China Leaves Wang* & An* Off Rio 2016 Olympic Squad; & Qiu Yuhan Too …

China has extended its slap-on-the-wrist punishments of clenbuterol cases Wang Lizhuo*, national champion, the World junior record holder in the 100m breaststroke and China’s only man inside the minute, and medley man An Jianbao* by leaving both off the Olympic swimming team for Rio 2016.

Neither is there a place on the squad for one of the country’s top and most promising women freestylers, Qiu Yuhan. The 18-year-old clocked 53.90 in semis and 54.87 in the final of the 100m freestyle and 1:55.84 for the silver medal over 200m freestyle at Chinese nationals and Olympic trials, 0.02sec shy of the winner Shen Duo.

For the 4x200m freestyle relay, China names Shen and the 3rd to 5th finishers at nationals, Ai Yanhan, on 1:56.46 at 14, Zhang Yuhan and Wang Shijia, on 1:57s.

That Wang and An have been omitted with Qiu will raise a question at a time when China is yet to name the three swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance in January.

There is no confirmation as to why Qiu has been left off the squad.

What we do know is that she raced at 14 at the London 2012 Olympic Games, she excelled at 16 as a medallist at the Youth Olympics (1:56 at 14) and the Asian Games and was tipped by Chinese media as “the world’s next trip swimmer”.

We know from Chinese reports, too, …

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