high profile drug cheats 99 – 2008. These were massive names eg L ance Marion & the usual horde of T& F stars – simply to many to recall.

I find it difficult to believe any American result of any sport during that period. There has to be some effects of high level coverups & this is the most objective unemotional thing I can do – just accept it & hope it is cleaner.

I have to extend that to China also & any other doper nation. We must remember that testing is extremely expensive & money is tight. Did you realize that the head of WADA.… Read more »

PsychoDad
Reply to  JG
11 years ago

JG, if ChestRockwell does not commit suicide after reading your post and broken English, I don’t know what else can do it. For your sake, I hope he does not read your post.

This was, however, very funny and unexpected after the proceeding rant. Well done.

>That is why we always had some poor kid from Kazakhstan to persecute until Borat >raised their popularity.

JG
Reply to  PsychoDad
11 years ago

Haha. It is only a blog not a thesis & I jhave just come back from a lazy sunshine swim in a gorgeous sea pool . It is the seratonin .

If I did not have that & had the adrenalin to take on this issue – I think I could muster up an imaginative list of punishments. Don’t get me started Daddyo! 🙂

guyswimfan
11 years ago

Is there any way we can check who have filed TUE?
Some of them are talking advantage of it. At least other “clean and innocent” swimmers should know who are those under TUE because they are frustrated why the banned drug takers are swimming so fast. Some of who are under ADHD and some other symptoms.

11 years ago

does anyone know if there is regular testing of college swimmers? i’m told by a swimmer friend on a top 20 team, that there is a group on the team (sprinters) where PED use is common practice. if there is no testing, what’s to stop it?

PsychoDad
Reply to  coach t
11 years ago

Coach T, we already established that thefree and open market and recreational structure of swimming in the USA do not allow/support use of PED. So, I believe your friend has wrong information. In those rare cases, Jesica Hardy for example, where testing mistakes happen, swimmers explains nicely that their brownies were contaminated by banned substances, and everything is cleared.

Kiddin’ aside… Chinese were doped out of their minds in the past. China is now a swimming power and can compete with the USA and others the right way – without systematic cheating. It is not in their interest to cheat (or be caught) and continue to be dismissed as cheaters. They do not need that now as they needed years… Read more »

Hon
Reply to  PsychoDad
11 years ago

Psychodad, that’s not what I argued. I argued that the structure of Chinese swimming could facillitate doping in a *systematic* fashion. Emphasis on systematic. I do believe that doping is very possible within USA Swimming, but the independent nature of the programs that comprise USA Swimming means that one team’s or athlete’s doping in the US does not raise questions about the overall integrity of US Swimming as a unit. Unfortunately, the more organized and focused structure of Chinese swimming–a structure in which overly-ambitious coaches may be the biggest adult presences in young swimmers’ lives, by the way–means that one bad apple on the Chinese national team can more easily spoil the reputations of other Chinese swimmers.

SEC_G8R
Reply to  coach t
11 years ago

When I was at Florida (95-99), I was tested around once every six weeks through the university.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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