By Anya Pelshaw on SwimSwam
World Record holder and 2024 Paris silver medalist in the 100 breaststroke Adam Peaty spoke after a 4th place finish by the Great Britain men’s 4×100 medley relay to conclude the meet. Peaty questioned the win by China as the Chinese men’s medley relay won gold. Two of the men on the relay for China tested positive for TMZ at the start of 2021, just months before the Tokyo Olympics.
“If you touch and you know that you’re cheating, you’re not winning, right?,” Peaty said. “I don’t want to paint a whole nation or group of people with one brush, I think that’s very unfair,” he continued. “To the people that need to do their job – wake up and do your job.”
The 23 swimmers from China were not suspended at any point as contamination was said to be the source of the TMZ. Peaty raced the breaststroke leg for Great Britain, swimming alongside Qin Haiyang who was one of the 23 who tested positive.
“One of my favorite quotes I’ve seen lately is that there’s no point winning if you’re not winning fair,” Peaty said. “I think you know that truth in your heart. For me, if you’ve been on that and you have been contaminated twice, I think as an honorable person you should be out of the sport. But we know sport isn’t that simple.”
Michael Phelps was also vocal at the end of the meet saying, “I believe one and done.” Phelps also spoke about athletes such as Peaty and the whole men’s 4×100 medley relay for Great Britain as they finished just off the podium.
“It does break my heart to see people put hard effort into four straight years to prepare for an Olympic Games, then to have it taken away from them by somebody who is cheating,” Phelps said. “It’s not right. I stand for that and I will always stand for that.”
Peaty tested positive for COVID-19 in the middle of competition in Paris, just hours after winning silver in the men’s 100 breast. At the end of the week, he also said he will be stepping away from swimming.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Adam Peaty After China’s Relay Win, “There’s No Point Winning If You’re Not Winning Fair”