Chinese social media has been alit over the last few months with retaliatory accusations against American swimmers over USADA‘s public rhetoric regarding 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance before the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games.
While some of that social media posting, including accusations about recently-announced positive tests from American swimmers like Michael Brinegar and Kensey McMahon, or discussions about American athletes’ Therapeutic Use Exemptions, are based in fact, one pervasive rumor is not: claims that newly-minted World Record holder Gretchen Walsh isn’t getting drug-tested.
The rumor originally started as “in 2024,” and has now evolved to “in 2023, in spite of winning a World Championship.”
Walsh won three World Championship medals in 2023: gold in the 400 medley relay, silver in the 400 free relay, and bronze in the 50 fly.
In the world of anti-doping, there are multiple overlapping testing authorities, including USADA, World Aquatics, and the NCAA (the latter of which is not subject to the World Anti-Doping Code, but that has very similar overlapping rules).
Some of these authorities publish their testing history, and some don’t.
Walsh’s USADA Testing History
- 2018 – 1 test
- 2019 – 3 tests
- 2020 – 3 tests
- 2021 – 3 tests
- 2022 – 4 tests
- 2023 – 9 tests
- 2024 – 10 tests (so far)
While USADA doesn’t differentiate in its public database between in competition and out of competition testing, in 2023 she was tested at least once in every quarter, and has been tested at least once per quarter so far in 2024 (three times in quarter 1, and seven times in quarter 2, with the latter including her in-competition testing at the Olympic Trials).
World Aquatics, via the Aquatics Integrity Unit, has also added a more-transparent database showing tests carried out in 2024 before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, including for both American and Chinese swimmers.
While AQUA has tested Chinese swimmers more than American swimmers, this is not unexpected – AQUA uses a scheme called “targeted testing” that increases testing for certain groups at higher risk for doping, including those who have tested positive before.
World Aquatics lists nine tests for Walsh in 2024. Three are labeled as Out of Competition and six are labeled as In Competition. Two are labeled as “World Aquatics Tests” and seven are labeled as “Non World Aquatics Tests”.
Because those numbers don’t totally line up, it’s hard to know the exact number of times that Walsh has been tested in 2024, but suffice it to say, she has been tested at least 10 times, both in competition and out of competition.
Nothing will dispel a conspiracy-theorist deep enough in the hole, but in this case we have two fairly-independent organizations both reporting a significant number of tests. If we don’t believe that data, then we don’t believe any of it, and the finger-pointing becomes largely moot.
There are many, many, flaws in the current anti-doping system, ones that work to the detriment of clean athletes and the benefit of cheaters regardless of national origin. Gretchen Walsh somehow evading tests is clearly not among them.
It seems weird that there’s no record for walsh in the 2023 AQUA stats
AQUA has not always historically been a record-keeping juggernaut, so I wouldn’t read too far into that.
If AQUA wanted to cover up for “secretly not testing an American athlete for a whole year in spite of winning medals at Worlds,” they’d just list fabricated tests that align with USADA numbers in their database.
where did you find the breakdown of walsh’s data in each quarter of 2023? I only saw the total number on USADA’s website. thanks,
There’s a dropdown next to the year for quarters…
In the “Number of successful test attempts per athlete in 2023” on AQUA, I can’t find Gretchen Walsh, but I can see her 2023 test records on USADA. Is there an issue with the data source? Thanks.
Yeah I don’t know what all AQUA has compiled in their data. There are several spots where it doesn’t line up with USADA.
I saw that the data used on Chinese social media was from AQUA’s “Number of successful test attempts per athlete in 2023” made into a chart, indicating that Gretchen Walsh did not undergo any drug tests in 2023.
2024 – 10 test
Any Chinese swimmer = +40 times.
Ridiculous and insufficient.
Yes the Chinese have been tested more, but the numbers are in the low 20s. You could’ve gotten a similar point across without the exaggeration.
No. Top Chinese swimmers were literally tested over 40 times last year
Except now we know that when they come back positive they just get swept under the rug
Except the numbers are not in the low 20s, and OP is correct?
Ah, this must have been the rumor I heard and commented about on another article (I had thought the subject of the rumor was Alex Walsh instead of Gretchen). Glad to know that both Walshes have taken (and passed) a decent number of tests this year.
And glad that SwimSwam is here to investigate stories like this one! Rumor debunked!
I wonder if Summer Mcintosh has ever been tested ,,,
Id assumed so, I saw her being followed by testing agent at trials
World records are not ratified without a drug test.
It’s just not the same without Dick Pound threatening to sue somebody. I always envision his rants being delivered in front of Four Seasons Total Landscaping
Nice call back to a golden era of total lunacy.
here’s the link to the 2024 test data for anyone interested: STATISTICS – Aquatics Integrity Unit
It includes non-WA tests which I assume means the national anti-doping agencies. It’s a little surprising how many high-profile athletes don’t have any in-competition tests this year despite winning events at their respective trials. But the out-of-competition tests are much more important anyway.
Where have I seen this before? Accusing someone else of the thing you’ve been caught doing?
This is the expected behavior of someone who was accused of doing something bad (regardless of if the accusations are true or not)
Like what did you expect lol, them to not say anything?