The head coach of Great Britain’s Olympic swimming team, Bill Furniss, has claimed that the British were robbed of four medals at the Rio Games and demanded tougher action against dopers in his sport. Seven British swimmers came fourth in their events and Furniss alleges the majority were unfairly denied a podium position.
British swimmers, spearheaded by the brilliant Adam Peaty, enjoyed their most successful Games in the pool in the modern era, securing a total of six medals and doubling their meagre haul in London four years ago. Furniss, though, firmly believes that tally could have been higher and fears clean athletes are still being discriminated against.
“It sticks in my throat that we have had seven fourths and in at least three of those finals an individual [has previously] failed a drug test,” said Furniss, who guided Rebecca Adlington to her four Olympic medals. “I didn’t say anything about it in the build-up because it was a distraction but I think we have been penalised more than any other nation here.
“Look at the races and look at the statistics. You know it’s out there, it’s in the public domain. I’m not going to mention names. But as a nation, we fell foul of it. It’s hard to take. My message to the people who govern our sport is that we want a clean sport. My message is that I have got certain individuals to whom I have got to explain [this]. They have done everything right and are not being looked after. Everything seems to be focused around how fair we can be to people who have not passed drugs tests. It is just not right. It sticks in my throat.”
It is understood the GB swimmers whom Furniss believes were particularly unlucky are James Guy, Chloe Tutton, Fran Halsall and Andrew Willis. Guy finished fourth in the 200m freestyle by 0.26sec in a race won by China’s Sun Yang, who served a doping ban in 2014. Tutton also narrowly missed out on the podium in the 200m breaststroke with Russia’s Yulia Efimova, previously banned for 16 months after traces of an anabolic steroid were found in her system, claiming silver.
Both Halsall and Willis also finished agonisingly out of the medals, with the former finishing just two one-hundredths of a second behind bronze medallist Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus, banned for two years in 2003 following a positive test for norandrosterone. Willis lost out by 0.09sec to Russia’s Anton Chupkov, who has never tested positive for a banned substance but would not have competed at the Games had the IOC taken a firmer stance on Russia’s collective participation following the systematic state-sponsored doping at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.
There is no suggestion any of the aforementioned medallists used illegal performance-enhancing substances in Rio but Furniss insists anyone found guilty of cheating should be barred from all future Games. “I think if you fail a drugs test you should not be at the Olympic Games. I can’t say it any more clear than that. It’s hard to take; it’s shambolic.”
There is similar mood of simmering frustration among GB’s swimmers, with Peaty also calling for a zero tolerance attitude to doping. “In my opinion convicted drug cheats should be out, it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve done it or been caught,” said the 21-year-old. “I try not to get too caught up in the politics of it and just focus on my performance but hopefully the sport will be stronger from this [controversy] and move on. You feel for any athlete who has been around dopers and has missed out on a medal. It doesn’t matter what country you’re from, as a sport you have to stay united.”
Such was Peaty’s total dominance in his own event, however, that there have been dark mutterings from eastern Europe about possible double standards. Furniss, however, dismisses such unfounded whispers out of hand. “I know what Adam Peaty does. What he does is unbelievable in terms of the work he puts in. And he’s had a very measured improvement, you can see where he’s come from. That guy is 100% the model of what a swimmer should be.”
The issue of who can and cannot be trusted in the pool became a recurring topic throughout the first week of the Games, not least when Australia’s Mack Horton referred to his rival Sun as a drug cheat and Efimova, who won two individual silver medals, was forced to defend herself in an excruciating press conference with American gold medallist Lilly King.
Efimova argued last week she should not be discriminated against having served her time. Earlier this year she was also given a provisional ban after testing positive for meldonium but the suspension was lifted following advice from the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada). The court of arbitration for sport has also ruled that athletes cannot be banned from Rio because they have been previously sanctioned. “Cas considered my appeal and I won,” said Efimova. “Everyone should have a second chance. When you drive and you are just issued a ticket, no one puts you in jail.”
Horton, however, remains unrepentant and has no regrets about highlighting the issue of doping, despite copping a torrent of abuse from Chinese social media users. “I do not think I need to apologise … I just said what is true,” the 20-year-old told Reuters on Sunday. “I think people need to be more comfortable talking about doping in sport.
“The bottom line is what you put in your body is your responsibility. If you are taking stuff and you do not know what it is then really it is your fault.”
He did concede, though, that he was not planning a holiday in China any time soon. “It all get pretty out of control; I had 450,000 hate comments on one of my Instagram photos. Yeah, I’m probably not in a hurry to go to China.”
