Australians to Test Vials Found on Chinese Swimmer

Chinese breaststroker Yuan Yuan, a silver medalist in the 1994 World Championships, was found Thursday carrying 13 vials labeled Somatropin, a banned human growth hormone.

The discovery, made by an Australian customs official at the airport in Sydney, gave ammunition to critics who accuse the Chinese swimmers of using banned substances. Yuan, 21, and her teammates were en route to Perth for the World Swimming Championships when the vials were discovered packed in ice in her luggage.

The confiscated vials were to be analyzed today at a laboratory near Sydney. FINA, the international ruling body of swimming, said it would not comment until after tests were run.

“We dream of such moments,” U.S. women’s assistant coach Mark Schubert said from Fremantle. “That’s accurate because you know it’s happening and the only way to catch them is with it. It’s the perfect scenario. The customs agent was clued in. The Australians have to be commended. We’re all very grateful.”

Schubert said there is a major call among the international coaches for the Chinese team to withdraw from the World Championships, which are currently underway.

“This is the smoking gun and the last straw, even if they do end up competing,” he said.

Since 1990, 23 Chinese swimmers have tested positive for banned substances, and some coaches maintain that swimmers have switched from detectable steroids to the undetectable human growth hormones.

Suspicion surrounding the Chinese team increased after two female Chinese swimmers broke world records in October. One of the records, the 400-meter individual medley, had stood since 1982.

“At the moment, it is not possible to reliably detect it,” said Dr. Albert Parlow, a research professor at UCLA Medical School. “Because it is cleared from the blood very rapidly--20 to 30 minutes.”

At one time, Somatropin was available only to children with growth disorders, and before 1985, patients were given a hormone from the pituitary gland of a cadaver.

Now, HGH can be reproduced synthetically, lowering the cost.