Streamlined News

PHOENIX, Arizona, October 6. THE Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled yesterday that the International Olympic Committee’s controversial Rule 45, which kept doping offenders out of two successive Olympics if they were served with a ban lasting more than six months, is now invalid.

Now, anyone who serves a suspension for more than six months will not have to sit out of the Olympics, unless the suspension falls during the dates of the Games, or during their country’s Olympic Trials. With this ruling, about a dozen aquatic sport athletes now get the chance to compete at the Olympics, or at least their Olympic Trials. The only American given this reprieve is diver Harrison Jones, who was given a year-long suspension last April when he tested positive for marijuana. USA Diving will not hold its Olympic Trials until next June, so Jones will get the chance to earn a trip to London. Jessica Hardy was one of the athletes initially affected by Rule 45 after her positive test at the 2008 Olympic Trials, but her legal team successfully got her cleared of Rule 45. LaShawn Merritt, the Olympic champion in the 400 hurdles, is another high-profile athlete eligible to compete in the Olympics with this ruling. The US Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee made the joint appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The FINA swimming world cup begins tomorrow in Dubai with the first of seven meets to determine who gets the overall $100,000 grand prize for men and women. Last year, it was Thiago Pereira of Brazil and Sweden’s Therese Alshammar who won the big checks, and we’re anxious to see who the winners will be this year. But probably the biggest stories of the series will be the first international competitions of two Australian swimming greats making their comebacks. Libby Trickett will swim in the Stockholm meet, which takes place next weekend, and Ian Thorpe will make his long-awaited return in Singapore in early November. As for the meet beginning tomorrow in Dubai, not many top swimmers are showing up. Dutch sprinters Marleen Veldhuis and Ranomi Kromowidjojo will headline the women’s sprint freestyle and butterfly races. South African Chad Le Clos shows up on the roster in the butterfly and IM events and could win them handily. Many events have so few participants that they will be swum as timed finals. We will have prelims and finals recaps from Dubai available each day on swimmingworld.com.

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