Swimming World Talks to Athlete’s Representative About Drug Testing Process

PHOENIX, Arizona, September 2. OVER the coming week, Swimming World will provide an in-depth look into some of the drug testing procedures based on an interview with someone in a unique spot to understand the variables involved from an athlete's point of view.

With Jessica Hardy's positive test, a lot of conversation has been had about the drug testing process. However, with a bunch of new fans coming into the sport based on the success of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it would be unfair to expect everyone reading to understand the drug testing protocols.

Trent Staley, the athlete's representative on the Board of Directors of USA Swimming, not only has encountered the process as an athlete himself, he also understands the underpinnings involved from an insider's viewpoint.

Over the next week, Staley will help us look into four separate areas of the drug testing process. Today, we start with what a swimmer can expect of an in-competition sample acquisition. The next installment will look at what happens during an out-of-competition sample. We will also talk to Staley about what happens to the samples after they are taken up until a positive test occurs. The final installment will be a discussion of what happens after an A sample turns up positive.

[Jason Marsteller, Swimming World] Trent, thanks for taking the time to help us educate our readership on the various mechanics of drug testing in the sport. Let's start off with what happens during an actual competition. How is an athlete chosen to be tested?

[Trent Staley] What is happening Jason? Well I haven't had the "pleasure" of one of these tests for about 2.5 years, when I stopped swimming, but I think I can give you a pretty good overview.

There are really two ways that you can get an in-competition test and both are due to your finish. This process is created to ensure that tests are objective and are not directed at any specific individual as athletes are tested based on finishes not on specific names and are determined prior to the start of the race.

To better explain this, let's use a made-up race and meet so that everyone is clear we are not hinting at anything or anyone in the sport. How about the final of the men's 350 fly at the Marsteller Invite in Boise, Idaho?

Before the race is swum in our made up world, the testers have already established that two swimmers will be tested. The first-place finisher and randomly, the fifth-place finisher.

[Jason Marsteller, Swimming World] Ok, so we know that there is some sort of randomness involved in selecting who gets tested, but what happens next?

[Trent Staley] Two observers would be dispatched to that race. They would then wait behind the timers to see which swimmers end up finishing in first and fifth, as selected ahead of the race. For our example, let's say that lane 7 had some outside smoke and finished first, while lane 8 was pulled along for fifth.

Once these swimmers are out of the pool, they are notified by their observer that they have been selected for testing. Let's follow the first-place finisher, even though the exact same process will simultaneously be done with the fifth-place finisher. The first-place finisher, who we will call Aiden, once notified that he has been selected, must sign a form acknowledging that he knows his rights and that he has the freedom to warm down before checking in to provide his test. (Respect for the athlete's needs and rights are front and center throughout the process, so the sample does not need to be given immediately.)

Aiden knows he needs to warm down from his grueling swim, so he checks in with his coach then heads for the warm down pool for at least 20 minutes of lactate flushing – all the while, his observer follows him around the pool deck. Really, it is kind of like a puppy dog in a Norman Rockwell print the way the observer is always a step or two behind his charge.

I actually saw a swimmer on our Olympic team almost leave a meet this summer with his observer because he had forgotten that the guy was even there – but that isn't normal.

[Jason Marsteller, Swimming World] Once the swimmer is done taking care of his competitive business, what is the process for acquiring the actual test sample?

[Trent Staley] After warm down, Aiden grabs some clothes and personal identification (passport, driver's license, etc.) and reports to the testing area along with the observer. The testing area is usually set up somewhere with privacy and with close access to the restroom.

Once at the testing area, the observer signs Aiden in and to the testing officials and is then either free to leave or assigned to a new race. Aiden must then prove his identity with his driver's license and select which package of testing materials he would like. All are the same other than their serial number. By allowing the athlete to select his materials, it adds an extra level of transparency to the process. More forms are then presented to Aiden to fill out, which include information about the meet, the race and all the vital stats including his serial number as Aiden's name will not be on his test when it gets to the lab. Usually there are bottles of water and sports drinks available to help a dehydrated or scared athlete produce some pee.

Even seasoned vets sometimes struggle under the pressure, but Aiden has been pounding fluids all day and is ready to rumble.

This is when the personal, and sometimes embarrassing, stuff starts.

Aiden would be paired with a male tester, while a female swimmer would have a female tester.

With urine capturing materials in hand, our new duo of Aiden and tester heads to the restroom where the Aiden opens up the packaging and produces a plastic cup, which he then pees into with the tester watching completely to make sure that the urine is really coming from the Aiden's body and not from some other apparatus.

I know, you are thinking gross, but even more gross is that after doing it a few times it stops even feeling weird.

Anyway, once there is enough urine in the cup, Aiden will put a "sippy top" on it as a lid and then follow the tester out to a table where all the official work is done. The big thing now is distributing the sample into two glass containers each marked with the serial number on all the rest of Aiden's supplies.

This creates what we hear called the "A" and the "B" samples. The "A" is the one that is tested and, if in the case of a positive, the "B" is ready for testing as well but we can get to that later. After the sample has been split, Aiden screws air tight tops on the containers, packages them up, signs the final forms for delivery to the lab and is ready to move on with his day.

[Jason Marsteller, Swimming World] Thanks, Trent. We'll get back to you to talk about how out-of-competition testing works later this week.

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