Inge de Bruijn or Inky Retires. :-( What a loss, what a career and she never tested positive. I never thought she was a dirty swimmer either but American Olympian, Amy Van Dyken, six-time gold medalist for various freestyle endeavors did.
From Swim info: “… Amy Van Dyken gracelessly evoked the question; [steroids], when she spit [a mouthful of water] into De Bruijn’s lane before the semifinals of the 50 and commented after Inky set a world record: 'If I were a man, I could swim that fast.' …” [Whoa, how crass, huh?]
Inge or Inky had no steroid bulk whatsoever and she never tested positive at any Olympics including Athens 2004 where testing was both thorough and extensive.
How ironic that it was Barry Bonds and Amy Van Dyken who testified before the grand jury in the Victor Conte/Balco steroid distribution scandal but Inky has never been summons or penalized.
From SFGate.com: “…Through Romanowski, Conte also gained access to athletes from other sports, such as six-time Olympic gold medalist Amy Van Dyken, who once described herself as “the Bill Romanowski of the swimming world,” and 1996 Olympic gold-medal-winning sprinter Chryste Gaines of San Leandro, a Stanford graduate who last year was charged by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency with a BALCO- related doping offense. …"
Check out the announcement on Timed Finals: [Link]
Check out this wiki link for a run down on Inky's accomplishments: [Link]
2 comments:
The reality is that they both probably doped.
Both dropped time and established themselves amongst the top relatively late in swimmer years.
Van Dyken being on BALCO's lists is at minimum suspicious.
You say that Inge doesn't have "steroid bulk" but she was highly muscular to a degree that I would say is not possible for a woman to achieve naturally unless she is a serious body builder. Plus there have been athletes who have tested positive for steroids and/or other PEDs, who you wouldn't say are bulky. Think cyclists, tennis players like Petr Korda.
There are designer steroids and PEDs out there which are not able to be detected using current testing methods so not failing a test means little. Marion Jones is an example of this.
Van Dyken's attitude (spitting into de Bruijn's lane) was appalling but remember that de Bruijn was kicked off the Netherlands Olympic team before Atlanta for a "poor attitude". These people are some of the most competitive in the world ..
I think Van Dyken's accusations were trying to discredit as well as project her own issues onto her opponent.
When I wrote this post I was rather naive. Yes, a lot has happened in the past three years from designer PEDs to HGH.
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