{"id":49158,"date":"2014-02-04T07:19:45","date_gmt":"2014-02-04T14:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/?p=49158"},"modified":"2016-04-27T16:32:03","modified_gmt":"2016-04-27T23:32:03","slug":"february-sw-magazine-worldwide-response-to-open-letter-to-fina-to-correct-wrongs-from-ddr-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/february-sw-magazine-worldwide-response-to-open-letter-to-fina-to-correct-wrongs-from-ddr-era\/","title":{"rendered":" February SW Magazine<\/font> Worldwide Response to Open Letter to FINA to Correct Wrongs From DDR Era"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX, Arizona, February 4. THE February issue of Swimming World Magazine<\/i> is now available for download to Total Access Subscribers!<\/a><\/p>\n

On page 8 of the February Swimming World Magazine<\/i>, Publisher Brent Rutemiller shares some of the comments<\/a> from around the world expressing support of the Open Letter to FINA<\/a>. We offer the contents of this page to our readers.<\/p>\n

In the January issue <\/a>of Swimming World Magazine<\/i>, we published an open letter to FINA asking it to recognize all Olympic victims during the DDR era. We also solicited the worldwide swimming community to join our request.<\/p>\n

Signatures and comments came from around the world asking FINA to do the right thing.<\/p>\n

Here are a few of the most impactful comments:
\n\u201cAs a former Olympic swimmer (1972), I feel this would be a wonderful and fair way to put a line under the past and to show humanity and compassion to all \u2018victims\u2019 of this sad time in our sport.\u201d<\/i> \u2014Diana Nash, UK<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cI was an announcer for ABC during the First World Swimming Championships in Belgrade and then during the Montreal Olympics\u2014it was a sad time for the sport and for the victims on both sides of this issue. I also helped lobby for the establishment of WADA and USADA as a consultant to President Clinton\u2019s Drug Czar General McAffrey. It is time to do the right thing and lead the way for other federations to follow. I love sport and swimming. We need to do what is right.\u201d<\/i> \u2014Donna de Varona, USA<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly believe that victims are helped when the results (medals, records, etc.) obtained through deceit by their country and federation are no longer recognized. It\u2019s like a burglar giving back what he has stolen!\u201d<\/i> \u2014Hans Elzerman, Netherlands<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThe IOC should be consistent; it has been disqualifying Olympic athletes for many Olympiads for using illegal drugs. There is more than enough legal evidence available. This has been widely reported in German media, and there have been numerous court cases where this information has been made public. The entire private records of Dr. Lothar Kipke of the DhFK Leipzig were seized in his home following the collapse of the GDR, and in his carefully documented notebooks, the information is all there, in terms of days, dates, dosages, athletes. How much more evidence is needed?\u201d<\/i> \u2014Andrew Strenk, USA<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cI, too, was a member of the \u201972 and \u201976 Olympic team as a diver. The injustices need to be corrected as best possible, and this is one way to act to do so.\u201d \u2014Cynthia Potter, USA<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI was the information officer for Canada\u2019s swim team at the 1976 Olympic Games, saw the performances first-hand, and share the outrage for the Canadian swimmers who were wrongfully denied at least several medals, possibly gold. As a result, for many years, Canada held the dubious distinction, unfairly, of being the only host nation not to win an Olympic gold medal.\u201d \u2014Sheila Robertson, Canada<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cOlympic glory should know no statute of limitations. Time passed should not be an excuse to deny those wronged the opportunity to taste that glory. I support the idea of duplicate medals and the formal acknowledgement that the IOC\u2019s inability to monitor this widespread conspiracy allowed it to occur in the first place.\u201d \u2014Marc Carman, USA<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot re-write history, but by acknowledging it, we can change the present and the future.\u201d<\/i> \u2014James Nickoloff, USA<\/b><\/p>\n

These are only a few of the comments that have been pouring in every 10 minutes from countries such as Russia, Philippines, Ireland, India, Korea, Brazil, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Uganda, Australia and Germany. We continue to ask athletes, coaches, parents, officials and governing bodies to join our efforts by signing the petition at Change.org<\/a>
\nBrent T. Rutemiller<\/b>
\nPublisher of Swimming World Magazine<\/i><\/p>\n

You can read this issue today. Not a Total Access Subscriber? A Swimming World Magazine.<\/i> Subscription <\/a> gives you unlimited access to all online content on SwimmingWorld.com and access to all of the back issues of Swimming World Magazine<\/i> dating back to 1960! Purchase your Total Access Subscription TODAY! <\/a><\/p>\n