From US News and World Report:
Asked about Leonard's comments, FINA president Julio Maglione told The Associated Press that people are free to say "stupid things" if they want.
"It's a big mistake," Maglione said of Ye's doubters. "The people that said this is crazy."
He said FINA spends $1 million to drug-test the top 30 swimmers in the world two or three times a year and "swimming is absolutely clean."
He said that he has absolutely no suspicions about Ye and that her critics are jealous because China is becoming a swimming power.
"It's best for the swimming," Maglione said. "Not only two or three countries. We have now 15 countries that take medals, 20 countries. That is important that many countries in the world take medals."
[Link]
Where is USA Swimming on this on and why are they not distancing themselves from these comments or making John Leonard apologize or resign over this international row?
13 comments:
Julio Maglione is president of FINA and all swimmers are his constituents. Therefore, he needs to attempt to protect them.
Despite your personal vendetta, John Leonard does not have the same obligation and therefore has the freedom to speak more candidly.
Oh please... John Leonard does have an obligation since he runs the certification and educational arm for USA Swimming.
He has essentially embarrassed his employer with his "free speech", has got them involved into an international row, and sullied the sport of swimming to the point where the IOC medical director, the FINA president, and even Bob Bowman have had to spanked him in public.
Watch, USA Swimming will be the next to do so as well.
Personally, I suspect it offends you more that I am right on this since the company supporting my position are people that actually guide the sport.
Julio's on crack. Brazil had 9 positive tests this year! Swimming is not 100% clean and I'm betting time will show that Ye is nt playing straight.
It doesn't offend me that you're "right", though I do find your viewpoint to be (oddly) both naive and vindictive at the same time.
It does/will offend me if US Swimming publicly admonishes Leonard. I hope their memories are long enough to remember the damage done the last time the Chinese made an improbable surge in the sport and act to nip this before it becomes a serious problem.
This is a guy who threaten to sue me, so yeah, I don't like the guy. He later admitted under oath that the accusations on the blog were correct.
I saw the articles on the internet. What I noticed was that John Leonard identifies himself as executive director of World Swimming Coaches Association, not his normal position with American Swimming Coaches Association. He is basically just a guy speaking out, and he gets ink because he has made up an impressive sounding title and corporation name. Ironically, this "new" corporation is registered in Florida as a non-profit, but is not listed on the IRS website. World Swimming Coaches Assoc is just as dubious as American Swimming Coaches Assoc. This Leonard person just makes up businesses and credentials and people quote him and sent him money. I doubt USA Swimming is his employer or has any "official" connection to him. Let the buyer beware. People like to send money to get credentials, and Leonard offers that service, albeit in a sleezy manner. There are few government resources available to protect consumers, so he will most likely function as he has well into the future.
"In a statement, USA Swimming said that "John Leonard ... is not an employee, representative or spokesperson for USA Swimming, nor is he a member of the U.S. Olympic Swim Team or a part of the U.S. delegation here in London." "
http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/olympicsnow/la-sp-on-ye-shiwen-doping-20120731,0,6458163.story
remember, innocent until proven guilty. this is not free speech; it's libel. sure, time will tell but for the time being i think Ye is clean until someone can prove otherwise.
you can have your doubts, sure, but make sure you know your stature and what you say to the public because there are implications.
Love your comment!
And...now FINA has released a statement about Ye Shiwen.
http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/World/31518.asp?q=2012-London-Olympics:-FINA-Releases-Statement-Supporting-Ye-Shiwen
Can you believe the mess that this one guy's comments has created?
John Leonard is a pathetic waste of biological matter and should be MADE to apologise to Ye Shiwen. We all know he would never do it himself, his ill placed PRIDE would never allow it. He should be made to grovel. A man at his level , knowing full well that EVERY gold medal winner is tested should hold his mouth before making his jealous, envious claims. He is a shame to his country. Yes this is what everyone in the world outside of America thinks. Sorry.
Hey anon's,
I am blogging that link you guys sent from FINA. Was that a public spanking or what?
It's been a bad year for John Leonard.
Tony
Ben,
You should come here and see what people in America think about America right now.
I live in California and every I send to the Federal Government, we get back $0.78 back. Mississippi gets $2.02 back for every dollar they send.
It cracks me up that when the Euro started Germany didn't realize they were now California.
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