Adam Peaty may have completed his final race. After he and the British relay team consisting of Matt Richards, Duncan Scott, and Ollie Morgan placed fourth in the 4x100m medley, the 29-year-old Peaty mentioned he “might have to step away from the sport” due to “the pain it brings.”
This loss was particularly tough. Two members of the gold medal-winning Chinese team, Qin Haiyang and Sun Jiajun, were among 11 swimmers allowed to compete at these Games despite previous positive tests for trace amounts of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, which they attributed to food contamination.
If this is the end for Peaty, he had some thoughts before exiting.
“One of my favorite quotes in sports is that winning is meaningless if it’s not won fairly,” Peaty stated. “In your heart, you know it. If you touch the wall and you’re aware you’re cheating, you’re not truly winning.”
“For me, if you’ve been ‘contaminated’ twice, an honorable person would step away from the sport.” Peaty emphasized the word “contaminated” with air quotes as he spoke. “But we know it’s not that straightforward in sports.”
Peaty belongs to a group of swimmers who believe that the handling of this case by World Aquatics and the World Anti-Doping Agency has been overly murky.
“We must have faith in the system, but we don’t,” Peaty commented. “It has to be stricter. From the outset, I’ve said it’s fraud. Cheating is fraud.” Scott nodded in agreement as Peaty spoke.
Peaty clarified that he did not want to criticize the entire Chinese team. “I’ve also been questioned about those who weren’t contaminated, and I respect that. I wouldn’t want to judge an entire nation or group based on a few. That would be unjust.”
He mentioned he had refrained from speaking out earlier to avoid distracting the team. Great Britain’s swimming squad concluded the Olympics with one gold and four silver medals. Peaty expressed confidence that the relay team would use their defeat against the Chinese as motivation for the upcoming Olympics, with or without him.
“We plan to leverage this for our advantage in the next four years, whether I’m involved or not. These boys will carry this with them to see how they perform in four years. However,” he added, making a pointed comment about the sport’s governing entity, “the people responsible for their roles need to wake up and fulfill them.”
Nic Fink, who swam the second leg for the US team, echoed Peaty’s sentiments. “We have concerns about the system and whether WADA is doing everything possible,” Fink said. “We know the ITA [International Testing Agency] is testing everyone consistently. They’ve done a lot of testing here, which is reassuring. But when multiple anti-doping organizations say: ‘Hey, what was the process, how did it work?’, it raises alarm bells. We just seek more clarity and transparency. This isn’t against the competing athletes; it’s a critique of the system. We hope for resolution since it seems to be a cycle of continuous concerns and questions.”
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This marked the first occasion the USA men were defeated in the Olympic 4×100m medley relay final, with the Chinese team comprising Xu Jiayu, Qin, Sun, and Pan Zhanle expressing their determination to end the US dominance in the event. “There’s no issue with the team. We adhere to the rules,” Xu stated.
“I don’t want to make any excuses. We have faced challenges, and just as in the past, we won some battles; this reflects the spirit of the Chinese people.” They were led to victory by Pan, who delivered a blistering final split of 45.92 seconds.
Peaty, who has only just recuperated from Covid, insisted that his comments were not a response to finishing fourth. “It’s not about the podium,” he clarified. “We performed our best as a team; it could have been bronze, who knows? But I’m grateful I could recover from my illness this week and give my all while being fair. I need nothing more than that; it’s just about my heart—that’s the essence of sport. For me, being a man of faith, we can’t take any of this with us; all we carry is our pride and the memories we create with our families, knowing we did it genuinely.”
The Chinese women’s medley team, which included two swimmers who had tested positive, secured bronze behind Australia and the US team of Regan Smith, Lily King, Gretchen Walsh, and Torrie Huske, who set a world record of 3 minutes 49.63 seconds. This triumph propelled them to the top of the swimming medal table, surpassing Australia.
