Re: Masters Swimming Doping:
Rob, all valid points on which I would like to expand. The subjects of medically necessary prescriptions for Masters swimmers, some of which are or do contain banned substances AND doping has been a topic of discussion for probably 40 years now. Why USMS maintains such a low profile on this subject is because USMS and its medical committees recognized early on that with a membership age base of 17 to over 100 years old, many, many members would be taking prescribed medications for many, many reasons over short and long durations of their lifetimes, some of which would not and currently do not meet the World doping guidelines.
Yes, it was recognized back then, as now, there would some who would resort to fraud to improve their competitive stature and that there would be physicians who would supply prescriptions that enhanced performance when not medically necessary. Now compare the benefits to those who can safely participate in Master Swimming to the costs of testing for banned substances. Rob has provided some estimates and it can be assumed that these costs have nowhere to go but higher and conceivably destroying a 60,000 member program. Is this our goal, I think not. I would add that some years ago FINA, the international governing body for aquatic sports, looked at Masters aquatics and also concluded that drug testing would overwhelm their capacity to manage Masters aquatics in this area.
Yes, what goes around, comes around time and time again and I would urge the naysayers to recognize and understand that USMS is not the Olympics and that the recreational and competitive swimming with USMS is guided by what produces the best results for the most members.
Ted Haartz, Past President, USMS (1978-1981)
oh that is easy, because whenever fina is brought up it is only a big dark secret. no info from fina is ever actually written down anywhere. only if you are in "fina club" can those talk about "fina club" and you cannot be in "fina club" unless you are IN "fina club".
"fina club" makes the Illuminati/Sith/Cabal look like an open book with everything written in the down. besides Latveria must have an equal vote in "fina club", a country with 60k swimmers vs 60 cannot simply have more sway thats totally not acceptable.
Hi there, I'm a writer looking at this issue, and am wondering if you'd be interested in sharing your thoughts with me in more detail? You can contact me at ellenhardy4@gmail.com. Best, Elle
