Another swimmer bites the dust. She says its from her ovarian disease . . . . . pay no attention to the synthetic qualities of testosterone that was reported to be found in her sample. Don't know if I'd want to arm "wrastle" this woman.
grg51.typepad.com/.../swimmer-gusmoa-.html
"Brazilian swimmer Rebeca Gusmoa suspended for steroids
She won 2 Pan Am Games gold medals, plus a silver and a bronze. She looks like the Incredible Hulk. And, she used synthetic testosterone. Check out her photos; which is the off-cycle?
Summing governing body FINA announced the doping suspensions of Brazil's Rebeca Gusmao. The International Herald carries the story."
John,
You make a great point. But I do agree with Matt that this sends a pretty negative "you're not important" message to the rest of the field.
I can think of a few examples of why test more than the top 8...
1 - relays. Lets say 8 countries are represented by one swimmer each in the top 8. one country has three swimmers ranked 9,10 and 11, and all with very close to top 8 times. They win the gold medal. #11 is juiced. I guess this is where testing the top 8 swimmers for each nation come into play.
2 - preventative maintenence. You can bet the Tour de France was embarassed to dethrone a the tour winner and kick out the main frontrunners mid-race in two successive years due to doping. Catch the guy/gal on his/her way up the ladder so you don't have the embarassment of having to pull them off the Olympic medal stand.
3 - continuous leveling of the playing field. Lets say all I wanted to do was be the best 500 freestyler in NCAA Div II. I could juice my way to the top in Div II. Sure, I'd probably make a national cut in the 400 LCM Free at some point, but since there's all those Div I guys ahead of me at nationals, they all get tested and I, finishing a paltry 13th or whatever, get off scott free. And still have my Division II championship crown.
John,
You make a great point. But I do agree with Matt that this sends a pretty negative "you're not important" message to the rest of the field.
I can think of a few examples of why test more than the top 8...
1 - relays. Lets say 8 countries are represented by one swimmer each in the top 8. one country has three swimmers ranked 9,10 and 11, and all with very close to top 8 times. They win the gold medal. #11 is juiced. I guess this is where testing the top 8 swimmers for each nation come into play.
2 - preventative maintenence. You can bet the Tour de France was embarassed to dethrone a the tour winner and kick out the main frontrunners mid-race in two successive years due to doping. Catch the guy/gal on his/her way up the ladder so you don't have the embarassment of having to pull them off the Olympic medal stand.
3 - continuous leveling of the playing field. Lets say all I wanted to do was be the best 500 freestyler in NCAA Div II. I could juice my way to the top in Div II. Sure, I'd probably make a national cut in the 400 LCM Free at some point, but since there's all those Div I guys ahead of me at nationals, they all get tested and I, finishing a paltry 13th or whatever, get off scott free. And still have my Division II championship crown.
