Swimming Blogs - Chris DeSantis

Yesterday the news dropped into the American swimming community like a megaton bomb: Jessica Hardy had tested positive for a banned substance and been removed from the Olympic squad. In following the discussion over the past twenty four hours, a lot of it has focused on what she tested positive for, discussions whether she is guilty, and the possibility of replacement swimmers. It is the last topic I wish to address, one which I think is the most egregious part of this.

When Jessica Hardy competed at our Olympic trials aided by a banned substance, she prevented two swimmers from making the Olympic team, Tara Kirk and Lara Jackson. For Kirk, one of the premier 100 breaststrokers in the world who had been training well beyond her college graduation for this opportunity, the loss by a mere 1/100th may have been a career-ender. Her coach, Lea Maurer, addressed the possibility in an interview that never made it to the site. At the time it struck me as incredibly sad that a single race in Omaha could be the end of the a swimmers career. Tara had swum a poor 100 breaststroke for her, a second off her best, and been left on the team. True, she still had the 200 breaststroke remaining, but she swam well off her best in that event and appeared to be mentally through for the meet.

I can't imagine how Tara is dealing with the news today. To know that her crushing loss came at the hands of someone that has now been found guilty of cheating makes it all the worse. Perhaps the person who can come closest to knowing how she feels is Lara Jackson, the third place finisher again by mere hundredths in the 50 free. Lara may not have been considered a favorite to make the team like Kirk, but she was certainly a contender and had swum much faster than her final time in the heats. In Beijing she would also be in the mix for medals.

Alas it seems like there are some draconian rules in place to prevent this from happening. We are being told that it is past the deadline to add any swimmers to the Olympic roster. There appears to be no recourse outside of adding the late addition Kara Lynn Joyce in the 50 and the 200 qualifier Rebecca Soni in the 100 breaststroke. Two fine representatives to be sure but not the rightful replacements.

Swimming has had its fair share of drug scandals, each with its career-crushing victim. Rick DeMont's gold medal stolen by lack of documentation in 1972, Michelle Smith's too good to be true 1996 games, and the infamous GDR and Chinese squads. Today Jessica Hardy added another chapter to that book. For Jackson and Kirk, I'm sure its a chapter they'd rather not be a part of.