CHINESE OFFICIALS ACCUSE CRITICS OF BIAS.

Byline: Lisa M. Hamm Associated Press 

Chinese Olympic officials lashed out Wednesday at charges that they have done little more than wink at drug use by their athletes, accusing the critics of political bias and harassment.

In an angry response to questions at a news conference, the head of the Chinese Olympic Committee said his country's swimmers had been subjected to drug tests ``1,000 percent or more'' times greater than competitors from other strong swimming nations.

``Do you think this is fair?'' demanded Wei Jizhong, the committee's general secretary. ``This is a kind of ideological discrimination

The fact is that use of drugs is universal.''

Although China has done all it can to eradicate drug use, it continues to be singled out, Wei said.

``The Chinese Olympic Committee has made every effort to guard against doping, and our swimmers are still being wrongly accused,'' he said.

Wei noted that since 1995, not a single Chinese athlete flunked a drug test, while swimmers from the United States and Australia have tested positive.

World breaststroke champion Samantha Riley of Australia, who tested positive in December after taking a banned substance in a headache tablet, received a stern warning in February from FINA but was not barred from competition.

FINA, the international swimming federation, imposed a two-year ban on 15-year-old American swimmer Jessica Foschi, who tested positive for steroids last summer.

The Chinese Sports Commission has worked hard to improve the image of Chinese athletes since 11 Chinese swimmers failed drug tests at the Asian Games in 1994. In the world championships in Rome the same year, China won 12 of the 16 women's gold medals - but test results later found some of the winners had used performance-enhancing drugs.

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Photo: World all-around champion Li Xiaoshuang works out du ring gymnastics practice.

Associated Press