Swimming 2024 Discussion Thread

[Orangehair43 251]

 

 

nprecedented multimillion-pound lawsuit against the World Anti-Doping Agency over its handling of the case involving 23 Chinese competitors who escaped sanction despite testing positive for a banned substance months before the Tokyo Olympics.

Senior sources have told The Times that discussions are taking place between those who competed against the Chinese swimmers at the Games in 2021, their lawyers and leading sports administrators, with some funding already in place should they decide to launch a class action.

Wada has responded to the widespread criticism it has received in the past week by insisting that it followed correct procedures when it accepted the explanation given in July 2021 by Chinada, the Chinese national anti-doping agency, that the swimmers — some of whom went on to secure medals in Tokyo — were inadvertently exposed to trimetazidine (TMZ) through contamination. 

However, United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) had called for an independent global investigation into the case and on Thursday, Wada appointed an independent prosecutor, Eric Cottier, to conduct a “thorough review”.

Witold Banka, the Wada president, said: “Wada’s integrity and reputation is under attack. We continue to reject the false accusations and we are pleased to be able to put these questions into the hands of an experienced, respected and independent prosecutor.” The Wada director general Olivier Niggli added that “not one shred of evidence has been presented to support any of the allegations made” against the organisation.

 

 issued a stinging response to the news, saying: “By calling this an ‘independent’ investigation, Wada leadership is trying to pull the wool over our eyes. Instead of Wada’s hand-picked lawyer with a limited and self-serving scope of review, the world’s athletes deserve a truly independent review commission with a wide scope of review that is constituted with an independent athlete representative and impartial respected jurists with anti-doping experience appointed by government consensus.”

The Chinese athletes all tested positive at the start of January 2021, having stayed at the same hotel during a training camp in Shijiazhuang. Chinese investigators claimed to have found evidence of the banned drug in the hotel’s kitchen. However, it is only because of reporting by ARD television in Germany and The New York Times that the details of the case are now in the public domain.

In 2018 a bill was passed in Quebec, where Wada is based, to protect the agency from legal action. Private Members’ Bill 238, which was passed by the National Assembly of Quebec, was aimed principally at stopping lawsuits designed to impede doping cases and investigations against athletes or organisations. At the time Wada cited third parties who may aim to “disrupt or intimidate it from carrying out its mission”.

However, a view has already been taken that the bill would not stop a lawsuit that questions whether Wada has correctly upheld its rules and protected athletes from harm, not least in relation to a loss of medals and income that could come from such success. If the bill did present an issue, there is nothing to stop athletes seeking legal action in a court outside Quebec.

Any such legal move would require a lead plaintiff, or possibly plaintiffs, with others then invited to join the action. Sources have suggested that it could even extend to athletes who felt that the same rules had not been applied to them by Wada when they tested positive for a banned drug.
 

Wada, when asked to comment, said: “As has been made clear many times this week, there is not a shred of evidence of any wrongdoing on Wada’s part. At all stages of this case Wada has acted with due diligence and according to the agreed process and rules of the World Anti-Doping Code. Therefore there would be plainly no basis for any legal action.”

On Monday the head of the Usada, Travis Tygart, accused Wada of sweeping the case under the carpet, stating that the Chinese swimmers should have been provisionally suspended while a full investigation was carried out.

“All athletes, sponsors and fans of the Olympic and Paralympic movement deserve a real global guard dog that has the teeth and the determination to apply the rules uniformly and fairly,” a statement from Usada read. “Additionally, following this review, we call on governments and the sport movement to overhaul Wada to ensure a cover-up of positive samples on the eve of the Olympic Games cannot occur ever again.”

While it is not known if Duncan Scott is one of the swimmers who has sought legal advice as part of a class action, the British star was among those beaten to a gold medal in Tokyo by a Chinese athlete implicated in the case.
 

Aquatics GB, the national governing body for water sports in Great Britain, has expressed its concern over the scandal. “Aquatics GB believes that every athlete is entitled to compete on a level playing field — and that means a commitment to clean sport,” a statement read. “Delivering against this commitment requires a testing process that is robust, transparent and consistently applied.
 

We are extremely concerned by the allegations concerning positive tests in the build-up to the Tokyo Olympic Games which were reported over the weekend. The potential loss of trust and reputational damage to sport is significant and we will be monitoring any further updates and possible resolutions closely.”

In a statement this week, Wada said it “ultimately concluded that it was not in a position to disprove the possibility that contamination was the source of TMZ and it was compatible with the analytical data in the file”. 

It added: “Wada also concluded that, given the specific circumstances of the asserted contamination, the athletes would be held to have no fault or negligence. As such, and based on the advice of external counsel, Wada considered that an appeal was not warranted. Following the misleading information that has been published this week, including on social media, Wada reserves its right to take legal action as appropriate.”

 

Edited April 25 by Orangehair43

[dullard 703]

7 hours ago, EselTheDonkey said:

Lukas Märtens 400m Freestyle 3:40,33 at the German National Championships in Berlin. 

Looks like Paris will be the last time we have to put up with that ridiculous world record line that gobbles everyone up in the last 100.

[dantm 32]

1 hour ago, dullard said:

Looks like Paris will be the last time we have to put up with that ridiculous world record line that gobbles everyone up in the last 100.

It could go before Paris

[dullard 703]

7 minutes ago, dantm said:

It could go before Paris

Maybe Winnington could get it at Aussie trials but Short will probably not peak until Paris.

[dantm 32]

8 minutes ago, dullard said:

Maybe Winnington could get it at Aussie trials but Short will probably not peak until Paris.

Could be a risk not peaking at trials and holding that taper until Paris.

But then again, I do not see any 3rd Australian challenging, therefore Short could still go 3.45 and still take the second spot.

 

As for the Women's 100M Free at the trials,they all need to be at their peak!   

[heywoodu 15,174]

7 hours ago, dantm said:

Could be a risk not peaking at trials and holding that taper until Paris.

But then again, I do not see any 3rd Australian challenging, therefore Short could still go 3.45 and still take the second spot.

 

As for the Women's 100M Free at the trials,they all need to be at their peak!   

When are the Australian trials? Olympics are wtill three months away, and as we see in plenty of other sports, it definitely shouldn't be impossible to have two peaks separated by 2-3 months  

Edited April 26 by heywoodu

[heywoodu 15,174]

9 hours ago, dullard said:

Looks like Paris will be the last time we have to put up with that ridiculous world record line that gobbles everyone up in the last 100.

It'd be great to not have that line at all. As in, for the love of God just remove that graphic from the screen, it takes away so much tension and excitement  

 

By the way, interesting to think Biedermann's world record was only barely faster than Thorpe's previous world records (plural), but somehow after that, it stopped entirely. Thorpe was well before the annoying super suit, wasn't he?

Edited April 26 by heywoodu

[dullard 703]

3 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

When are the Australian trials? Olympics are wtill three months away, and as we see in plenty of other sports, it definitely shouldn't be impossible to have two peaks separated by 2-3 months  

June 10-15 and US trials follow immediately after.

[heywoodu 15,174]

39 minutes ago, dullard said:

June 10-15 and US trials follow immediately after.

Alright, that's a bit close, yeah  

 

I do wonder why these countries with trials somehow want the trials to be that close to the Olympics. Why not just hold them in March or April, so there's plenty of time for recovery and then rebuilding to peak shape again?

[dullard 703]

11 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Alright, that's a bit close, yeah  

 

I do wonder why these countries with trials somehow want the trials to be that close to the Olympics. Why not just hold them in March or April, so there's plenty of time for recovery and then rebuilding to peak shape again?

That's how Australia used to do it and they've been much more successful since they changed. It's hard to say if the change helped or if Australia's just going through a bit of a purple patch. 

 

Canada is moving their trials to June starting next year probably because Australia (who copied the US) has done so well.

Edited April 26 by dullard