Some of the country's top swimmers - including Qin and his relay teammate Sun Jiajun- have faced a slew of doping allegations, followed by contentious US claims that the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) was covering it up. They were among 23 Chinese swimmers who returned positive doping tests ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. And although Chinese swimmers have been drug-tested twice as much as some other nations this year before heading to Paris, their performance has been met with scepticism.
After the medley event on Monday, Team GB's Adam Peaty opened fire on the Chinese team, saying "there's no point winning if you're not winning fair".