Roar Guru
Joined January 2013
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Brad Cooper is a former Olympic swimming champion who won gold in 1972 in the 400m freestyle.
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When therapeutic use exemption (TUE) beneficiaries compete, their medical complaints are alleviated. And they get to dope. This idea of a TUE as a…
Of the many and varied diagnoses of our Rio Olympics swim team ills, perhaps the most bizarre popped up on the American swim news…
The surprise of Australia's Rio swimming disappointments hardly needs labouring, though it seems increasingly likely we will adopt an American late trials model, come…
The IOC overnight predictably chose the legal route over the populist, with its decision not to impose a blanket ban on the Russian Olympic…
No one should bet their house against Australia winning ten swimming gold medals in Rio next month - more sensible predictions range from three…
There could be no greater rejection of golf's Olympic inclusion than the withdrawal of the world's current top four. World number three Jordan Spieth…
The recent re-hiring of former Czech great Ivan Lendl marks the 11th coaching change of Andy Murray's tennis career. Though hardly a record of…
Maria Sharapova must be rueing the day she chose to go the 'classy' spin by 'fessing up in a March press conference to her…
Few informed observers doubt that that EPO is part of the performance tool kit of many athletes headed for Rio. But for most, including…
It makes me uneasy when any Doug, Dick, or Harry charges to the lead of an international running race from the gun, only to…
While Russians dominate soon-to-be-released doping positives from re-tested Beijing Olympic samples, Australian Rio Olympians may have unwittingly exposed themselves to similar future shame files.…
In an average week you come across at least one news story which either makes little sense, or leaves too many unanswered questions. This…
One of the more infantile and abused cliches in sport is the adjective, "classy". Arguably, there is nothing classy in one human trying with…
Faced with the imminent end of its magical Michael Phelps-Usain Bolt era, imploding bidder interest, a nervous Rio outlook, and disquiet about its privileged…
When wrestling was dropped from the 2020 Olympic program in February 2013, the shock was as if wrestling itself had been scuttled. After all,…
Regardless of whether Conor McGregor fights in UFC 200 after this week's controversial retirement tweet, UFC front man Dana White may want to tweak…
When the men's 50m freestyle final is swum at the Rio Olympic trials on Wednesday night, few will remember the mystique the race once…
A striking bonus of the rivers of public funding buoying recent Olympic swim stocks is champions pairing to spawn genetic super-dynasties. Witness not only…
Distance swimmer Mack Horton used to be the next big thing in Australian sport. That was only last year, when at 18, he set…
Few have crafted a sporting ascendancy as stealthily as Brisbane backstroker Emily Seebohm, though the current world number one will be keen to show…
Thanks Sheek. Yes, the 100th of a second that eventually flipped back my way viag a drug test was probably bad Olympic karma for Magnussen 40 years later with his 100th/sec loss. For the record, I’m sure ephedrine is still only permitted for medicinal purposes, and in the minutest doses. DeMont was clearly over the ergogenic (performance assisting) threshold when he competed. He didn’t really have ‘rotten luck’ – just accurate testing and a team management which arguably permitted him to perform beyond his natural capacity because of a protocol oversight. As a believer in drug testing, and as an athlete who rejected even non-banned remedies for an asthmatic condition I too suffered from, I have always been relaxed about my gold medal. DeMont is a nice guy, though he challenged the outcome for 30 years in the courts and tribunals before the IOC ruled in my favour.
I remember Waverley College, though it was my 15th school and I only stayed two weeks. I was there only because my then swimming coach thougt he was being progressive in brokering a swim scholarship when such things were still unheard of in Oz. The school had built a heated Olympic pool a few years prior, and, surprise surprise, it hadn’t automatically sprouted Olympic swimmers from every lane yet. Hence the shcolarships.
Cheers, thanks, Brad.
Swimming stinks - let's move on
Thanks Peter. The more detials unearthed from London/Manchester, the more reckless and rudderless our team seems to have been. It would be interesting to find if the Brit law applies to drugs prescribed and dispensed in Australia.
Jameswm has a good point too. Australia is now one of the lesser of the several swim powers. It only takes a few key swimmers to be off their game for an expected second place in the medal count to slip to fifth or sixth. Many other nations have funding now and heated pools are popping up all over the planet. Our glory days might be numbered.
Dawn of justice reawakens Stillnox saga
Thanks Marla for the input. There was no failed test after BJ Penn. But we’re both a little out on the Gomi test it seems. The best sources I can find say Diaz tested positive from samples taken before the Gomi fight, not after. The readings were pretty high apparently, so much so that they were judged to have been an advantage to Diaz in terms of pain thresholds. It’s always a moot point whether off-the-chart pain tolerance is a great thing. Ignore pain and you’re liable to choose a careless tactic. Maybe that explains Diaz’ ‘devil-may-care forward pressing approach.
GSP takes on Diaz at UFC 158
You guys are right. It’d be sanitised allright – for family consumption. Maybe modified rounds, modified gloves – and no elbows on the ground to turn the cage into a winery. But from memory, I think Pride had a modified round-robin contest which went down pretty well. I’m not sure if that was when Mark Hunt beat Vanderlei.
There may well be third or second tier guys involved, but lots of future champions are that level on the way up anyway. At the moment I’m not sure if some of the more talented continental Europeans are getting a good look-in – so maybe the ‘Big O” might be a foot in the door for them. (Sweden’s Gustaffsen and Iceland’s Gunner Nelson are two examples of European talent)
I’m not necessarily an advocate for MMA in the Olympics. It woudn’t bother me at all either way. (I still haven’t watched an Olympic tennis match, though I watch every grand slam final). I’m just glad people like Dana and the Furtita brothers had the vision and determination to bring it this far. At the moment I can’t think of a UFC division that isn’t dominated by a genuine super-athlete.
MMA: Coming to an Olympics near you
That’s it in a nutshell, Kate. Good rant!
Australian swimming needs a radical change in leadership
Management and behavioural issues linked to our London performance are largely a confected scapegoat for public disappointment. A hundredth of a second here, a better relay change-over there, and we’d have had a sufficient quota of gold medals for administrators to dismiss complaints as routine bickering.
There have always been instances of disappointing management, poor behaviour and missed opportunities in Australian swim teams, but the competitive outcomes were never held up as anything but a reflection of the prevailing talent base.
The current ructions are the predictable responses of publicly tenured administrators justifying their jobs. The enormous waste of money in the two investigations is what happens when the public purse and sporting jingoism get into bed. Get ready for the next round in Rio.
The one worrying aspect is the Stilnox saga. Sleeping tablet abuse is sometimes associated with a mindset readying itself for the next step on the pharmacological ladder.
Swim coach to fight amid damning reviews
Hi Johnno,
The male human brain between 18 and 25 is a work in progress – some would say regress! Recent neurobiology confirms this. Even the courts are seeing defences based on the ‘unfinished wiring’ argument. Obviously someone needs to keep a close eye on them at all times when in a team situation.
Few instances of extreme behaviour leaked into the public sphere in my day because of the WHOTSOT code (What Happens on Tour Stays on Tour). That – and the absence of ubiquitous social media (most team members didn’t even have access to a phone most of the time) – AND they didn’t have today’s obligations to sponsors, funding agencies etc, to make them think twice before pressing the buffoon button.
Your point about reducing teams to the ‘most likelies’ is one that will be tested in coming years as our swim teams come back to the field. The downside is that the ‘un-likelies’ sometimes produce a bolter. The Lithuanian girl Ruta Meilutyte who won the 100m breaststroke in London is one such bolter. Ruta was the only female on the Lithuanian swim team and was ranked 14th in the world before London. But she helped her country top Australian in the individual swimming gold medal table.
Swimming's hiccup in a slow, slow choke
Once upon a time parents’ hair turned grey if their kids contemplated a career in rock music, but now it’s sport they need to worry about. At least a few 60’s pill-popping pop stars have now survived to a ripe old age, but the same may not be the case for today’s sport drug abusers. Sport dopers are unqualified grubs. If their excuse if that everyone else does it, they should get out of sport and into a field where people care about their health and fair play.
Doping, match-fixing a worldwide problem
Good points, but I wonder if you’re a tad generous with your line ‘others may look at the charity as a cynical exercise.’ The Livestrong concept was more like a reserve PR ‘chute anticipating the inevitable implosion of team Pharm-strong. The name is so loaded with the hypcorisy of its founder that it may need to a new one. The next instalment of cycling’s darkest hour will come when administrators choose between genuine root and branch reform, or a root and branch image makeover.
Livestrong, cycling and the Armstong legacy