‘More Than 10,000′ Athletes Doped in 80s and 90s, Former Chinese Doctor Claims

A former Chinese doctor has exposed a massive state-sponsored doping scandal, claiming that “more than 10,000” athletes were given performance-enhancing drugs in the 1980s and 1990s. Xue Yinxian, a 79-year-old former doctor who is now seeking asylum in Germany, made the revelations to German broadcaster ARD.

Dr. Xue alleges that the doping program targeted athletes as young as 11 and included those in major Olympic sports such as swimming, diving, track and field, table tennis, soccer, volleyball, and basketball. She worked closely with Chinese national teams during the 1970s but was dismissed from her role with the national gymnastics team after refusing to assist an athlete with doping before the 1988 Seoul Olympics. She fled China in 2012 after initially blowing the whistle on the doping practices.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has stated that it is looking into the allegations. “Medals were tainted by doping – gold, silver, and bronze,” Dr. Xue told The Guardian. “There must have been more than 10,000 people involved. People believed only in doping; anyone who took doping substances was seen to be defending the country. All international medals [won by Chinese athletes in that time] should be taken back.”

Dr. Xue also recounted an instance where a trainer expressed concern about young male athletes developing larger breasts, a side effect of the doping substances. “These boys were about 13 to 14 years old,” she said.

The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) statute of limitations on re-testing drug samples from the 80s and 90s has expired, making it unlikely that any medals allegedly tainted by the doping scandal will be reassigned to clean athletes.

Neither the Chinese Olympic Committee nor China’s sports ministry has commented on the allegations to ARD reporters.

This revelation is not the first instance of China being linked to doping in the 80s and 90s. In February 2016, a letter surfaced in which several Chinese athletes accused track coach Ma Junren of running a state-sponsored doping program. Ma’s athletes had set numerous national and world records, which were suspected to be achieved through performance-enhancing drugs. Ma attributed his athletes’ success to altitude training and consuming turtle blood, but the letter prompted an investigation by the International Association of Athletics Federations as WADA probed Russia for its own systemic doping.