BERKELEY, April 13. ANTHONY Ervin, 22, one of the greatest natural sprint talents ever to don a swim suit, retired officially several months ago, his coaches Nort Thornton and Mike Bottom confirmed recently.
Ervin has turned in to FINA and USA Swimming all of the paperwork needed to remove himself from the list of world-class swimmers subject to drug testing, making his retirement official.
Ervin rocketed to stardom after entering UC Berkeley in the Fall of 1999 as an unheralded freshman, winning NCAA titles in the 50 and 100 yard freestyle. At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, he tied Gary Hall, Jr., for the gold medal in the 50m free and earned a silver medal as a member of the USA's 4x100 meter freestyle relay.
A man of many talents, Ervin has not been idle in the year since he has competed. To find out what he's been doing, check out the May issue of Swimming World magazine.
Parents
Former Member
Originally posted by nyswim
Ervin has turned in to FINA and USA Swimming all of the paperwork needed to remove himself from the list of world-class swimmers subject to drug testing, making his retirement official.
This statement sparked my interest in how drug testing of world-class swimmers actually works, so I probed the FINA site for more information.
It appears that, in addition to random testing of athletes during competitions and mandatory testing whenever new records are set, they are also allowed to conduct random testing of athletes between competions. The wording of the rules seems to indicate that they could literally show up at your home at 3 in the morning or at your work place in the middle of the work day wanting to do an unannounced drug test, though some of the other statements in the rules would only make sense if they restricted their testing to, e.g., when you are at the pool for your scheduled workouts.
But now for the point which I find strange: The rules say that if someone retires, as Ervin has, but later wants to go back into competition, they must give notice of this and then wait 9 months before they actually start competing. But I see no comparable requirement concerning new competitors.
On the one hand, it would seem a bit weird if somebody started showing up at USA Swimming meets and turning in the fastest times in the country, but was barred from Olympic trials because the drug testers hadn't known about them long enough. But, on the other hand, it would seem rather unfair to say that a retired world-class swimmer has to be subject to random testing for 9 months before they resume competition, but a new world-class swimmer doesn't.
Does anybody know how this actually works?
Bob
Originally posted by nyswim
Ervin has turned in to FINA and USA Swimming all of the paperwork needed to remove himself from the list of world-class swimmers subject to drug testing, making his retirement official.
This statement sparked my interest in how drug testing of world-class swimmers actually works, so I probed the FINA site for more information.
It appears that, in addition to random testing of athletes during competitions and mandatory testing whenever new records are set, they are also allowed to conduct random testing of athletes between competions. The wording of the rules seems to indicate that they could literally show up at your home at 3 in the morning or at your work place in the middle of the work day wanting to do an unannounced drug test, though some of the other statements in the rules would only make sense if they restricted their testing to, e.g., when you are at the pool for your scheduled workouts.
But now for the point which I find strange: The rules say that if someone retires, as Ervin has, but later wants to go back into competition, they must give notice of this and then wait 9 months before they actually start competing. But I see no comparable requirement concerning new competitors.
On the one hand, it would seem a bit weird if somebody started showing up at USA Swimming meets and turning in the fastest times in the country, but was barred from Olympic trials because the drug testers hadn't known about them long enough. But, on the other hand, it would seem rather unfair to say that a retired world-class swimmer has to be subject to random testing for 9 months before they resume competition, but a new world-class swimmer doesn't.
Does anybody know how this actually works?
Bob
