Zhang Yufei didn’t take long to stir up some inevitable controversy inside the Paris La Défense Arena on Saturday morning, when in the opening Olympic Games swimming session she won the second of four heats of the women’s 100m butterfly with the fastest outright time of 56.50 seconds
Affectionately known as the Butterfly Queen, the 26-year-old Zhang was also one of the 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for the same banned drug, trimetazidine (TMZ), at a domestic meeting seven months prior to the Tokyo Olympics, where she went on to win four medals, including gold in the 200m butterfly.
Ireland’s Ellen Walshe was also drawn in Zhang’s heat, moving down from her main event, the 400m individual medley, which starts on Monday. The 22-year-old ended up sixth, her time of 58.70 seconds short of her Irish record of 57.96, and in the end ranked her 22nd overall of 31 (Viola Scotto di Carlo was disqualified from Walshe’s heat).
“It was nice to get one out of the way before the main one, and the atmosphere was electric,” Walshe said, the main purpose of this exercise being to get a taste of the Olympic pool before that main event.
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“It’s not a great time for me, I’ve been 58-low consistently this year but considering I’m racing the 400m on Monday, and have to keep a bit of mileage under my belt.”
Zhang’s winning time here of 56.50 seconds was 2.20 seconds faster than Walshe, but didn’t quite threaten the world record of 55.18 set by Gretchen Walsh at the US Olympic trials last month, but that might well go in the final assuming they both get there. Walsh finished fourth fastest overall in the heats, touching in 56.75
Later in the morning session in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, the Irish quartet of Danielle Hill, Grace Davison, Erin Riordan and Victoria Catterson finished in eighth position, their time of 3:42.67 just under a second off their Irish record of 3:41.75.
Recently crowned European 50m backstroke champion, Hill took out the opening leg in 55.61 seconds, at which point Ireland were seventh, before the 16-year-old Davison – the youngest member of the 133-strong Irish team – produced an excellent second leg of 55.44 seconds.
Then came Riordan, who was timed with a 55.95, before Catterson brought them home in 55.67, Ireland just swam out of seventh spot in the end by Hong Kong.
“To be out here with the girls and like Grace only being 16, I think we can all say that she’s held herself incredibly,” said Catterson. “All of us, I think at 16 would have been a mess out there - like the crowd that loud and stuff but no, she has held herself so well and we’re all so proud to have her on the team with us.
“We’re just so proud to be up here representing our country with these girls. It’s just a once in a lifetime experience.”
Australia won the second heat in 3:31.57, ahead of China, who finished in 3:34.31, some indication of the quality of times there as the Irish women ended up 16th of the 16. The Irish women had also qualified for Paris in last spot, becoming the first Irish women’s relay team to compete in the Olympics since 1972. There will also be Irish interest in the men’s and women’s 100m freestyle relay.
Going back to 2021, the 23 Chinese swimmers escaped any sanction after being investigated by China’s own anti-doping authority after it was decided they’d all been contaminated by traces of TMZ in the hotel kitchen. This finding then accepted the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), and World Aquatics.
The World Aquatics integrity unit this week published data on its testing regime, showing that between January 1st and their arrival in France, the 31 swimmers who are representing Chinahad each been tested at least 10 times by World Aquatics, and that on average each swimmer had been tested 13 times.
Another of the Chinese swimmers Qin Haiyang, who holds the record for the men’s 200m breaststroke, claimed on social media that this vigorous testing of Chinese athletes in Paris was an attempt to disturb their rhythm.
“This proves that the European and American teams feel threatened by the performances of the Chinese team in recent years,” Qin said. “Some tricks aim to disrupt our preparation rhythm and destroy our psychological defence. But we are not afraid.
“When you have a clear conscience, you do not fear slander. The team is currently preparing at the established pace. My team-mates and I will resist the pressure and win more medals to silence the sceptics.”
Winning more medals will likely have the opposite effect.
