The Shades of Gray in Lochte, Cox Anti-Doping Suspensions

Photo Courtesy: JD Lasica

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By David Rieder.

Nathan Adrian paused and sat back in his chair. He flashed his massive toothy smile and then laughed squeamishly. He leaned forward. Yes, he decided, he would reveal what was on his mind in the days after two prominent American swimmers had been suspended for anti-doping violations.

“To be totally honest, I think we’re watching the American team be leaders in accountability right now,” Adrian said. “I don’t think that this punishment would have necessarily been as strict if they were part of certain other federations.”

That made everyone in the room sit up a little straighter. Sure, it was no surprise that the suspensions handed out to Madisyn Cox on Friday and then Ryan Lochte on Monday were the elephant in the room during Nationals media day, but here was Adrian, the longest-tenured member of the U.S. team, giving an unusually bold statement.

Perhaps Adrian was throwing shade towards China and distance star Sun Yang, who received only a three-month ban after testing positive for trimetazidine in 2014. Cox, called “an honest, very hardworking and highly credible athlete who is not a ‘cheat’” in FINA’s report, tested positive for a substantially smaller concentration of the drug and received two years.

And then there was Lochte, banned 14 months after posting a photo to his Instagram account where he was receiving an IV—even though nothing in the IV was a banned substance. The 33-year-old would likely had gotten off with no punishment had he not shared the photo.

Nathan Adrian — Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

Adrian was asked whether he was aware that the United States Anti-Doping Agency prohibited an athlete receiving more than 100 mL in an intravenous infusion within a 12-hour period—the rule which earned Lochte his suspension.

“Yeah,” Adrian admitted, almost sheepishly. He wasn’t looking to throw Lochte under the bus, but he knew.

“ I think I go to the Olympic Training Center anywhere, on average probably two and a half times a year. And one of those times you’ve got to go through the USADA presentation,” he said. “We all hate it. But for the last 10 years I’ve been doing it and it hasn’t changed a lot.”

As far as hot takes go, no one else was particularly keen to offer any—even Lilly King, who is best known for her criticisms of Russian rival Yulia Efimova, who had previously served doping suspensions, at the 2016 Olympics.

Both King and Ryan Murphy pleaded not enough information, that they wouldn’t be making any judgments on the situations. The most controversial statement from either was Murphy claiming that he didn’t consider Lochte a “cheater.”

But later on, Murphy revealed some perfectly understandable humanity. He was most concerned with how his U.S. teammates and friends would handle extremely difficult situations.

“How does that affect him? How does that affect his wife, his kid?” Murphy said of Lochte. “It’s similar with Madisyn. How does that impact her career? Hopefully she continues to stick with the sport. But I don’t know. I don’t know if she’s going to. So I’m more thinking about the personal side of those cases.”

For anyone not in Irvine, you hear about the bans and adjust your predictions accordingly for the IM events. You think about the proper procedures for handling these hardly-straightforward anti-doping offenses. But what it’s harder to consider from hundreds of miles away is the impact on the swimmers still competing.

There’s a cloud of suspicion around their friends. That’s a hard pill to swallow for any 20-something. They don’t know for sure that Cox or Lochte will be able to bounce back in time to make a run at the 2020 Olympics—a bit depressing to think about.

Some see anti-doping violations as black and white, right vs. wrong. It’s hardly ever that simple.

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Agil Gud

5 years ago

Xoxoxo

Agil Gud

5 years ago

Xoxoxo

Agil Gud

5 years ago

Xoxoxo

Agil Gud

5 years ago

Xoxoxo

Jonna Waller

5 years ago

Bryn Waller

cynthia curran

5 years ago

Ryan Lochte is a grown man in his thirties. He has been to several Olympics already. WIth his swimming background he should be able to get a regular job out there.

Anonymous

5 years ago

Reply to cynthia curran

with all the swimming experience, and more than a decade of profesional swimming, the real question is how he never heard of the rule while every other interview showed the swimmers knowing it. I personally don’t think he’s a cheater, but not knowing, and then not asking about it is certainly his fault.

Carrie Bercot Harmon

5 years ago

Sarah Keys-Leffers