Chinese long jumper Wang Jianan avoided a doping suspension after CCTV showed him in a hospital. It was deemed possible that he inhaled a banned performance-enhancing substance.
Jianan was in a hospital visiting his brother, who was receiving nebulization treatment.
A nebulizer treatment uses a machine to turn liquid medicine into a fine mist. It is inhaled through a mask or mouthpiece, which delivers medication directly to the lungs. This method is used for people with lung diseases like asthma or COPD. The treatment allows for the delivery of bronchodilators, and the process typically takes 5 to 15 minutes.
In November 2024, Jianan had tested positive for terbutaline.
He is the first Asian athlete to win a long jump event at a World Championships. Jianan took gold at the 2022 Eugene meet. He also earned a bronze in 2015 during the Beijing World Championships.
The three-time Olympian was cleared this week by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU). The anti-doping organization said the 28-year-old “bore no fault or negligence,” after a lengthy investigation with CHINADA. The AIU declared that his adverse analytical finding “was caused by passive inhalation of terbutaline drug particles diffused into the air whilst the athlete accompanied a family member undergoing a nebulization treatment at a local hospital on 31 October and 1 November 2024.”
CHINADA’s convincing argument
In 2021, 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ). All of them were cleared of doping by CHINADA and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The team was cleared to compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. WADA accepted China’s finding that the positive tests resulted from food contamination at a hotel where they were staying.
CHINADA conducted an investigation and concluded that the swimmers inadvertently ingested the substance through contaminated food. WADA reviewed the case. Citing an inability to disprove contamination during the COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions, agreed there was “no concrete basis to challenge” the Chinese findings.
Sun Yang is a decorated Olympic swimmer. In 2014, he was banned for three months after testing positive for TMZ. He later received a separate eight-year ban in 2020 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport for tampering with a doping sample collection process. Again, the suspension was reduced. He has since finished his suspension and apparently is looking to compete again.
Two swimmers in 2022 tested positive for the anabolic steroid metandienone in 2022.
CHINADA ruled that the positive tests were due to food contamination (specifically tainted beef). The conclusion accepted by WADA allowed the athletes to avoid a doping violation and continue competing.
More dopers from China
The 1994 Hiroshima Games saw seven Chinese swimmers caught doping. There was also a hurdler, a cyclist and two canoeists stripped of their medals. They all tested positive for the steroid dihydrotestosterone. In response, Chinese officials in March 1995 handed one-year bans to nine coaches for doping. World Aquatics (pr. FINA) and the Olympic Council of Asia stated that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that organized doping was occurring in China.
In February 2016, Tencent Sports reported a letter written in 1995 by Wang Junxia and nine other athletes. They claimed that women coached by Ma Junren were forced to take “large doses of illegal drugs over the years.”
According to Reuters, Junren and six of his runners (Ma’s Army) were dropped from the 2000 Summer Olympics after testing positive.
World Athletics (formerly IAAF) confirmed it had launched a probe. The organization looked into the claims and asked the Chinese Athletics Association to assist. The official declined. However, all in the know in the global athletics community agree that many performances from Shanghai and other cities in China are questionable. The events range from 1500m to 10,000m and were quite obviously aided by doping.
Systematic doping in the Olympic Games was alleged by former Chinese doctor Xue Yinxian as early as 2012.
She claimed that more than 10,000 athletes in China were doping during the 1980s and 1990s. Later, she admitted that she did not personally witness any wrongdoing.
The Chinese government denied involvement in systematic doping, claiming that athletes who doped did so individually. Xue said she was persecuted by the Chinese government for her allegations. She had to seek exile in Germany, which was granted in 2017.
WADA claimed that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate Xue’s allegations. As for samples retained from 2008, 2012, and 2016, WADA retested them but found no corroborating evidence.
What is Terbutaline
Terbutaline is a bronchodilator medication. It is used primarily to treat and prevent wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness caused by lung conditions such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema.
Terbutaline allows easier and greater airflow into and out of the lungs. It does this by effectively ventilating the lungs and improving oxygen delivery. The Beta-2 Agonist has been shown to potentially enhance athletic performance. It increases the time to exhaustion and improves muscle power output in runners.
Due to its potential for performance-enhancing advantage, WADA classifies terbutaline as a S3 Prohibited Substance (Beta-2 Agonists).
