"Smearing campaign orchestrated by US imperialist and its minions" - Fans criticize media after Adam Peaty questions China's 4x100m medley relay win

The coverage of China's gold medal win in the men’s 4x100-metre medley relay at the 2024 Paris Olympics has stoked the ire of a section of fans online.

On Sunday, August 4, China took top honors with a time of three minutes and 24 seconds. They beat the United States by 0.55 seconds and bronze medallists France by 0.92 seconds. Great Britain finished fourth, with a time of three minutes and 29 seconds.

Right after the event, several media outlets carried the results of the event while also alluding to possible doping violations by the Asian nation. These allusions were also fueled by GB swimmer Adam Peaty, who questioned the validity of China's win after the event.

“In sport, one of my favorite quotes I’ve seen lately is ‘There’s no point in winning if you don’t win it fair.’ I think you know that truth in your heart. Even if you touch and you know you’re cheating, you’re not winning, right?” he said.

Peaty's words and the extensive coverage it got did not sit well with fans, with one stating that China's swimmers go through the same drug testing as those from other nations.

"This is the headline from the Times of London today. Chinese swimmers can literally pass the exact same drug tests as everyone else and still get accused of drug taking. Sigh," said a fan.

Another fan called it a "smear campaign" that was being "orchestrated" by the United States:

"Another smearing campaign orchestrated by the US imperialist and its minions. How very predictable!" said another fan.

Here are some more fan reactions:

"Chinese swimmers are tested for drugs several times more often than those of other countries, but are still viewed with suspicion. Even so, Pan has proved himself," said one fan.

"It’s become the new “thing”. When you can’t win, cry about cheating or accuse your opponent of being a man. Then you get a gold participation medal and GoFundMe," said another fan.

"The sore losers coming out of the woodwork," shared one user.

"They just can’t believe and digest that someone has done way better than them," opined another user.

"Stop crying Peaty. The Chinese weren’t when you were breaking record after record. Now that you’re not at the top anymore, now you want to cry? Either improve or retire!" read another post on X.

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Adam Peaty: “We’ve got to have faith in the system, but we don’t”

Adam Peaty at the 2024 Paris Olympics - Getty Images

Before the 2024 Paris Olympics, it was reported that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned substance (trimetazidine) seven months before the 2020 Tokyo Games. However, they were not charged and were allowed to compete in the quadrennial event.

Qin and Sun Jiajun, part of the team that won gold in the men’s 4x100-metre medley relay in Paris, were reportedly among those 23 swimmers. While Peaty stated that he did not intend to accuse all Chinese athletes, he deemed two cases unfair:

“I don’t want to paint a whole nation or a whole group of people with one brush, I think it’s very unfair. But there have been two cases of it and I think it’s very disappointing, and I’ve tried to keep out of the conversations until now for the betterment of the team but I think we’re going to use that to our advantage the next four years, whether I’m there or not,” he said.

The 29-year-old also opined that the system should be "stricter":

“We’ll see how they do in four years’ time, but I think the people that need to do the job will wake up and do the job. We’ve got to have faith in the system, but we don’t. It’s just got to be stricter. What I’ve said from the start is that it is fraud. If you’re cheating, it is fraud,” he added.

Several Chinese swimmers, including Qin and 10-time Olympic medallist Zhang Yufei, have brushed aside all doping allegations and said that it was a tactic used to disrupt their rhythm.