The Week That Was: Doping And Controversy As Rio Olympics Creep Closer

by James Sica

04 April 2016, 09:00am

With the collegiate season coming to a close last week, the focus for the swimming world has once again shifted to this summer and the Olympic Games in Rio. With the biggest meet in swimming only months away, countries around the world are beginning their selection process and giving a clearer picture of who to have eyes on later this year. Read below to see the progress around the world as we move toward Rio!

The Week That Was #5 – New Zealand Swimmers Begin Olympic Qualification Process

Photo Courtesy: BW Media

New Zealand has begun it’s Olympic qualification process, with six total swimmers qualifying in eight different events at the conclusion of the country’s trials in Auckland. Mark Saunders, Swimming New Zealand’s head selector, had optimistic comments on the state of the nation’s swimming: “They swam fast in the morning and faster at night which is something we have not always managed to achieve in the past, and must do if we want to move from heats into semi-finals and finals.” Veteran Glenn Snyders won the 100 breaststroke to qualify for his third Olympic Games in 1:00.08, with the 28-year-old stating he is planning for a 59-low come the Games this summer. Several US-based New Zealand swimmers will compete at the Canadian trials next week, including Florida backstroker Corey Main and NCAA medallist Matt Hutchins, in hopes of joining the New Zealand roster for Rio. Eight para athletes also qualified at the Trials, with two para world records; Mary Fisher broke the 50 butterfly S11 world record (32.92), while Sophie Pascoe touched in 1:02.60 to set a record in the S10 100 butterfly.

The Week That Was #4 – FINA Acknowledges Positive Doping Tests From China

This week FINA released a statement that acknowledged the organization’s awareness of positive doping tests from Chinese swimmers. Three Chinese swimmers, Wang Lizhuo, An Jiabao and Zhao Ying all tested positive last year and recently completed all three cases. Wang and An both were issued warning from the Chinese Swimming Association, while Zhao has yet to be officially reprimanded by the national governing body. None of these three swimmers have been members of a Chinese Olympic or World Championship team. There are also reportedly three unknown swimmers who have tested positive, with the official judicial process ongoing. While FINA’s statement does very little outside of acknowledging the existence of the positive tests, it suggests the possibility of future action from the international governing body as “part of FINA’s drive to rid our sport of the scourge of doping and protect the majority of our athletes who are clean.”

The Week That Was #3 – Defending Champion Ye Shiwen Finishes 7th At Chinese Trials

Photo Courtesy: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

In a shocking development in Olympic qualifications this week, defending Olympic gold medalist in the 200 and 400 IM (and current world record holder in the 400 IM) Ye Shiwen finished a distant seventh at Chinese Nationals. Barring any change in developments from Chinese swimming, that performance should prevent her from a chance to defend her 400 IM title this summer. While she led out of preliminaries with a 4:44.17, Ye added six seconds at night to finish in 4:50.74. Both times were outside of the FINA A standard for Olympic qualification. While the Chinese have a somewhat fluid process for Olympic qualification (Sun Yang is skipping Nationals but will use his A cuts from Kazan as qualifying standards), it is hard to see a scenario where they add Ye Shiwen in this event.

The Week That Was #2 – Sarah Sjostrom Continues To Dominate 2016

Photo Courtesy: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

The Swedish phenom Sarah Sjostrom has been on a roll this year, and she continued to set herself up as a multi-title contender in Rio this week at the Swedish Open in Stockholm. Sjostrom won five events throughout the meet, posting several world best times in the process. She clipped Bronte Campbell’s 52.85 from the NSW Champs with a 52.78 to claim the #1 world ranking in the women’s 100 freestyle. Sjostrom also won the 50 freestyle in 24.22, which was just off of her top-ranked 24.17 from the Austin stop of the Arena Pro Swim Series, and the 200 freestyle in 1:54.87, which is good enough for second in the world behind Katie Ledecky. Sjostrom added another win and top ranked time in the 50 butterfly (25.15), while also just missing her own world record in the 100 butterfly (55.68). That was only .04 off of her world record from Kazan, and now gives Sjostrom the top three times ever recorded in the event. The only other woman to break 56 is American Dana Vollmer, who is in the midst of a successful comeback that could see her go head to head with the Swedish butterflier this summer. With Sjostrom’s consistency across multiple events, she is making a serious push to be the female to watch in Rio this summer.

The Week That Was #1 – French Trials Features Tough Standards Amid Touchpad Controversy

Photo Courtesy: Gian Mattia Dalberto/Lapresse

The French Olympic Trials started last week, and while such meets are often scenes of heartbreak and drama this meet took it to a new extreme. On many minds were the incredibly fast standards set by the French Swimming Federation, which were significantly faster than the FINA A cuts that most nations use as a benchmark for qualification. This created interesting scenarios where the standard to qualify for the Games was faster than the French record in the event; indeed, on the first night Lara Gangreon set a new French record in the 400 IM (4:36.61) but failed to clear the French standard for the event (4:35.40). Notable qualifications through the sixth day of the meet included Camille Lacourt (100 back – 52.97), Jeremy Stravius in the 100 free (47.97), Charlotte Bonnet in the 200 free (1:56.32), Coralie Balmy in the 400 free (4:05.38), and defending champion Flourent Manaudou in the 50 free (21.42)

Most shocking, however, was the controversy surrounding the men’s 200 freestyle, which saw defending Olympic Gold Medalist Yannick Agnel finish third due to an apparent touchpad error. Looking at the race video, it appears that Agnel finished second by roughly half a body length over Jordan Pothain. While neither Stravius, Pathian, or Agnel finished under the French standard of 1:46.06 for the event, they were well under the FINA A standard for the event. The French federation may name additional six men and six women to the team based on their discretion, but Agnel’s official third place position may relegate him to relay duty. Swimming World will continue to bring you results from the meet, including qualified swimmers and developments on Agnel’s team status, on our Event Landing Page as they develop.

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