By pursuing the inept project management skills of both the USOC and USA Swimming, it is my belief that not only will Tara Kirk get the compensation that she deserves but athletes in years to come will do much better when it's time to preform at the Olympic level. I spoke with friends connected to SCAQ and they have convinced me that peaking for the race of your life five weeks before Olympics is folly, fatiguing and could have caused the less than optimum performances of such athletes as Kate Ziegler and "super-fish" Katie Hoff. (Sigh.)A Kirk lawsuit will also address those other swimmers besides herself who followed all the rules and did nothing wrong yet had to suffer the loss of glory, wages, future earnings.
Here is a snippet of what she had to say: "... A few things have happened since I shut down my commentary on the flawed selection process that wreaked havoc on my Olympic dreams a few weeks ago. Ron Judd of the Seattle Times broke the story of the lab mistake that allowed Jessica's positive sample to sit for weeks in the lab. In the article, the lab acknowledged that they made a mistake in labeling the sample for normal testing instead of expedited. Obviously, this is a very frustrating revelation. Furthermore, the lab director said that no one from USA Swimming or the USOC called to check on the missing sample as the entry deadline approached.
In fact, I have heard USA Swimming officials say that they had every confidence that all of the drug tests would come back negative. While I can understand that no one would have expected a positive test, why do we take those tests in the first place if they aren't going to consider and plan for the possibility? Even if the drug tests had come back by July 11th, as USA Swimming now says it expected, it is not certain that the hearing and appeals process could be finished by the entry deadline anyway. Regardless of how you look at it, USA Swimming was negligent in this situation, both in planning and execution. ..." [Link]
Tara: Get your Congressman involved!!!
Photo from jdlasica's photostream Here is a direct link to the photo: [Link]
5 comments:
thats a picture of dana kirk
It's official, I suck. I posted her sister. And I really really shouldn't blog at work. Sheesh!
At least it wasn't captain Kirk!
The comment about having the Trials five weeks before the Olympics is interesting. I understand the rule of thunb is that elite swimmers can only peak twice in a year. That this is a commonly held belief is shown when virtually every other country hosted their Olympic trials in or around March. So USA Swimming took a unique approach in its preparation - there must be a logical explanation for it. Perhaps they felt the the taper could be held right into the Games? Try as I might I've never come across the explanation. Can anyone give some insight into this?
Scott, there is no good reason to hold trials 5 weeks out. It has nothing to do with momentum or otherwise.
Tests have to be brought in in a reasonable time and and athletes need to recover.... Hoff, Ziegler, Coughlin were sure beat up on the last 15 meters of each race
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