Masters Swimming and Illegal Supplements

Originally posted by Ion Beza This: is ideal. What happened to sprinter Kicker Vencill (U.S.) in U.S. Swimming two and a half years ago, is that he was booted from U.S. Swimming for two years and his times for a perdiod prior to the test were erased. He proved recently that the manufacturer of a supplement was misleading on the label. This only proved that himself, Kicker Vencill, was not cheating. The suspension stood. I'm familiar with Kicker's ordeal. That's why I said I was laying out what should happen. And this is one of the things that disturbs me about the concept of drug testing USMS swimmers. If this behavior is going to be typical of the review boards that are given the task of deciding whether to issue Therapeutic Use Exemptions (i.e., second-guessing the athlete and his doctors), I don't find this prospect inviting. This year, Kicker Vencill came back in U.S. Swimming meets much slower than before, he trained all along for the two year ban but the lack of competitions shows in a stark way. Kicker Vencill is suing the manufacturer, right now. That's interesting! Conventional wisdom has been that it is training - not meets - that makes a competitive swimmer fast. This would appear to prove that false. It also raises the question of whether masters swimmers are at a disadvantage due to the relative infrequency of masters meets (compared with, say, the frequency of meets that a typical kids' swim team has). Bob

Originally posted by Ion Beza This: is ideal. What happened to sprinter Kicker Vencill (U.S.) in U.S. Swimming two and a half years ago, is that he was booted from U.S. Swimming for two years and his times for a perdiod prior to the test were erased. He proved recently that the manufacturer of a supplement was misleading on the label. This only proved that himself, Kicker Vencill, was not cheating. The suspension stood. I'm familiar with Kicker's ordeal. That's why I said I was laying out what should happen. And this is one of the things that disturbs me about the concept of drug testing USMS swimmers. If this behavior is going to be typical of the review boards that are given the task of deciding whether to issue Therapeutic Use Exemptions (i.e., second-guessing the athlete and his doctors), I don't find this prospect inviting. This year, Kicker Vencill came back in U.S. Swimming meets much slower than before, he trained all along for the two year ban but the lack of competitions shows in a stark way. Kicker Vencill is suing the manufacturer, right now. That's interesting! Conventional wisdom has been that it is training - not meets - that makes a competitive swimmer fast. This would appear to prove that false. It also raises the question of whether masters swimmers are at a disadvantage due to the relative infrequency of masters meets (compared with, say, the frequency of meets that a typical kids' swim team has). Bob