The Sad Story of Doping in Swimming

What drives some swimmers to the point that they’re willing to cheat to win? And why have some countries resorted to secretly giving their athletes drugs and conspiring to falsify test results just to win a few more medals?
Even the best, most famous swimmers in the world have been suspended for taking banned substances. Let’s take a look at some famous doping scandals in swimming, and what can be done to stop more cheating from happening.
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[@kenwen]

There needs to be lifetime bans or severe enough times as the risk - rewards are too low. Dope, train hard, take the suspension if you're caught but carry on training, then compete with many more training hours ahead of the competition. Happens in weightlifting and happens in all sports if we're being realistic

[@xthene]

i would like to agree with you ... but then there were cases whereby the athletes themselves weren't even known that they were given performance enhancing steroids by their coaches.

[@61kg61]

yea well teams like china in weightlifting would have a even bigger advantage like dprk and any other country with less or no dope testing

[@alymlon]

Do a Norwegian skiing team, they are all asthmatics but win regularly 😂

[@chandlerbingbong]

What are the chances. 🤣🤣

[@soppoi123]

The majority of the swimmers are also asthmatics. It is a big scam all along by all sports associations who don't want to lose the money.

[@Virat-rw2tf]

Great video! I hope to see more videos like this.

[@davidtydeman1434]

Can’t understand why WADA is involved with “substances of abuse” like heroin. I can’t envisage any circumstances in sport where heroin would be performance enhancing.

[@johnnguyen270]

I think there's not enough being done and not enough punishment on athletes who have taken illegal drugs and tested positive or refusing to take mandatory tests.

[@derekrushe]

Lifetime bans won't work. A survey of world class athletes was taken over 10 years ago. The question put to them was this 'if you could take a drug that would guarantee you to be the best in your respective sport but would also guarantee that yous be dead inside 5 years; would you take it?'. I think over 58% answered yes. The experiment was called 'Goldmans dilemma'.

[@yonggeun4222]

its utterly wrong and disgusting to dope

[@chandlerbingbong]

The fact that Yang (and others) might compete at Paris means they're soft on drug cheats.

[@XwD77]

If you actually read the court case files, it clearly says the panel considers it pertinent that no allegation is made that he was doped that day. The suspension was in relation to his reckless conduct, not because they suspect he was doping.

[@jules263]

@@XwD77 Chinese love fentanyl

[@miriam8376]

I don’t understand why anyone could feel good about winning while doping. I would be embarrassed to get a medal only because I cheated. It’s like admitting that you know you’re not good enough. I’d think the win would feel empty.

[@ofekharnof]

I agree, but you're looking at it from the wrong perspective. If there are 10 swimmers and they know that 8 (arbitrary) of them are doping, they don't really feel bad for doping themselves because they are just "following the rest" so to speak. Sounds dumb, I know, but when you spend every waking hour training towards a single goal, you can easily convince yourself to do it/comply with your coaches.

[@colintainter4856]

It’s about perspective. Firstly, some people don’t care, which has a lot to do with upbringing. Secondly, some people do it because they think they don’t have a choice (correct or not). If you thought every one of your competitors was doping and you wouldn’t have a chance to win a medal without it, then you winning a medal with doping would feel fair.

[@outremer91]

It's simple game theory. If you don't dope then you lose.

[@forsupernovae2401]

dude everyone dopes

[@forsupernovae2401]

its like saying getting faster swimsuit that too also make the speed faster.

[@noel400im]

Sometimes trying to appear as fair and balanced misses the goal by a mile. In this instance, putting Phelps in the company of true dopers, despite the disclosure that he didn’t take PEDs, is misleading and in my opinion something worse.

[@richr1029]

I'm surprised this is an issue. Every sport has this problem and not everybody gets caught. if there was a 100% test for every athlete prior to competition I think the results would be amazing. It would not surprise me if Phelps took PE's also. When there is large amounts of money on the line, all bets are off. My two cents.

[@Ximme]

They can use undetectable drugs so higher frequency of testing won’t make a difference for the big guys.

[@PhiyackYuh]

@@Ximmeexactly. As if phelps is clean. No elite athletes are clean competing at high level. They know how to micro dose. Hypocrisy at its best

[@pabis6817]

Projection much…. I completely disagree, Phelps has been an advocate for life time bans for cheaters and he was subjected to hundreds if not thousands of random screenings throughout his career. Phelps never had anything show up in regards to performance enhancing drugs! Furthermore, the US has USADA an extremely strict testing and oversight from a 3rd party organization. While other countries (China, Russia) have been caught repeatedly and purposely doping their athletes and shown to have intricate doping protocols for their “state” controlled Olympic training programs. Something that just doesn’t exist in the United States. In other words China and Russia love to use the Olympics for soft power and doping their athletes is something dictatorial governments are very comfortable doing. Don’t be fooled, they will eventually be caught just like east Germany.

[@minichikimakubex]

now go back 20-30 years where this tests were less efficient how much ppl were abusing them... there are still some WR which after all the technology cant be beaten

[@ianbuick8946]

Indeed, you said it yourself. "The love of money is the source of all evil."

[@georg9967]

Almost all top sprinters now are bigger than the East-German athletes in the late 70's. It's not just improvements in training,diet and exercise. Swimming is one of the most problematic sports dopingwise, it's as widespread and part of the culture as in cycling.

[@picksalot1]

Cheating makes me not want to watch sports.

[@jakobzimmermann8258]

I knew a swimmer that competed at a local level in the 90s and even he admitted taking stuff...

[@deanmilwainoly3966]

That’s embarrassing for him 😂

[@JimmyKim-fb1ji]

@@deanmilwainoly3966he must been taking fake stuff or just the stuff that isn’t good for swimming

[@IzziandTeddy]

rules need to be stricter, for sure.

[@GHFear]

It's very easy to change the molecular structure of a drug enough to where no drug test can catch it. There are labs you can contact that will make the drug with your structural changes. Then you test it on a group of mice and compare the results with a control group of mice that were on the original compound as well as another control group that were natural. This way you can compare the blood test results and see if it interferes with any other mechanism in the body other than anabolism of your muscles and the androgen effects on your body. By measuring the muscle mass percentage of each mouse, you will be able to get a good idea of the anabolic score index as well and can decide if the compound is worth taking. I don't think there are many natural athletes among the top players in any sport. It's far too easy to cheat in an undetected way for that to be probable. But since almost everyone is cheating, the playing field is still "fair", right? -No It's not fair, because there are thousands of amazingly talented and genetically gifted people that get discouraged from continuing their careers in these sport every year because they can't naturally get as good as the top players and so they train and train, but doesn't get even close to the top players performance and in the end they just give up and their amazing genetics and talent is wasted. For the playing field to be fair, PED's need to be either legalized and allowed in all sports or the testing needs to be MUCH improved to notice other markers than just the compounds people take so we can catch any use of PEDs no matter what molecular structure.

[@gl2996]

You missed a couple of big ones. In the last Olympics, Russian athletes weren't allowed to compete under their own flag, because Russia was deemed to have been systemically cheating. And China was widely regarded to be cheating at the 1992 Olympics, even though nobody tested positive. Within about two years, though, half the Chinese swim team all failed their drug tests at a single competition..

[@Mike-bt3ki]

The country with the most doping cases is the USA though, Lance Armstrong, Tyson Gay, all those NFL players etc.

[@gl2996]

@@Mike-bt3ki An arbitrary statement. And unlike the two examples I gave, the US doesn't have any official bodies that have been either active participants in or instigators of the practice. Just the opposite, in fact. The reason you have the arbitrary opinion you do, is precisely because the US doesn't tolerate it, and catches and punishes people who do it. And if we're going to include people who were never caught., like Armstrong, well... the entire Tour was widely reputed to be doping both before and after Armstrong. It was tbe only way to make it to the top of that sport. Armstrong certainly didn't learn how to do what he was dong in the US, either. Nor did he get the materials to do it in the US.

[@leexingha]

@@gl2996 ur 1st statement is no less as well

[@Go4Broke247]

Barry bonds baby!

[@acousticmahi6660]

Sun yang is one of the best freestyle swimmer as far as technique is concerned.

[@mht4908]

I feel for the East German athletes that were doped by their coaches, they weren't willing participants and had to suffer the consequences of someone else's actions

[@33Jenesis]

When hard work and endless drills can’t improve one more nano second (and they are getting older), no surprise some resort to using performance enhancing substances.

[@jglg7238]

Australia is one of the biggest doping when it comes to swimming

[@catatonia1]

Shit yeah we have all our swimmers on every performance enhancing drug that exists and pay off the testers to ensure negative results! So you are obviously an expert in the field with inside knowledge ! Please no more of your brilliant factual commentary. Swimming Australia would be very grateful of this.

[@ewnyMetroExpress]

I honestly don't want to know these true facts... so discouraging.

[@henrybrill4354]

Where can I find the list of what can’t be take

[@myswimpro]

Here you go! The link is also in the description of the video :) bit.ly/45NWC0k

[@adorablegodzilla5628]

I heard that the only sport that doesn't dope is figure skating as it makes them perform worse somehow.

[@kenchu5900]

I believe table tennis does not need doping as well.

[@gbone7581]

Any sport that requires strength and/or endurance or where you need to recover from injuries will benefit from drugs.

[@jonathanng138]

So does Archery

[@gavin4586]

If s*n Yang swims in Paris I’m gonna be mad

[@jerry1841]

at the top everyone is using something, peds are light years ahead of testing

[@embersandash]

“If you test positive” - so basically don’t get caught.

[@caiquesilva2752]

Because thats is the only way to know they take it. But to be honest nothing Will ever happen to them.

[@up2me967]

Top sports are doped my word that's a shocking revelation!....

[@roysalman6720]

I think except for contact sports all performance enhancing drugs or at least a lot of them should be legal. Taking things that give you an edge is part of competing. It's no different than eating the right foods. If someone is consentually willing to take years off their life to win they should be able to do so.

[@z_ky99]

cheaters are everywhere these days

[@hammothw4814]

much less today than before. the testing is more difficult to cheat than what it was before.

[@sdaiwepm]

It's not "some" swimmers.

[@Harry-uq9qd]

any comments on the recent news with 23 chinese swimmers?

[@ak21bbbasenko97]

This is all just a joke. They all dope. You won’t be able to win anything without it, that’s why in US all athletes dope. The question is how they decide what’s legal and what’s illegal. Just like the case with meldonium? If sport should be honest, then why creatinine, large one and tons of other supplements are legal??? In Us all those parents that want their kids to be champions, pump them with these sport supplements containing creatinine . And those supplements all have irreversible damaging effects on their bodies. Why college swimmers in US not being tested? How about making a video on that? It’s a huge problem in US and nobody speaks about it?

[@macoyupadoodle]

Ahhhh the banning was shortened. Corruption in the OC

[@malcomx9139]

They all take something. All you need is doctor give you prescription and declare that to the international instance and you can get away with it. How is that many athletes have asthma and adhd like Phelps ?

[@puetattai9002]

KZbin posting many Australian swimmers test positive doping?

[@johndeluna692]

Olympic Weight lifting is another one.

[@derekrushe]

Almost Every single world class swimmer of the last 40 years was on something just like every world class athlete was on something. If the documentary Icarus taught us anything is they're all at it

[@muuhoang7592]

Not only the East Germany Olympic swimmers are doped, but also the FINA.

[@jojijosette5946]

What about men competing in women's sports? It's worse than doping.

[@cassie888]

that’s crazy

[@mathewomolo]

every sport has an untouchable.

[@nmew6926]

Some countries are very advanced in pharmaceutical industry. They are capable to make their athletes beat the doping tests.

[@russellnolan9212]

Evil countries, dont forget.

[@willemvanriet7160]

It’s never individual but systemic. A whole country or swim team. Perhaps one can’t win something like the Olympics just like the Tour de France. It should be ban for life

[@bournejason66]

It’s a shame. Yang’s stroke and kick were so smooth

[@thitran3080]

There is no evidence he doped during his peak in 2012 so his records were legitimate.

[@sethaldrich6902]

Drugs allowed him to maintain that perfect form throughout practice and competitions

[@XwD77]

@@sethaldrich6902 Where’s your evidence? The court case files clearly states that the panel considers it pertinent that NO allegation is made taht he was doped on that day in 2018. He was tested EIGHT times in the weeks leading up to that day and all returned negative. What is your evidence?

[@theguardian308]

No sympathy. These people cheated so many people from having their moment. They should be locked up

[@officialdamadmanchannel6513]

Well, there is a difference between breaking the rules in sport and breaking the law. Yes these cheaters deserve punishment and should never be allowed to compete again. But locked up? Cmon, that's an overexaggeration😅

[@carlosmiret35]

The problem is not to taking illegal substances! This substances are not illegal, because all athletes are taking them (athletics, swimming, football, cycling, NBA and so, sooo on). The problem of doping is: theres is a line, if you cross the line, you are doping. Don't forget it: all athletes are taking drugs in any competition

[@michaelhandley5116]

what happened to Do Ping?

[@HeWhoShams]

If you caught.. lifetime ban. Ruin their whol career because they didn't care, why should the commision?

[@anthonyclarke5579]

I still despair for Sharon Davies...robbed.

[@AbbyAuerbach]

Tech suits are not banned

[@mateomartinez3304]

El hecho es que tiene una técnica excelente

[@Andrew-wk3bj]

Ruta Meilutyte says hello

[@axelkidd9850]

"Agressivity", not "agression"

[@Z1XYlol]

WADA isn't that the company involved with the mass doping scandal

[@qirenchen]

WADA has the power allow western athletes legally take drugs.

[@willemvanriet7160]

Why do athletes excuses even get airplay They will always come up with some BS story

[@bigbin1070]

Suggestion, let's have 2 separate groups for each intl competition. No doping group to see who has most talent and best training, doping group to see who dope most effective.😁

[@user-mr9wv1dr1j]

One interesting thing the vast majority of athletes in the US are asthmatics they can legally use the medication.

[@UnforsakenXII]

This is true in effectively every sport. No surprise.

[@mogul20001]

Sun Yang's never been tested positive.....

[@moonlightsonata5576]

Everything has consequences...

[@jacobsaunders1092]

Honestly I’d be shocked if 95% weren’t enhanced, especially the men

[@hammothw4814]

especially both sexes.

[@jacobsaunders1092]

@@hammothw4814 nah I have a feeling guys have a propensity to juice a little more often, as it’s more competitive and they respond better to steroids, but I don’t have actually statistics to back that. Which is hard to do as people who take peds almost always lie about it.

[@purselmer5931]

As long as FINA (now "World Aquatics") acts like a little b**** for these cheaters, it'll continue.

[@bridge3908]

SUN YANG was not doping but he was chldish and egocentric by smashing the testing sample.

[@cooldumpy7913]

Try again. Sun Yang tested positive for trimetazidine in 2014, which was and still is classified as a PED. He was suspended because he used it without obtaining a TUE beforehand. His 2018 incident was his second offence, and obstructing the testing procedure isn't a good look, especially when he's tested positive before.

[@vls3771]

True he acted like an asshole and he has been caught out with doping. Goodbye.

[@jasonc158]

I don't recall SUN YANG actually doping, but he was protected by his mom and just train and paid a heavy price for being so childish.

[@ainz1325]

He cheated always thats the only way he can win anyways

[@jasonc158]

well i am a swimmer and his form is still the best ever to swim a 1500, we watch his videos a million times for training.@@ainz1325

[@XwD77]

@@ainz1325 Do you have proof backing your claim?

[@jonathanng138]

​@@XwD77Dude broke the blood test vessels with a hammer, you can figure the rest out and this is coming from a Chinese person

[@jjktng]

So Phelps too? Huh

[@jonz23m]

Its an IQ Test not a Doping test

[@scanner743]

Doping in swimming and track and field is wide spread like Marion jones and Carl Lewis and American athletes do not accept or allowed to be tested during competitions, do you really think ledecky can win 200 400 800 1500 races every competition with no help? It is like saying ussian Bolt win 200 400 800 1500 in a single meet

[@shanedarcy361]

Yes, "mate " . This is the world we live in" . But who created this world??? Money!! Where, for God's sake, has the value of integrity gone. ??????

[@bonclay7]

Bro, that backstroke turn was something kzbin.info/www/bejne/inLNgH59pdhlbq8

[@davidedmondson8839]

So if this is a video about filing and taking PED’s why was Phelps included in this?? If there’s no evidence that he’s taken anything why include his mistakes?? It’s one things if this was a video about what gets swimmers suspended, but the title clearly states this is supposed to be about doping. Seems like a cheap shot to me

[@mikebailey2970]

I have a different take on it. With regards to professional athletes, if they wish to dope then sure let them have at it, it is their body and they know the risks they are taking. Perhaps if they choose to use PEDs then they should declare it? But, overall on a professional level it is their body, their choice, and their lives they are risking.

[@garlandrose9948]

It doesn’t just affect them. It affects their opponents. It gives them an unfair advantage and it’s the same as telling their opponents to either have to natural overcome this advantage or dope as well to compete. Suddenly that forces opponents to do that to themselves to compete.

[@futurehofer1564]

it is an unfair advantage, maybe create a separate competition for ppl that want to use peds

[@IaneHowe]

They are all dropping not just swimming even the ones that are pretending they are not. When u are like 20% ahead of everyone else it's not because it's a super human it's because they were made a superhuman. That's why I have no interest in sports anymore

[@sara.cbc92]

"I win yes?" 🏊

[@noobswimmer11]

Ain't no funny way, swimmers hit this shyt 💔

[@chrismellon127]

No way Phelps should be in this video!!! He is amazing

[@timerwentoff]

True. The video is about doping, not about swimmers getting suspended due to myriad reasons.

[@andrewthomas8737]

@@timerwentoffunfortunately is it because of his DUI charges mid 2000s Here in Australia the conviction is wiped after 5-7 years.

[@coachab100]

Agree, Phelps shouldn’t be in this video but he was not perfect!

[@chrismellon127]

@@andrewthomas8737 but the story abt doping, not other stuff

[@esgee3829]

@@timerwentoff yeah, bring the legit accusations. this channel just lost cred by deciding to include the phelps mention. although the op sayin "he's amazing" is also too vague be taken seriously either.

[@opnwatta4775]

With all the advancement of today's medicine, why cant do anything to detect doping before the event started

[@leohao1688]

everyone cheats it's just some can't hide it well enough

[@drberrydds1]

What? China came out of nowhere and does incredibly well at Olympics now and you say it's steroids? Shocker!!!!

[@kwak76]

they have to cheat because all the other athlete are taking something but didn't get caught...lets be real...just let be ...either they are all on gear or they all are not..watch once they are off gear the numbers will be so different

[@mikelliteras397]

Most of us old enough to remember when the East Germans attended the Olympics. When the wall came down, all their doctor/scientists went to China. There is a chance the Chinese swimmer didn’t know they were drugging him at first anyway. Even if he did, he couldn’t have quit if he wanted tho it didn’t look like he cared if he knew.

[@sethaldrich6902]

He knew, thats why he destroyed and ran. The chunese breastroker at this years world championships is jacked, he's most likely drugged up too.

[@noahpalmer6653]

The case of Sun Yang annoys me so much. The way he acted toward duncan scott, 'you loser, I win' when everyone knew he was cheating rubbed me the wrong way. Caught cheating multiple times, years apart. Should never be allowed back. Whatsmore, it isn't proven, but his 1500m free WR was likely done whilst doping, especially if you watch his unnatural pace on the last 100-200.

[@purselmer5931]

Could not agree more. FINA (now "World Aquatics") is a joke for allowing this punk cheater to continue.

[@Ethan-vc2rn]

to be fair he wasn’t tested positive but was caught destroying the testing kit

[@noahpalmer6653]

@@Ethan-vc2rn for me that's even worse. Got his mum to smash his sample. Then he was still allowed to compete at the world champs

[@XwD77]

@@noahpalmer6653That’s not factually correct. They smashed the lock of the case which held the sample. His samples days before and days after that day all returned negative. Another interesting question is - why did he come back when his mum called saying testers arrived at his house? You are legally allowed to miss 3 tests, so if he was intentionally doping, why come home?

[@XwD77]

@@noahpalmer6653 These are just simple facts to the case that majority of people don’t know, or don’t care to know - but yet are so keen to throw accusations. Is it because he’s from China? I don’t know, but I sure don’t see the same level of criticism against other swimmers like Shayna Jack.

[@momoxiaoshizi]

Why just ban from sports？jail time should be served. That’s how they treat marijuana smokers anyways and those smokers didn’t even hurt anyone unlike these athletes.

[@forsupernovae2401]

everyone dopes lmao its just technology against technology...

[@cgazlan]

Lia Thomas is the biggest doping 😅

[@lisaroberts8556]

😂 😂😂You know it 👍

[@Velereonics]

Wasn't Ryan Lochte just smoking weed how is that performance enhancing lol

[@deecohen1383]

It was Phelps w the weed “scandal”

[@Captan-Tan]

Everybody known chinees,usa,british atlettes using doping

[@bp6877]

Perhaps we should develop mathematical formulas that correct for enhanced performance as a result of doping; if an individual "wins" the race, but the winner's time is "renormalized" to account for potential doping, perhaps that individual would not continue to be considered to be the winner. Certainly, someone must have studied the differential between those who doped and those who didn't.

[@sithlordbinks]

Don't think that's simply possible. People dope at different rates (e.g. some take testosterone in higher quantities), people's bodies react to steroids to different effect, etc. Even if you could get a reasonable estimate, I'm not sure if it's fair to the swimmer or the sport. The times should just be disqualified.

[@jacobsaunders1092]

That is simply not possible 😅

[@adorablegodzilla5628]

That could work as a way to investigate but you'd need their "pre-doping" information and doping doesn't always mean better results. Some people say it's a 10% increase in performance. You can dope and still come in last.

[@UnforsakenXII]

trash physics/10

[@gianpolignano2632]

Did Zhang Lin and Liu Zige dope?

[@hammothw4814]

All Chinese athletes have taken PED's, it is not their choice.

[@surferxblood]

Everyone I mean Everyone is on PED’s. That’s just simple math.

[@edmundooi5333]

Should test Carlitos

[@darylb5564]

Doping is legal in swimming if you take the drugs that give you female characteristics

[@nmew6926]

Those who can beat the tests will win

[@tomr164]

And the new dopers are already there again dominating certain distances.

[@Sail-away]

They're all on the juice

[@MrDan3808]

There should be a free for all league and a natty league.

[@sithlordbinks]

I agree a FFA league would be awesome, but I'm not sure a natty league would be totally natty (the olympics clearly isnt)

[@shanedarcy361]

Simple. Make the Olympics as a contest between the best cheating chemists. 😂😂😂

[@749217]

sun yang is the worst and will come back the water again?

[@briseboy]

Really, the ONLY effective preventative is lifetime ban on First violation. hGH is not easily discovered unless vials are found in possession. Perhaps a lifetime coach or doctor -related ban. If one of those were found to have facilitated cheating, ANY athletes ever associated with them banned for life. This would necessarily include the ahtlete being banned from coaching or ANY other contact with other athletes- who themsleves should be banned if violating contact ban with such individuals. If audiences/"fans" disagree, theycan always take refuge in alcohol and other doping to assuage their "grief."

[@ofekharnof]

I agree with you. Unfortunately, some newer experimental drugs are much harder to detect and can be taken via microdosing. Additionally, as mentioned in the video, masking agents are a huge part of the doping world. In my opinion, newer designer drugs and other recovery methods will always outperform and overpower drug testing and so preventative methods such as drug testing will always be at a disadvantage. Who knows, maybe in the future they will be able to give athletes certain drugs that will block certain cell receptors so that their usual drugs will not work but that is just an ambitious dream of mine :)

[@SteemUSA]

Everyone dopes, how do I know? Trust me, I know.

[@mistersod]

Unfortunately it all starts at Age Group! Parents doping their swimmers with or without their consent!! Is the child really a phenom or is there more to those “unbelievable performances”??