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Beijing 4×200 metre freestyle gold medallist Kylie Palmer breathed a sigh of relief this week, when the status of her on-again off-again doping violation from the 2013 world titles dissolved to an official reprimand, freeing her to compete at the Rio Olympics.
The twists and turns of the belated emergence of her masking agent positive indicate either incompetence or politics.
There were suggestions WADA forced FINA’s hand to dredge the case from closed files out of dissatisfaction with the AFL’s handling of the Essendon doping saga. But then FINA’s original decision to overlook the positive because of the “low level” of masking agent has also been questioned.
Palmer must now be relieved, possibly chastened, and likely reenergised. If she has no doubt she was innocent of intentional wrongdoing she must also be traumatised and concerned such a travesty might be repeated – flawed process in such an important jurisdiction is a nightmarish prospect.
The militant cynicism greeting all doping suspicion denials post-Lance Armstrong and Marion Jones convictions means that Palmer’s (albeit brief) time on the WADA violation list has permanently tainted her.
The ongoing appetite for interrogation of so-far clean champions (e.g. Mo Farrah and Chris Froome) shows the cynicism is only strengthening.
One hopes Palmer is exploring compensation if she can establish an entitlement from within the murky machinations of FINA and WADA.
On the up side, she may well be swimming for another relay gold in Rio if she can clear her head of all this.