Positive test could sink whole squad
FORMER world breaststroke champion Brenton Rickard is appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against a positive drug test that threatens to have him and five of his Australian relay teammates from the 2012 London Olympic swim team stripped of their bronze medal.
Rickard on Friday emailed his teammates on the 4x100m medley relay squad informing them that his sample he provided on August 1, 2012 had been retested eight years later and showed a small concentration of the masking agent, furosemide.
The new testing failed to disclose any underlying pro
hibited performance-enhancing substance.
That was enough for the International Olympic Committee’s disciplinary commission to find him guilty, at which point the matter was referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. The hearing is set down for next Monday.
If the finding goes against him the expectation is that the entire squad could be stripped of their bronze medal, even though Rickard himself only swam in the heats, not the final.
Because the matter is now in the hands of CAS, neither the Australian Olympic Committee nor Swimming Australia would comment.
It was a devastating way for dual Olympic gold 1500m freestyle medallist Kieren Perkins to begin his first day as Swimming Australia president.
“I can’t make any comment but I can say that Swimming Australia will be offering Brenton any support he may want at this time,” Perkins said.
But it may be Rickard’s relay teammates, James Magnussen, Matt Targett, Christian Sprenger, Hayden Stoeckel and Tommaso D’Orsogna who may need most help, given that they are the completely innocent victims of this situation.
The first four named swimmers competed in the
final while D’Orsogna and Rickard only swam in the heats.
Magnussen, Targett and D’Orsogna were three of six members of the men’s relay sprint squad who were fined and given suspended sentences by Swimming Australia after being involved in a controversial bonding session before the London Games.
The swimmers, along with Eamon Sullivan, James Roberts and Cameron MvEvoy were all disciplined after the Games for using a drug specifically banned by the AOC, Stilnox, prior to the bonding session.
In his email, Rickard described the situation as being his “worst nightmare” and
begged his teammates for their forgiveness.
“I am truly sorry to have to inform you of this shocking situation,” Rickard wrote in his email.
“I expect the matter will become public imminently so I wanted to inform you in advance of this and convey to you my strong conviction of my innocence and commitment to protesting the disqualification of the 4x100m medley result.”
Australia has never lost an Olympic medal because of a positive drug test.
It has been an eventful 2020 for 37-year-old Rickard, who lost 100 of his medals when they were stolen from his Gold Coast home in May.