Opinion | Shock, horror over Chinese swimmers testing positive? More of a yawn

Remember those infuriatingly clever kids in class? The ones who harvested As, never helped you with homework, covered their answers when you tried to copy and condescendingly patted you on the head when you got a C?

And remember how you hoped that they would get caught cheating? So you and your friends could humiliate them and say right to their faces: “I knew you were a fake!”

And then, in a moment as sweet as Manchester United losing, your wish came true. They were indeed caught cheating with answers written on the back of their scientific calculators. Not only that but their parents had supported their mischief – encouraging, goading and even devising cheating strategies as exams approached.

And how therapeutic it was for you and your friends as you humiliated them and said right to their faces: “I knew you were a fake!” And then you went back to copying from each other’s homework.

In the mid-90s, investigators unleashed a raft of positive tests in what would be described as a state-sponsored doping programme for Chinese swimmers. And the world reacted much like students celebrating the exposure of a cheating brainiac classmate. It’s what they had been waiting for after Chinese swimmers, especially their women, swept away opposition in a wave of gold at the Olympics and world championships.

Led by sceptical United States and Australia, they high-fived each other with glee while sternly tut-tutting a mainland system that had virtually copy-and-pasted its doping and coaching programme from East Germany, which a few years earlier disintegrated with the Berlin Wall, leaving a bunch of skilled dope-pushing coaches twiddling their thumbs – until China came calling.

Last week, reports emerged that six Chinese swimmers tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Whistle-blowers also accused mainland officials of covering up those positive tests, though a high-ranking official from China’s anti-doping agency, Chinada, denied this. Zhou Jian said world anti-doping body Wada had been kept informed of all positive tests and that China had followed all the rules in terms of disclosure.

It’s only been a few days since the revelations but the reaction of the world has been much more muted towards China than it was 20 years ago. Maybe it’s because China are not the same swimming powerhouse they were in the early 90s, or because it is hidden in the shadow of an infinitely more sinister doping scandal that has rocked Russia, with sport after sport – starting with track and field – poisoned by the doping disease.