Welcome to Game Points, a newsletter on Indian sports by The Field.

Sour grapes: In making doping accusations, the ugly side of Olympians has once again come out

By Shahid Judge

American tennis player Emma Navarro went on a surprising rant last week at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Navarro was beaten in the third round by China’s Qinwen Zheng on July 30.

In her post-match statements, she asserted that she did not have respect for Zheng as a competitor and that the Chinese player “goes about things in a pretty cut-throat way” that creates a locker room environment that “does not have a lot of camaraderie.”

This is odd. What is professional sport if not cut-throat? Tennis, especially in singles, is an individual experience. Apart from the few pleasantries, rarely does the locker room break away from cliques.

Navarro’s comments, in many ways, can be brushed aside as a bitter reaction by an athlete dealt an early exit. But in the larger picture, it is a microcosm – perhaps even a politer rendition – of a West versus East mudslinging fest that has become apparent in Paris.

For decades, the animosity between the US-dominated West and China-centric East has been dictated by economic competition and contrasting ideological compulsions.

No matter what the romantics of sport claim, off-field differences often spill over onto the field of play. In Paris, the latest battlelines have been drawn across accusations from the western side that the Chinese athletes are doping.

At Roland Garros, Zheng went on to win the gold medal amidst great celebration and praise. But over at the La Defence Arena, where the swimming events took place, the animosity was clear.

French swimming star Leon Marchand appeared to reject a handshake by a Chinese swimming coach after the swimmer won the men’s 200m individual medley last week. On Friday, Pan Zhanle of China broke his own world record in the men’s 100m freestyle race, only for Australian coach Brett Hawke to claim that it was not “humanly impossible” for Pan to have been so fast.

By Sunday, British swimmer, three-time gold medallist Adam Peaty chimed in as well by saying “there’s no point winning if you’re not winning fair”. This was just after Pan led China to a gold medal in the men’s 4x100m medley, in which the British team finished fourth.

The root of these doping accusations stem from a New York Times article in April that claimed that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for a banned substance before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The World Anti Doping Agency, or WADA, approved of the Chinese agency’s claim that the doping results came due to food contamination.

WADA, in a statement, made it clear that the contamination theory checked out because repeated tests on the swimmers provided fluctuating results “between negative and positive.”

Innocent until proven guilty, essentially.

Still, the Chinese swimming contingent has been the most tested group at the Paris Olympics, with an AFP report stating that they had been tested an average of 21 times.

It is ironic, however, that while the Americans, French and Australians have been the biggest accusers against China, athletes from their countries have previously been granted the largest number of Therapeutic Use Exemption drugs, or TUE.

Athletes are allowed to use TUEs if the user can prove the drug is required to help with a genuine health problem. A series of Russian hackers, in 2016, published the medical data of several Olympic athletes, including gymnastics great Simone Biles.

The United Kingdom’s Sports Integrity Initiative claimed that 63% of the 1,330 TUEs approved in 2015 came from American, French and Australian athletes. The argument suggested that TUEs may also be providing users a competitive edge.

Shortly after winning gold in the men’s 100m race in Paris, Noah Lyles listed, on X, that he has suffered from “asthma, allergies, dyslexia, ADD, anxiety and depression”. It is uncertain if he too uses TUEs.

Every major sporting event around the world has doping checks conducted – especially the Olympics. Athletes need to start letting the systems WADA has put in place be in charge of catching offenders. By accusing a winner of doping with no proof whatsoever, an ugly side of the Olympians has once again come out.

It is better to be a graceful runner-up than a sore loser.

Fun facts of the week: In the spirit of the Olympic Games, The Field has compiled a few more fun facts for this week

1) Vinesh Phogat defeated Japan’s Yui Susaki in her opening bout of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Tuesday. It marked Susaki’s first defeat in the international circuit. She had won 82 matches until Tuesday, a run that saw her winning gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics without conceding a single point.

2) The South Korean women’s archery team have never lost a match in Olympic history. The women’s team event was first introduced in the Olympics at the 1988 Seoul Games. They have won each and every gold medal since then. Much like them, China has dominated the women’s singles table tennis event at the Olympics, winning all gold medals on offer since the event was introduced in 1988.

3) Novak Djokovic completed a “golden slam” by winning the men’s singles Olympic title last week. The Serbian has now won all four Grand Slams as well as a singles Olympic gold against his name. He is only the fifth player to achieve this, after Steffi Graff, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams.

4) The men’s 100m final at the Paris Olympics was the first time that all eight finallists ran sub-10s at the Olympics. Earlier for the first time in history, a total of four athletes had missed out on reaching the final despite clocking a sub-10s race in the semi-finals.

5) Saint Lucia and Dominica won their first-ever Olympic medals – both gold – within minutes of each other last week. While Julien Alfred bagged the women’s 100m title for Saint Lucia, Thea Lafond took the women’s triple jump gold.

Here's a recap of the top stories from this past week

Wrestling, Olympics 2024: Vinesh Phogat’s battles off the mat lead to greater triumphs on it

Wrestling, Olympics 2024: Vinesh Phogat deserved a medal but her greatness is not validated by it

Explained: Why Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from Olympics wrestling gold medal match

Archery, Olympics 2024: Dismal end to Paris campaign demands new approach for India

Badminton, Olympics 2024: Lakshya Sen expands his limits with stunning run in Paris

Boxing, Olympics 2024: Indian contingent exits Paris without medals after Lovlina, Nishant lose QFs

Athletics, Olympics 2024: Why track records are in danger at the Paris Games

Boxing, Olympics 2024: Abuse surrounding Imane Khelif exposes persistent gender issues in sport

Swimming, Olympics 2024: Science behind the lack of new world records in Paris

Shooting, Olympics 2024: For Swapnil Kusale, patience finally pays in Paris

Give justice a chance: Israel’s presence at Paris 2024 goes against what the Olympics stand for