US swimming legend Katie Ledecky calls for accountability amid Chinese doping report

The 27-year-old is the most decorated women’s swimmer in history, with a haul including 10 Olympic medals — seven gold and three silver. She plans to complete her fifth Olympics this summer.

“It’s hard going into Paris knowing that we’re gonna be racing some of these athletes,” Ledekcy said of the Chinese swimmers involved in the incident.

“And I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low. You try not to think too much about when you’re actually racing. And the best thing to do is to just go out there and try to win.”

The New York Times reported last month that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine — a prescription heart drug that can increase stamina and endurance and improve recovery times — just seven months before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Several of those swimmers won medals, including three golds, and plan to contend again in Paris.

The World Anti-Doping Agency later confirmed the positive tests and said that the China Anti-Doping Agency claimed the results were triggered by inadvertent exposure to the substance by contamination.

WADA said it conducted a review of the matter when it was notified of the test results, but was unable to conduct inquiries on the ground in China because of heavy COVID-19-related restrictions.

The anti-doping agency concluded that it was “not in a position to disprove the possibility that contamination was the source of TMZ.” As a result of its findings, WADA also found the athletes at “no fault or negligence.”

No reports of positive tests for banned substances for Chinese swimmers surfaced during the 2020 Summer Games, which were pushed back to 2021 due to the pandemic.

China’s Wang Shun won gold in the men’s 200-meter individual medley in Tokyo. China won silver in the mixed 4×100-meter medley relay. That team included Zhang Yufei, Yang Junxuan, Yan Zibei and Xu Jiayu.

The Chinese women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay team, which consisted of Zhang Yufei, Zhang Yifan, Tang Muhan, Yang Yunxuan, Li Bingjie and Dong Jie, beat Ledecky’s American team by just 0:00.40. Zhang Yufei also won silver in the women’s 100- and 200-meter butterfly events.

The Times and German outlet ARD, which also investigated the doping, later revealed that Zhang Yufei, Wang Shun and Yang Junxuan were among the swimmers that tested positive for TMZ.

“In this instance, it doesn’t seem like everything was followed to a T,” Ledecky said. “So, I’d like to see some accountability here. I’d like to see some answers as to why this happened the way it did.

“And I’d really like to see that steps are taken for the future so that we can regain some confidence in the global system.”

The opening ceremony for Paris 2024 is July 26, but events will start two days earlier. The Summer Games end Aug. 11.