This Time It’s Ian Thorpe

Apparently someone is trying to thorpedo Ian Thorpe’s reputation by passing a story to L’Equipe about a supposed positive testosterone test for the Australian swimming superstar in May 2006.

According to an Associated Press story on the Canadian Broadcasting Company’s website, L’Equipe ran an article on Friday saying that Thorpe had test results showing “abnormal levels” of testosterone and luteinizing hormone last spring. As the article notes:

Synthetic versions of testosterone, the male hormone, can act like steroids to improve performance. Luteinizing hormone is released by the pituitary gland and produces testosterone in men.

Apparently, Australian authorities threw the case out, citing lack of scientific proof. FINA, the international federation that governs swimming, is now appealing that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The president of FINA, Mustapha Larfaoui, is in Melbourne, Australia for the world swimming championships, and is scheduled to give a press conference sometime on Saturday. It’s not clear whether he will address the Thorpe story at that time.

The Australian anti-doping authorities are no slouches when it comes to testing and interpreting anti-doping tests, so if they threw out the case for lack of proof, they must have had good reason to do so. At this point, however, very little is known about the exact nature of the case against Thorpe.

But it boggles my mind to think of the slime that has now been tossed onto yet another athlete, and one who a respected anti-doping agency (like the one in Australia) says has not been proven guilty. Will Thorpe take the Landis approach and put all the documentation about his case out for the world to see? Will he stand up to the hardball tactics of FINA? And by pressing this case, is FINA doing more harm — not only to Thorpe and his reputation, but also to the anti-doping effort in general — than good? On this last point, I suspect the answer is “yes.”

It almost comes as no surprise that testosterone is at the center of this newest controversy. Imagine if the Australian anti-doping officials were the ones evaluating Floyd Landis’ lab documentation package. Would they have looked at the evidence, taken note of the problems and concerns raised by Dr. de Boer (Landis’ paid observer at the B sample testing), studied the material carefully and then come to the same conclusion as they did about Ian Thorpe? I suspect they might have.

Apparently, when officials take a stand for proper science the powers that be don’t like it and they will stop at nothing in their rabid pursuit of innocent athletes. God forbid that an athlete is ever exonerated. And that his name doesn’t get dragged through the mud.

It’s bad enough that Floyd Landis has to go through the witch hunt he’s been subjected to. Ian Thorpe shouldn’t have to be subjected to it, too.

This system is out of control. It’s time for a change.