Following the conclusion of an initial Ethics Panel judgement on November 29, it was revealed to insidethegames that a new complaint was made by a whistleblower, who has asked to remain anonymous.

Earlier, insidethegames saw the formal hearing with the FINA Ethics Panel detailing the previous complaint made by Diving New Zealand (DNZ) and FINA judge Lisa Wright, against Zhou, an Olympic gold medallist. 

This initial dispute ran from September until November, with the follow-up complaint seem set to provide further information on the alleged behaviour of the administrator.

Although this judgement between Wright and Zhou has been finalised, the document has not yet been made public.

Wright is an official of DNZ, whose experience includes working at competitions such as Tokyo 2020, the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju and the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast.

The 57-year-old Zhou was accused of verbally abusing Wright during the Games after the conclusion of the men's 10-metre platform final, in which Chinese divers Cao Yuan and Yang Jian won the gold and silver medals, respectively, ahead of Britain's Tom Daley. 

China claimed seven of the eight gold medals at the Games – the only other going to Daley and his partner Matty Lee in the men's synchronised 10m platform.

DNZ and Wright initially sent a letter of complaint to the FINA executive director Brent Nowicki on September 6 last year.

The protesting parties claimed Zhou had violated the provisions of the FINA Ethics Code as well as Section 4.1.1 and 4.1.4 of the FINA Rules of Protection from Harassment and Abuse.

Section 4.1 states that forbidden conduct is a violation of the FINA Rules, with 4.1.1 and 4.1.4 referring to harassment and psychological abuse.

These rules were approved by the FINA Bureau on June 5 at the governing body's General Congress in Doha, at the same time that Zhou was approved as a vice-president of FINA.

She became the first woman to hold the position within the organisation as a result.

FINA's Ethics Committee notified Zhou of the charges against her on October 27 and she responded with her recollection of events on November 24.

In their findings the FINA Ethics Panel determined it had no jurisdiction to decide on any of the complaints under the Rules of Protection from Harassment and Abuse.

Although the reason for this remains unclear as of now, Article C24.7 of the FINA Constitution states: "The Ethics Panel shall investigate, hear and determine any alleged violation of the FINA Code of Ethics or the FINA Rules on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions and to impose sanction(s), referred to it by the Executive".

This suggests it is within the jurisdiction of the Ethics Panel.

It also stated there was not enough evidence to sustain complaints made by Wright and DNZ, saying the incident during the men's platform final was "unfortunate" and led to a "misunderstanding mixed with misjudgement" between Wright and Zhou.

It added that both parties left "with a different impression of what had transpired…leads one to believe that an infringement of the code may indeed have been committed".

The Ethics Panel stressed that the incident showed no one other than the assigned working members of any FINA Technical Committee should be allowed onto the pool deck before, during or after any competition.

It urged the Executive Bureau to adopt this recommendation.

Zhou was required to apologise in a letter to Wright and DNZ for the incident.

The Ethics Panel recommended that the Reform Committee investigate the need for a Bureau Liaison, saying the position "seems to cause conflict" as the supervised Committees have a chairperson.

It added that the Liaison's "powers are not clearly defined, creates confusion, conflict and discord" calling for the position to be removed.

When contacted, FINA said they would make no comment until the appeal process was completed.

"In order to respect the confidentiality of the parties, FINA will await until the right of appeal process is finished before making comment on the final decision of the FINA Ethics Panel," a FINA spokesperson told insidethegames.

"The welfare of the aquatics community is of critical importance to FINA. 

"This is underlined by the adoption of measures to protect participants from harassment and abuse, and the creation of an independent Aquatics Integrity Unit."

FINA elected Husain Al-Musallam as President unopposed at the same Congress that Zhou became the vice-president for Asia.

Zhou was China's first Olympic gold medallist in diving after winning the women's platform title at Los Angeles 1984. 

She is regarded as one of the key coaches involved in perfecting diving development in China, helping the nation become dominant in the sport.

Zhou has been contacted for comment.