Swimming World issued a story that USA Olympic swimmer Jessica Hardy tested positive for a WADA banned substance. USA swimmers report she is not in camp. No word on the substance. (To TransworldNews)
Swimmer Jessica Hardy may miss the 2008 Beijing Olympics after testing positive for a banned substance on Wednesday.
An anonymous source said that Hardy's "A" sample from the U.S. Olympic Trials tested positive for a stimulant, but did not give the Associated Press more details.
The Swimming World magazine Web site first reported the positive doping test. NBC Olympics.com also posted that Hardy's "B" sample also tested positive.
If the reports are accurate, Hardy, 21, can appeal to the American Arbitration Association and the Court of Arbitration for Sport. A first-time doping offense generally leads to a 2-year ban from the sport.
If she loses the appeal, she cannot participate in the Olympics, because the U.S. deadline to submit their swimming roster was July 21.
Hardy would have participated in several Beijing events.
Hardy earned spots on her first Olympic team in her best event, the 100-meter breaststroke, and the 50 freestyle and 400 free relay.
Hardy was expected to compete for a medal in the 100 breast, and to be an integral part on the 400 free relay, and possibly the 400 medley relay.
Hardy swam for California for two seasons, winning the 100 breast at the 2006 and 2007 NCAA championships before turning pro.
In the 2005 World Championships in Montreal, she broke the world record in the 100 breast with a time of 1 minute, 6.20 seconds, which still stands as the American record.
From her agent a denial:
The Associated Press reported the following response from Hardy's agent Evan Morgenstein:
Agent Evan Morgenstein told the AP that during a brief phone conversation with Hardy, she told him, "I never did anything wrong. I never cheated."
Morgenstein said he's heard there were conflicting results from Hardy's tests, though he didn't have any details.
"I'm very, very concerned about the confusion of her test coming up positive-negative-positive," Morgenstein said. "She's the one person I would never believe would do anything—anything—to cheat. Ever."
We await confirmation.
The faces of these swimmers look weird to me. It seems like they are taking HGH and some other steroids.
Posted by: Yes | 07/24/2008 at 15:51
The FINA and USSwimming requirements for reporting the use of asthma medications is complex and extensive. It is not enough that a medical doctor prescribes these medications for asthmatics; moreover, the swimmer must be fully informed about the reporting of using the medications prescribed by a physician, and then file the reports in a timely manner, getting USSwimming's pre-approval for the use of the medications before any competition. Our family has known Jessica Hardy for a number of years, and she is a person of utmost integrity. If she happened to be using the asthmatic medication prescribed for her condition by a medical doctor, I am 100% positive, the error occurred by her not being aware of the filing requirements with USSwimming and FINA about the necessity for her to take the medication. It ius my opinion that her coach should have been involved in enough aspects of her personal physical condition, as well as her training, to advise her about the complex rules related to filing the medications that the coach's swimmer is using. We live in a very complex world, and coaches an no longer just concentrate on the training techniques of their swimmers, rather each coach should be REQUIRED by USSwimming to be current on medication reporting requirements, which are always being updated on a monthly, weekly, and sometimes a daily basis. I have faith that Jessica Hardy did not do anything to enhance her performance, except to put her in an equal pool with the other asthmatics who have followed the complex procedures in reporting their medications. I know as a father of an Olympic qualifying swimmer, and subsequent Olympic Gold Medalist, that it took our family days of intense record searching and then constant back and forth faxes and email to allow our swimmer to swim in the Olympics for the United States. If Jessica Hardy is guilty of anything, it is probably her own naivete about the complexities of self reporting prescribed medications by her personal physician for an asthmatic condition that she has had for years. I believe that FINA and USSwimming should hold head coaches responsible for these mistakes that young swimmers make, and require head coaches to be certified in the areas of exercise physiology (another potential for career ending injuries) and medications and drugs on the accepted or banned list, by taking some of our funds to hold quarterly clinics that certify and re-certify coaches, so they can advise their athletes about the dangers of improper training techniques and the dangers of not being aware of how to report ALL that are prescribed by personal physicians. Until we do this as a swimming community, swimmers with the utmost integrity, such as Jessica Hardy, will continue to have their careers meaninglessly disrupted. Jessica Hardy will be back competing in the 2012 Olympics, but for now, and the US Olympic movement has to share in some of the blame for the unfortunate circumstances that have kept her from representing our country in the Olympics: the premier athletic competition of the world.
Sincerely,
A concerned parent of a past and future Olympic athlete.
Posted by: Olympian Partent | 07/25/2008 at 19:45
The FINA and USSwimming requirements for reporting the use of asthma medications is complex and extensive. It is not enough that a medical doctor prescribes these medications for asthmatics; moreover, the swimmer must be fully informed about the reporting of using the medications prescribed by a physician, and then file the reports in a timely manner, getting USSwimming's pre-approval for the use of the medications before any competition. Our family has known Jessica Hardy for a number of years, and she is a person of utmost integrity. If she happened to be using the asthmatic medication prescribed for her condition by a medical doctor, I am 100% positive, the error occurred by her not being aware of the filing requirements with USSwimming and FINA about the necessity for her to take the medication. It ius my opinion that her coach should have been involved in enough aspects of her personal physical condition, as well as her training, to advise her about the complex rules related to filing the medications that the coach's swimmer is using. We live in a very complex world, and coaches an no longer just concentrate on the training techniques of their swimmers, rather each coach should be REQUIRED by USSwimming to be current on medication reporting requirements, which are always being updated on a monthly, weekly, and sometimes a daily basis. I have faith that Jessica Hardy did not do anything to enhance her performance, except to put her in an equal pool with the other asthmatics who have followed the complex procedures in reporting their medications. I know as a father of an Olympic qualifying swimmer, and subsequent Olympic Gold Medalist, that it took our family days of intense record searching and then constant back and forth faxes and email to allow our swimmer to swim in the Olympics for the United States. If Jessica Hardy is guilty of anything, it is probably her own naivete about the complexities of self reporting prescribed medications by her personal physician for an asthmatic condition that she has had for years. I believe that FINA and USSwimming should hold head coaches responsible for these mistakes that young swimmers make, and require head coaches to be certified in the areas of exercise physiology (another potential for career ending injuries) and medications and drugs on the accepted or banned list, by taking some of our funds to hold quarterly clinics that certify and re-certify coaches, so they can advise their athletes about the dangers of improper training techniques and the dangers of not being aware of how to report ALL that are prescribed by personal physicians. Until we do this as a swimming community, swimmers with the utmost integrity, such as Jessica Hardy, will continue to have their careers meaninglessly disrupted. Jessica Hardy will be back competing in the 2012 Olympics, but for now, and the US Olympic movement has to share in some of the blame for the unfortunate circumstances that have kept her from representing our country in the Olympics: the premier athletic competition of the world.
Sincerely,
A concerned parent of a past and future Olympic athlete.
Posted by: Olympian Partent | 07/25/2008 at 19:52
Rules are there for everyone equally, and therefore able to be bent/skewed by anyone. Athletes at this level who have a medical condition are acutely aware of the rules that have been pertaining to them for years. One-off mistake?
Posted by: Joe Bloggs | 07/25/2008 at 23:08
There is one problem with the explanation given by "Olympian Parent": Clenbuterol is not approved by the FDA for use in the USA. A doctor cannot prescribe it, and pharmacies don't carry the drug. Any clen in a USA citizen is illicit.
Either she used clen, or the lab messed up, or there was sabotage. CLen could not have been prescribed by a physician.
There is no logical reason the US Olympic Committee should share any blame. The US Olympic Committee doesn't sell black market clenbuterol on the street.
In this athlete's case why should the coach be held responsible?
Posted by: GRG | 07/26/2008 at 01:11
There is another problem with the explanation given by "Olympic Parent". The athletes at this level are very aware of the necessity of checking the USADA (US Anti-Doping Agency)website which lists the allowed and prohibited medications prior to taking any new medication, both over-the-counter and prescription. My child is not an Olympian but as a world ranked swimmer, she receives monthly e-mails regarding this exact subject. She thinks that these notices go out to every swimmer with a top 50 world ranking. Everytime she gets a new prescription or considers an over-the-counter medication, she logs onto the USADA website to determine if the medication is allowed or prohibited, or allowed with a therapeutic use exemption(TUE)form. The swimmers at this level are very aware of the USADA and FINA protocol regarding medications. They even receive random at-home drug tests fairly regularly on top of the tests at major U.S. competitions. The "anti-doping" rules are pretty high on their minds.
Posted by: | 07/28/2008 at 16:10
The above comment is absolutely right on. My daughter is merely a sectionals level swimmer, but even at that level and even at age group zones level below THAT, the athletes are constantly made aware of the doping rules, and the paperwork necessary even to use asthma inhalers.
My strong suspicion is that Jessica Hardy is totally innocent, and the fault lies within the tests, the supplement manufacturers, or, God forbid, another Tonya Harding type sabotage.
Posted by: swimmom | 08/07/2008 at 12:11
I do not know if Jessica Hardy doped, or not. So far as the evidence goes - positive results on both A sample and B sample - it seems she did. But in the future she may be exonerated and reinstated if an appeal shows there was some mistake made. Meanwhile, as the above comments show, there is ample information GIVEN TO THE ATHLETE on a regular basis about both doping in general and banned substances in particular. If there are "medication reporting requirements which are always being updated on a monthly, weekly, and sometimes daily basis", and these are put INTO THE ATHLETE'S HANDS as they become available - which they should be - then it is up to the athlete to read these carefully, and if necessary to ask any questions about them. As pointed out above there is a website that can be utilized for this purpose. The question is, in the case of Jessica Hardy, were these put directly into her hands? And did she read them carefully? In other words, was she "fully informed"? If they were not put directly into her hands that is one thing. In this instance there is reason for appeal. If they were put directly into her hands, then there is no reason for appeal since she was, at that point, personally responsible for knowing in detail the information contained in them, and personally responsible for asking for further information if necessary. There is no use at all in blaming coaches, trainers, supplement manufactures, and various committees and such for what, ultimately, has to be the athlete's responsibility. Furthermore, at age 21, and with two years at Cal Berkeley, Jessica Hardy can hardly be considered "a young swimmer".
Posted by: | 08/21/2008 at 17:40
Pigs are friends of human beings
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