Would someone educate the rest of us on how countries "roll up" at the Olympic level? I ask because if Lance wants to race so badly, what's to stop him from simply leaving the US with his "management team"? Would he show up representing some country on another continent? Not necessarily the Olympics, but just asking, to go in the back door, so to speak?
I have no idea what the legalities are between USMS and FINA, but it is distressing to think that doping authorities have anything to do with Masters swimming.
Lance withdrew voluntarily, but what would USMS have done if he hadn't.
Personally I would hope they would let him swim. Masters swimming should be about inclusiveness.
I think this is a total red herring. If FINA is the governing body for swimming, they're the governing body for swimming. The fact they don't recognize SCY competition as far as records, etc. doesn't mean it's outside their purview as the governing body for swimming.
While I agree with the over sentiment that you expressed here, we do need to remember that usms has diverted from following FINA in the past.
If we say "FINA is the governing body for swimming", then usms needs to get rid of the 18-24 age group. According to FINA, master's swimming starts at age 25, not 18. Since FINA governs the sport, then we must follow them. Second, when FINA but the tech suit ban into effect, everyone else followed the deadline or before the date. USMS decided to allow suits until June 1. Again, FINA makes the rules, but usms didn't follow them.
Personally, I say let him swim yards. What harm can he do to anyone at this point? Society has forgiven other criminals in the past, why not forgive one more? Afterall, we seem to have short attention span these days.
What's the worst that can happen, he wins and gets an age group record? It's not like him swimming with us will ruin any livelihoods. Last time I checked, we're all amateurs, we as individuals don't have sponsorships. He wouldn't be hurting anyone. If anything, it'll generate interest for USMS, and get more people to swim. I know FINA would frown upon Olympians swimming against known dopers in Masters Swimming, but honestly, that's FINA's problem and a technicality they need to fix, not USMS. USMS doesn't drug test people, but I guarantee you that in the realm of swimmers ranging from 19 to 100 at varying degrees of health, someone at any given meet is on some sort of perscription medication that FINA bans. If FINA has a problem with that, they should either change their rule or stop world-class swimmers from competing against the weekend warriors. Let the man swim.
WELCOME SirCornMan, your inaugural post #1! I agree with just about everything you said!
But to directly answer your question, "What's the worst that can happen?" It would be to swim an event with Lance on your team then get DQ'd say.....months later!!!!
www.laketravisrelay.com/index.html
PS - they should give a secondary award, and everyone votes on the best relay names.
I have no love for FINA. Between the tech suit debacle and the breaststroke/dolphin kick abomination,they have generally been a bunch of gutless :censor: .This time though,I think they are right.LA is banned from all WADA sanctioned groups.Ultimately USMS falls under FINA which is a WADA signer.FINA didn't care if USMS allowed tech suits in SCY meets.They do care about this,so USMS really had no choice if they want to stay a member of FINA.
As I said though,I think FINA was right.LA was banned from competition and USMS is part of the international group of masters swimming that follows FINA.If we are to have credibility on the international stage I think banning LA is the right thing to do.If he wants to swim summer league or with some other group that has no international standing then I don't care,but I care about the image USMS projects and I think that image should include good sportsmanship,not "anything goes."
The public perception appeared to be that Lance was unable to compete in any other sports but "swimming" would take him and as a result, people were questioning whether it is a clean sport. The public don't see the distinction between swimming and masters swimming and drew conclusions like, "he'll be aiming for Rio".
I think this is partly because, unlike running/triathlon/cycling in the US, the sport of swimming divides age groupers/elites and masters into separately governed entities (USA and USMS). Also unlike the aforementioned sports, masters swimmers don't get any $$$ from setting WRs, winning events, etc. Doesn't the winning master at the Boston Marathon rake in $50,000?
USMS has had other swimmers competing that previously had been busted for drugs. Angel Martino and Vlad Pleshenko come to mind.
I think this is partly because, unlike running/triathlon/cycling in the US, the sport of swimming divides age groupers/elites and masters into separately governed entities (USA and USMS).
And even in swimming, in most other countries there is just one NGB to handle all of swimming, from kids to 100-year-olds.
competing that previously had been busted for drugs. Angel Martino and Vlad Pleshenko come to mind.
And those (and others) were busted for cheating in swimming. But they didn't receive lifetime bans.
Quite honestly I think FINA stepping in here is just WADA/USADA trying to pressure LA to name names for cycling. They couldn't care less about the integrity of masters swimming. We USMS members do, which is why I think the decision should have been ours to make. I'm in the "don't worry, be happy, let him swim" camp but if his participating upsets a lot of USMS folk then I am perfectly content to abide by the majority feeling.
