The 1000-day countdown celebrations of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games are held in Beijing Olympic Park, Beijing, capital of China on May 10, 2019. (Xinhua/Xu Zijian)
BEIJING, July 17 (Xinhua) -- China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) is working on a doping control plan for athletes of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, CHINADA CEO Chen Zhiyu has said on the sidelines of the International Anti-Doping Symposium here.
The Chinese government has long taken a "zero-tolerance" stance toward doping, refusing any doping-stained competition results, especially at the Olympics. CHINADA is tasked to send a clean team to the 2022 Winter Games, to be hosted by Beijing.
With hundreds of national teams scattering in China as well as other continents, CHINADA's work is facing many difficulties.
Olympic champion Wu Dajing (R) of Chinese short track speed skating team in a training session in Hailar, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China on June 13, 2019. (Xinhua/Song Yanhua)
"No matter how many athletes there are and where they are, we can reach them," said Chen, who was responsible for Beijing Olympic Games anti-doping program back in 2008.
"The normal in-competition and out-of-competition tests are still going on, and we are now working on a special plan to reinforce doping control of these Games-bound athletes," he said.
"We conduct tests if they are at home and can delegate the task to other anti-doping agencies if the athletes train abroad. I believe we can catch anyone who takes the risk and punish them," he added.
But what Chen hopes most for the athletes is not only to compete clean at the Olympics, but also in their entire career.
"We hope through scientific, rigorous and targeted tests, athletes could come from 'dare not dope' to 'can not dope', and ultimately 'do not want to dope'."
"We hope our athletes can be clean throughout their career and stand the test of history," Chen said.