PARIS, July 27 (Xinhua) -- China's top swimmer Zhang Yufei says she is worried the Chinese team might be given a hard time at the Paris Olympics due to biased media reports about a contamination case in recent months.
Talking to reporters after the women's 100m butterfly heats on Saturday, Tokyo Olympic champion Zhang expressed her concerns and discontent over the unfair treatment and criticism Chinese swimmers are facing, although they have been already cleared of doping offence.
"World Aquatics has conducted numerous investigations on the incident and we've been tested so many times," said Zhang, adding that in the two months leading up to the Paris Olympics, every athlete of the Chinese swimming team was tested around 20 to 30 times, averaging three to four tests per person per week.
"Neither Chinese athletes nor athletes from other countries would like to see their years of hard work to be ruined by doping," she said, noting that China does not tolerate doping and that the incident was the result of environmental food contamination.
"I think everyone should start to look at those real facts about the Chinese swimming team without 'colored glasses'," Zhang said.
She added that she has been on good terms with athletes from other countries, but the current situation deeply disturbed her.
"I just speak for myself. I worry that foreign athletes would be biased against me and reluctant to compete with me. I feel wronged," Zhang shared.
Data from the Chinese swimming team shows that between May 5 and July 22, Zhang underwent 27 drug tests during her training in China and at the Deauville camp.
According to World Aquatics, Zhang was the most tested swimmer in the world last year, who underwent a total of 43 doping tests, including 27 out-of-competition tests and 16 in-competition ones.
