Adam Peaty takes aim at dopers and FINA: 'Athletes that dope are creating fraud - you should go to prison'

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Adam Peaty is smarting for a fight in and out of the pool and has accused swimming governing body FINA of “taking the piss” in its handling of the Sun Yang doping case on the eve of the World Championships.

Chinese swimmer Yang, a three-time Olympic champion who served a doping ban in 2014, avoided no more than a rebuke from a confidential FINA panel after being involved in a vial being smashed when drugs testers called at his home last September.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with the case not set to be held until September at the earliest — more than a year after the testers’ visit — leaving Yang free to compete in the 200, 400 and 800metre freestyle in Gwangju, South Korea.

Peaty told Standard Sport: “They’re taking the piss with doping, just look at Sun Yang and the broken vial. Imagine if a British person did that. They’d be ridiculed — and rightly so.

"If I see him in Korea, I won’t be moving my shoulders for him, if you know what I mean.

“Athletes that dope are creating fraud. You should go to prison, the police should be involved. It’s like a CEO getting a job with no experience. It’s just cheating and people are saying it’s still okay for him to come back after doping offences. He’s swimming rapidly at the moment and you know why.”

Peaty is bidding to defend both his 50 and 100m breaststroke world titles, as well as eclipse his two world records, starting with the 100m on Sunday. But as well as remaining the dominant force in his discipline, he has become one of the most outspoken voices in the sport.

“I saw this spreadsheet from a good source showing that FINA are the worst for transparency, worse than FIFA even,” he said.

“There’s no transparency — and you can get corruption when there’s no transparency. Where’s the money going? We don’t know, but it’s not to the athletes.

“Some athletes shut their mouth and play along. That’s just not me. I think athletes have a more powerful message when they stand their ground and inspire others to speak up. When I see something wrong in the sport, which there clearly is, I speak. Swimming is one of the biggest Olympic sports and FINA have a lot of money in the bank and athletes aren’t getting the right dividend.

“We’re the entertainment. We don’t care about money, we care about pushing the limits and winning, but it’s not fair. I’m my own company, my own stock, and I want that stock to rise.”

FINA had threatened to ban athletes competing in the rival, non-sanctioned International Swimming League, which begins in October and has a leg in London, with Peaty goading them in December to go through with their threat. Despite his public rebukes, he has had zero contact back.

“In all my time, I’ve met the [FINA] CEO [Julio Maglione] just once. If I were in FINA’s shoes, I’d say, ‘Athletes, what do you want?’ It’s not like we want millions of pounds. We want a voice and we want workplace equality. Where’s the communication and why are you so afraid to talk to athletes? I think they see us as a threat, but we’re not here to harm you, we’re here to work with you.”

In the anti-doping fight, Peaty understands his own sporting dominance — he has not lost since 2014 over 100m — will be questioned again when competing, despite being tested twice a week in the lead-up to these championships.

“Hopefully, most people know where I stand on doping, but I get tweets saying, ‘You’re looking massive, you must be on steroids’,” he said. “Are you serious? I’m probably one of the biggest people against doping. You get people who are jealous, but that’s sport and I know that ‘Gary’, with 50 followers, isn’t going to affect my race. You have to laugh about it.”

FINA were contacted with regard to Peaty’s comments but had not responded by the time of going to print.

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