Katinka Hosszu Responds To Controversial Commentary

katinka hosszu

Katinka Hosszu officially responds to a commentary written by Casey Barrett titled “Are Katinka Hosszu’s Performances Being Aided?“. Barrett, who is working on a documentary exposing the systematic doping of the 1976 East German female swimmers, admitted in the article that there was “No Proof” that Hosszu’s performances were being aided.

The story prompted a response by the Hungarian Swimming Federation and a Press Conference Statement by Hosszu. The following is the transcript from the press conference:

Good afternoon to everyone. I have called today’s conference to address the recent suggestion in the Swimming World article that my performances in competition have been aided by illegal means as an explanation for my success. I have decided to confront these false accusations now so that my fans and the swimming community clearly understand that I deny these hurtful allegations as false and as entirely inconsistent with my character, my belief system, and the spirit of competition. I have been swimming in competition since the age of 6–through a combination of hard work, excellent coaching, and the support of my family, friends, and sponsors, I have achieved a great amount of success in the sport I love. I genuinely appreciate the great support of my countrymen, fans, and the Hungarian Swimming Federation and continue to ask for your support even in the face of, and especially in the face of the allegations of Casey Barrett that the only explanation for level of my performances is that I am doping. And I will tell you now what I will tell Mr. Barrett directly at the appropriate time and place—he is wrong, he has hurt me, and in doing so has also hurt the sport. His allegations are false, and as he admits, he has no proof because there is no proof. There will never be any proof because the premise of the story is false. I have never taken performance enhancing drugs and in my mind no amount of money or fame could justify selling my soul simply to win. It is not in my character to cheat–nor is it in my character to allow someone I don’t know and have never even met to attempt to destroy my reputation, apparently for his own selfish reasons. Here is something that I want for you to understand— nobody associated with this article ever contacted me or my coaches prior to it being published or even to this point in time to discuss my training methods, the hours I spend in the pool or my schedule, my diet, or the strict safeguards we have in place to ensure that I don’t mistakenly ingest any supplement or compound that is suspect or banned. In this day and age, facts apparently don’t matter to some people, but they matter to me. And they should matter to you. To my family, friends, sponsors, fellow competitors and fans I appreciate your confidence and I want for you to know that nothing means more to me than your ongoing support. I will continue to focus on swimming and my legal team will have more to say to Swimming World and Mr. Barrett at the appropriate time.

 

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