At the 2016 US Aquatics Sports annual convention USA Swimming awarded Travis Tygart with the USA Swimming award. Tygard wasn’t there but Edwin Moses (yes that Edwin Moses 2 time Olympic gold medalist in the 400M hurdles, world record holder, undefeated in 122 consecutive championship races , …) his USADA board chair was there to accept on his behalf. Great acceptance speech!
Anyway… While there were some hallway conversations around doping control, there wasn’t much in the way of meaningful action taken by the USMS House of Delegates. So for those who are passionate about this I suggest you contact your LMSC leadership to make your feelings known.
And to the suggested …the use of performance enhancing drugs and supplements as defined by WADA, unless prescribed by a licensed physician for the treatment of a medical condition, is strictly prohibited.
I’ve got a couple of concerns;
First I believe the “for the treatment of a medical condition” is somewhat different than the WADA TUE so I’m not sure we could do this if we sign on with WADA/USDADA. And trying to develop a standalone doping control protocol/agency has its own world of obstacles.
Second, the shift from competition only to general membership health and safety is a quantum shift in both the nature and scope of testing. As suggested testing is not a precursor to membership and not related specifically to competition. By my rough estimate this takes the cost of the program from from the hundreds of thousands of dollars to the millions of dollars. I was told that it would cost around $25,000 per sanctioned event to conduct USADA certified doping control. This would not include the necessary administration costs associated with a doping control program. Expanding this from the 10-15 tests conducted per event to 65,000 tests would cost each member $200 or more in annual membership dues. And I’m willing to make the assumption that the cost and mandatory drug testing will adversely impact membership.
I’m fully behind the USMS mission to promote health, wellness, fitness and competition for adults through swimming, but I also realize the need to make Masters Swimming economically feasible so we can reach out to more adults.
At the 2016 US Aquatics Sports annual convention USA Swimming awarded Travis Tygart with the USA Swimming award. Tygard wasn’t there but Edwin Moses (yes that Edwin Moses 2 time Olympic gold medalist in the 400M hurdles, world record holder, undefeated in 122 consecutive championship races , …) his USADA board chair was there to accept on his behalf. Great acceptance speech!
Anyway… While there were some hallway conversations around doping control, there wasn’t much in the way of meaningful action taken by the USMS House of Delegates. So for those who are passionate about this I suggest you contact your LMSC leadership to make your feelings known.
And to the suggested …the use of performance enhancing drugs and supplements as defined by WADA, unless prescribed by a licensed physician for the treatment of a medical condition, is strictly prohibited.
I’ve got a couple of concerns;
First I believe the “for the treatment of a medical condition” is somewhat different than the WADA TUE so I’m not sure we could do this if we sign on with WADA/USDADA. And trying to develop a standalone doping control protocol/agency has its own world of obstacles.
Second, the shift from competition only to general membership health and safety is a quantum shift in both the nature and scope of testing. As suggested testing is not a precursor to membership and not related specifically to competition. By my rough estimate this takes the cost of the program from from the hundreds of thousands of dollars to the millions of dollars. I was told that it would cost around $25,000 per sanctioned event to conduct USADA certified doping control. This would not include the necessary administration costs associated with a doping control program. Expanding this from the 10-15 tests conducted per event to 65,000 tests would cost each member $200 or more in annual membership dues. And I’m willing to make the assumption that the cost and mandatory drug testing will adversely impact membership.
I’m fully behind the USMS mission to promote health, wellness, fitness and competition for adults through swimming, but I also realize the need to make Masters Swimming economically feasible so we can reach out to more adults.
