Aussie gold medallist fails doping test
Olympic gold medallist Kylie Palmer has been provisionally suspended for an alleged doping offence, forcing her off the Australian team for next month’s world swimming championships in Russia.
The Queensland freestyle star tested positive to a “minute trace of a prohibited substance” at the 2013 world championships in Barcelona, Swimming Australia (SA) said in a statement on Thursday.
Swimming governing body FINA only notified Palmer and SA of the alleged breach nearly two years later, in April this year, after which the national body advised ASADA.
SA said “recent” testing of her B sample came back positive.
Palmer, who won a 4x200m relay silver medal at those 2013 world titles, has accepted a provisional suspension under FINA’s doping code which will operate until the world body’s doping tribunal delivers a final determination.
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Palmer said in a statement she has no idea how the banned substance – which SA did not name – came into her system, and categorically denied knowingly taking any prohibited substance in Barcelona in July 2013 or at any other time in her career.
“Kylie is entitled to a fair and due process under FINA’s Doping Code,” Swimming Australia said.
“This includes ensuring that proper processes are applied to every person affected by this matter.
“Swimming Australia has a duty of care to ensure that we provide Kylie and her family with ongoing support.
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“The health and welfare of Kylie and her teammates is important to Swimming Australia and we will ensure they have the necessary personal and professional support.”
Nearly two years is an unusually long time between an alleged doping breach and FINA’s move to notify the athlete it concerns.
Disgraced South Korean swim star Park Tae-Hwan was informed six months after he tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid at an out-of-competition control before the Asian Games on September 3 last year.
Palmer first found the spotlight when she finished fifth in the 400m freestyle at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
She followed that with a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the 4x200m freestyle relay with Stephanie Rice, Bronte Barratt and Linda MacKenzie and backed that up with a silver in the same event at London 2012.
Sam Flint was the last Australian swimmer to be banned for doping, copping a two-year sanction in March 2014 after testing positive to the substance methylhexaneamine.
– AAP
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