A top Chinese sports official has acknowledged that some officials may have provided drugs to the 11 Chinese athletes who recently tested positive for performance-enhancing substances.
"For me, I feel there should be some officials involved," said Wei Jizhong, secretary general of the Chinese national Olympic committee.Wei said his committee has ordered China's national sports federations to investigate whether any officials were linked to the positive tests involving 11 Chinese athletes at the Asian Games in Japan in October.
"This is not an easy task," he said Tuesday. "We need evidence. If there is, we should punish the other officials involved in this case."
Seven swimmers - including women's world champions Yang Aihua and Lu Bin - tested positive in Japan, as well as two canoeists, one cyclist and one hurdler.
All 11 have been suspended by their national and international federations. Wei said they all denied the "use or intentional use" of illegal drugs, suggesting they may have taken the substances unwittingly.
Wei said that coaches or doctors may be responsible for the positive cases. But he said he did not believe the national federations were involved.
Manfred Donike, a top German anti-doping official, recently said that the seven positive tests by Chinese swimmers were evidence of a systematic doping campaign in the sport.
Wei did not rule out this possibility.
"Without evidence, I cannot say yes or no," he said. "For this, we will continue our investigation."
Rumors and allegations of widespread drug use have abounded ever since China emerged as a sporting superpower in recent years, particularly in women's swimming and track and field.
Wei said that more than 40 Chinese athletes have tested positive for drugs in the past two years.
He said China would take take several steps to combat the drug problem: set up a permanent agency to work full-time on all anti-doping activities, increase the number of tests in and out of competition, focus on educating athletes and coaches, and improve the work of its drug-testing laboratory in Beijing.
Wei said he could understand why many people around the world were expressing doubts about the credibility of Chinese sports.
"We also have doubts," he said. "We have seven (positive) swimmers. Why? We have to work together and find out and combat all kinds of use of doping."
But Wei said it was unfair to discredit all Chinese competitors.
"It doesn't mean all Chinese athletes use drugs," he said.
The International Olympic Committee's top anti-doping official blamed coaches and trainers from former East Germany for the spate of positive tests in China.
"It's a problem of trainers from GDR (East Germany) starting to use their habits with the Chinese," said Prince Alexandre de Merode, chairman of the International Olympic Committee medical commission.