A position statement can't hurt. Want to test record setters? Fine. How are you going to govern the folks in the rest of the world who are setting records?
Want to get on your high horse and be "natural." So be it. I know the prescriptions I take DO improve my quality of life. I started them BEFORE I joined USMS. Don't judge the majority of us that are swimming to stay fit, and taking prescriptions to get out of bed in the morning. So 1 or 2, maybe a handful of people are "cheating." Just like in age group swimming when someone would complain to the coach that someone was cheating on a set, the reply was always "they're only hurting themselves."
I don't think doping in competition is anything at all like age groupers cheating on a set. The former can make you faster in competition while the latter will likely make you slower, or at least provide a lesser training benefit than those doing the set as prescribed. While there might not be any financial gains for winning a USMS National Championship or setting a Master's WR (or maybe there could be, I do see a number of USMS'ers on advertisements for things like P2Life) if somebody is winning by way of cheating, that is effectively hurting the person who finished behind them.
A position statement can't hurt. Want to test record setters? Fine. How are you going to govern the folks in the rest of the world who are setting records?
Want to get on your high horse and be "natural." So be it. I know the prescriptions I take DO improve my quality of life. I started them BEFORE I joined USMS. Don't judge the majority of us that are swimming to stay fit, and taking prescriptions to get out of bed in the morning. So 1 or 2, maybe a handful of people are "cheating." Just like in age group swimming when someone would complain to the coach that someone was cheating on a set, the reply was always "they're only hurting themselves."
I don't think doping in competition is anything at all like age groupers cheating on a set. The former can make you faster in competition while the latter will likely make you slower, or at least provide a lesser training benefit than those doing the set as prescribed. While there might not be any financial gains for winning a USMS National Championship or setting a Master's WR (or maybe there could be, I do see a number of USMS'ers on advertisements for things like P2Life) if somebody is winning by way of cheating, that is effectively hurting the person who finished behind them.
