By M. Duncan Scott<\/p>\n
PHOENIX, Ariz., August 10. AUSTRALIAN star Ian Thorpe showed up just a few days ago on television for an interview in his swimming-savvy country, Fox Sports \u2013 Australia reported. <\/p>\n
"For anyone to think that they're swimming at a clean Olympic Games, they'd be naive," Thorpe said on Channel 7 news. "Of course I've swum against athletes that have been on drugs," he said. He didn\u2019t suggest any names, or even suggest nations that might be offenders. <\/p>\n
I suspect he might have been able to skate by without too much backlash had he stopped there. After all, in a sport that has seen huge drug scandals in international competition, such comments are hardly even newsworthy except for the fact they were uttered by a rock-star type figure in Australian sport and global aquatics. They weren\u2019t even significantly picked up in the U.S. press, even during this quadrennial blip when swimming receives increased coverage. It seems obvious that it was his next comment that got him in hot water.<\/p>\n
He predicted it was "most likely" he would swim against drugged athletes again. "Having a kind of universal testing system that's consistent – we don't have that yet," Thorpe said. <\/p>\n
The reaction to Thorpe\u2019s comment was quick and caustic. \u201cFINA strongly condemns such attitudes as it is not acceptable that all the swimmers, including Thorpe's teammates, participating at the Olympic Games are accused, without any sustainable evidence that they may 'have been on drugs'," the organization said. FINA also claimed it had been at the forefront of the fight against drugs in cooperation with the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA), with significant results.\u201d FINA said Thorpe\u2019s comments were to be \u201cregretted.\u201d <\/p>\n
Just when did Thorpe accuse all swimming Olympians of being doped? FINA\u2019s over-reaction would logically have to mean Thorpe was accusing himself as well. Indeed, all that it would take for Thorpe\u2019s statement to be correct would be for one swimmer to cheat, and he or she wouldn\u2019t even necessarily have to be caught for the sense of Thorpe\u2019s words to be true. <\/p>\n
At about the same time as FINA was responding to Thorpe, Australia\u2019s other male freestyle world record-holder, Grant Hackett, backed up Thorpe\u2019s position in comments to the press as he left Australia to begin the trek to Athens. <\/p>\n
He was actually much more specific in his commentary about the need for better testing protocols and more money to support them. He specifically agreed with Thorpe\u2019s comments that they had competed against cheaters in previous meets, would likely do so again and that no Olympic Games have been \u201c100 percent clean.\u201d He even used the same term, \u201cna\u00efve,\u201d in describing those who think otherwise. <\/p>\n
"Swimming is noted for how clean and gentleman-like it is," Hackett said. "I'd like to continue that tradition, and I think the way to continue that is to advance drug testing, and to have governing bodies and governments put more money and more time into getting ahead of the drug cheats instead of the reverse, as the situation is right now."<\/p>\n
Hackett didn\u2019t get the same press release response from FINA that Thorpe did. Despite his skills and record, he\u2019s not as big a name as Thorpe. He did, however, get the same greeting as Thorpe on arrival at their training camp in Germany. Thorpe and Hackett were among 12 members of Australia\u2019s 43 member swim squad required to give urine samples before they could even unpack at their hotels. <\/p>\n