Athletes React to Cielo Announcement Via Twitter; Poll Results

Posted on July 21, 2011, in International News, News, Swim Talk, with 18 Comments
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As is evidenced by the Tweet of Dutch swimmer Sebastiaan Verschuren above above, the first reactions from other athletes about the CAS’ decision to not suspend Cesar Cielo are coming across on Twitter now, and the initial reaction has been mostly disapproving. Below are Tweets from Roland Schoeman and Steffen Deibler, both of whom will now have to compete against Cielo in the 50 fly, where Cielo will be the top seed and the favorite for gold.

Other reactions include from Markus Deibler, who is unlikely to compete against Cielo directly other than possibly in a relay swim, and Dutch sprint star Ranomi Kromowidjojo. Deibler’s Tweet roughly translates to “Cesar Cielo is not banned. This cannot be!”. Kromowidjojo’s Tweet reads “And what does Fina do…not suspend those who test positive!!”.

Poll Results

Our poll-takers tended to agree with the athletes, though there was a good portion who believes that the CAS made the right decision. Final tallies as to how long Cielo’s suspension should have been:

6-Months (43%, 25-votes)
No suspension (21%, 12-votes)
1-year (12%, 7-votes)
2-months (10%, 6-votes)
2-years (9%, 5-votes)
longer than 2 years (5%, 3-votes)

Thanks all for participating in our quick poll!

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18 Comments

aswimfan

07.21.2011 · Reply

I only hope this will give extra motivation for other swimmers to beat Cielo.
DDias

07.21.2011 · Reply

aswimfan, i will twist your words: I only hope this will give extra motivation for Cielo to beat other swimmers.Thats a BIG test to his mind.
DDias

07.21.2011 · Reply

layla, who knows about Cielo developmment in swimming, knows he is not a cheater.And curiosly, the biggest transformation in Cielo career was between 2006-2007, when he made his big drop times, when he was a promisse, and become a reality.Just in his freshman year at Auburn. Just compare yourself: End of 2005(18 years-old): Long course meters(50 and 100 free): 22.92 and 50.31 End of 2006(19 years-old): Long course meters(50 and 100 free): 22.32 and 48.61(South American Record) NCAA, freshman year 2006(50 and 100 free yards): 19.20 Final:19.37 (sixth place, Cullen Jones won in 19.18) 42.60 Final:42.58 (fourth place, Garrett Weber-Gale won in 42.11 ) NCAA sophomore year 2007(50 and 100 free yards): 18.84 Final:18.69N 42.07 Final:41.17N For some guys, probably Auburn "juiced" him, right?Donuts and a microgram of steroids everyday..not!
aswimfan

07.21.2011 · Reply

DDIas, no one is accusing Cielo of cheating yet. I think most people are just enraged that a three positive tests only got off on warning.
aswimfan

07.21.2011 · Reply

It's too bad Albert Subirats does not have the money to hire good lawyer (like Cielo did) and take his 1 year FINA suspension to CAS. If Cielo could get off from suspension by hiding behind the "cross contamination", why couldn't subirats also claim that venezuela federation stuffed up his location file.
- Braden Keith
  
  07.22.2011 · Reply
  
  aswimfan, it wouldn't have mattered who Subirats' lawyer was, unless he was somehow good enough to challenge the validity of the entire anti-doping code (unlikely). His offense carries a minimum 1-year suspension, and Cielo's didn't. Take it from the only concerned party that actually bothered to read the anti-doping code - The CAS made exactly the decision that the anti-doping code says they had to. If you take issue with the outcome, which I personally do, anger towards the CAS and FINA is misdirected. This is something that needs to be changed in the anti-doping code, not with the CAS or FINA. Even had the CBDA given him a two-year suspension, upon appeal to the CAS, they would have reduced it to zero. It has nothing to do with setting s precedent, and everything to do with following the rules as they are written. I think the sooner that people stop blaming the CAS and FINA for this outcome, the sooner that they might see some change for the better.
aswimfan

07.21.2011 · Reply

Also there were some brazilians in this site and others who, when FINA appealed Cielo to CAS, cried that it was not that Bosquest was only given 2 months suspension. I don't see those brazilians now crying that it is unfair Cielo is only given warning while Bosquets was given suspension.
aswimfan

07.21.2011 · Reply

I meant "cried that it was not fair that Bosquets was only given 2 months suspension"
- Braden Keith
  
  07.22.2011 · Reply
  
  Also, I'll clarify that DDias' post about the cheating was a response to another comment that has since been deleted.
DDias

07.22.2011 · Reply

aswimfan, does bousquet drug has some effectiveness? There are always two questions in a doping case: Has Effectiveness or Not? Has Intention to Cheat or Not? I agree a minimun ban should have be issued, but i dont agree about all the fuss around the case.Some people don t have any sense, comparing his case with Hardy,Daynara and others case.I am seeing a lot of swimmers which normally can beat him, bashing FINA,CAS talking about precedents and etc.Precedents?If you get caught with 100mg of Furosemide and your urine is diluted, sorry, you will catch, at least, 6 months.
beachmouse

07.22.2011 · Reply

Though FINA can set aside a screwed up swimmer location process if they feel like there are extenuating circumstances. There's precedent with how they handled the Rafael Munoz missed tests and gave him no suspension over it.
- Braden Keith
  
  07.22.2011 · Reply
  
  To my knowledge, Subirats never appealed the ruling. They certainly can, but remember the outrage when they did? There must be more details we don't know about Subirats' case. Regardless, FINA must feel that the two warnings Subirats received negated any instance of extenuating circumstances. The big difference is that Subirats' extenuating circumstance is specifically outlined in the World Anti-Doping Code: A third-party's failure to submit the whereabouts filings can not be used as a defense. No wiggle room there, one way or the other. What all of these issues come back to is a need to reexamine the anti-doping code. If, at their core, the athletes, and by extensions the federations, are not satisfied that the rules as written are producing the desired results, then the rules need to be rewritten. In each of these cases, the rules have been followed.
aswimfan

07.22.2011 · Reply

Here's the case about daynara, who by the way, also blamed the cross contamination, and no, she didn't get busted with 10 mg of furosemide in her hand: With regard to precedent, the most recent furosemide case was Brazilian swimmer Daynora De Paula just last year. She tested positive in competition and testified that her nutritionist prescribed her with a "green tea" supplement (that also contained caffeine), instead of a caffeine supplement previously prescribed, to combat fatigue and improve a depressed immune system. Her supplement was specially prepared at a large licensed pharmacy and prescribed by a licensed nutritionist with considerable sports nutrition experience who was provided by her club. She established that she discussed the prohibited list with the nutritionist, was assured the supplement was safe, checked the ingredients herself, and declared it on her doping control form. Her supplements were tested immediately and found to have furosemide in them, hence cross-contamination, and she adequately discounted any other possible sources. In light of the above, and the "relatively low level of Furosemide" found in her sample, the panel decided that she hadn't intended to cheat and took tangible, significant precautions, so she was banned for six months (down from a standard/max of 2 years). I would say that this is a sufficiently close precedent, particularly since it's another Brazilian swimmer and occurred less than a year ago. I didn't check other sports in detail, but there are over a hundred cases that resulted in bans in the past twenty years, particularly around 2000. I'm sure at least some, if not most, were trace amounts because furosemide's short half-life means that large quantities are only detected within a couple hours of consumption.
- Braden Keith
  
  07.22.2011 · Reply
  
  Still haven't heard an explenation for where it says that "precedent in similar, though not identical, cases overrules the written code that both parties to the issue agreed upon." Remember that the CAS is not a party in the case, just an arbitrator between the two sides. The CAS hasn't agreed to the anti-doping code, but both parties have agreed to let the CAS decide who's right according to the rules that both sides have agreed to. It's the facts. This isn't the US or British or Australian Court System. It's a special court set up for arbitration of sports. The Anti-Doping Code is not the US Constitution. It's 135 pages long and incredibly specific. If De Paula's ban was taken to 6-months, it wasn't some number the CAS just made up. It was a number that somebody had asked for on the appeal. In most of the legal resources I've found, furthermore, it's fairly common practice that arbitration of any kind (which is what this court is) isn't limited as strictly as common-law courts are.
aswimfan

07.22.2011 · Reply

I am hoping that chinese federation juiced their swimmers and give them furosemide and take the non-diluted urine samples after 10 hours, and give them only warning, just to make a point. And everyone should just shut up.
DDias

07.22.2011 · Reply

aswimfan, Please, you are smarter than that. after all that time, you will not have Furosemide in your sistem.And do you really know what non-diluted means?And after a DIURETIC??? Daynara case was not similar.Her urine was diluted(what means:Furosemide effectiveness is OK), and even that, was small, not TRACES of substance. Cielo s case was the ONLY one in doping story in CAS.If chinese federation do that, it will be a MEGABAN. The question you aren t doing is: If Cielo was cheating, can he do it with his doping urine sample? Answer:No.It s impossible. About Daynara case: If Daynara was cheating, can she do it with her doping urine sample? Answer:Maybe. Read ALL the facts, from more than one source!
JAG

07.22.2011 · Reply

This urine talk is nowhere near as tantalising as Michelle's Whiskywee. Who would have thought Irish testers were more dramatic than exotic Brazilians. Ireland had Urine sniffers!
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07.23.2011 · Reply

[...] prelims of the 50-fly (lanes 3 and 4 of the final heat, respectively). Schoeman, you will recall, was publicly very critical of Cielo and the CAS after the decision to not suspend him was announced. It’s not clear how much has gotten [...]