Team USA swimmer, Katie Ledecky, who is a seven-time gold medalist, did not hold back when expressing her thoughts on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics incident where Chinese swimmers tested positive for an illegal substance.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) reported that 23 swimmers from China's team had the performance-enhancing drug trimetazidine (TMZ) in their system ahead of the last Olympics, however it was brushed under the rug after the Chinese officials claimed it was due to contamination during testing.
Ledecky made a statement regarding the matter.
"I hope everyone here (in Paris) is going to be competing clean this week," Ledecky said. "But what really matters also is: Were they training clean? Hopefully, that's been the case. Hopefully, there's been even testing around the world."
She expressed the sentiment that athletes participating just want to compete on a fair-even playing field.
"I think everyone's heard what the athletes think. They want transparency. They want further answers to the questions that still remain."
To point out, the U.S. recently brought in the FBI to investigate the matter ahead of the 2024 Games in hopes to ensure fair play moving forward, as something like this happened during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics with the Russians.
With all this to say, even if the Chinese gained a slight advantage by using TMZ in Tokyo, Ledecky was not affected as the results speak for themselves. The 27-year-old American won gold medals in the women's 800-meter race, as well as 1500-meter freestyle, in addition to taking silver in the 400-meter and 4?—200-meter freestyle.
In regards to the upcoming Paris Games, 11 out of the 23 Chinese swimmers, who tested positive, will take part in this year's Olympics.
The swimming events will kick off on Saturday July 27, as Ledecky will hope to pick up right where she left off in 2021.
"At this point, we're here to race," Ledecky stated. "We're going to race whoever is in the lane next to us. We're not the ones paid to do the testing, so we hope that the people that are follow their own rules."
