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Smith-De Bruin appeal begins Irish swimmer tries to cast doubt on testing procedures
Posted: Monday May 03, 1999 04:10 PM
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -- Triple gold medalist Michelle Smith-De Bruin began her appeal of her four-year drug ban Monday by trying to cast doubt on the testing procedures used by swimming's governing body. "I don't have to prove my innocence here," Smith-De Bruin told the International Court of Arbitration for Sport when asked whether she had tampered with a urine sample. Her lawyer, Peter Lennon, said the decision last August by a FINA drug panel was "patently unsound." In the first day of a two-day hearing, Lennon questioned the husband-wife team who administered the Jan. 10, 1998, test that led to the Irish swimmer's exclusion. He told the panel that Smith-De Bruin had been denied "a reasonable judgment" and FINA had failed to prove she had tampered with a urine sample. FINA held Smith-De Bruin responsible for tampering with the out-of-competition urine test taken at her home in Kilkenny, Ireland. The body said the sample was contaminated with large amounts of alcohol, probably whiskey. Albert and Kay Guy, who supervised the collection of the sample, said they noticed an odor that might have been alcohol when the urine was decanted from a beaker into the sample containers after Smith-De Bruin had provided a second sample. Guy, who was cross-examined for 2 1/2 hours, said he detected "a sweetish, somewhat sickly odor," but didn't comment immediately because he couldn't tell where the smell was coming from. Mrs. Guy, who was present in the bathroom with Smith-De Bruin, said she only noticed the smell after the sample was taken back to the kitchen for decanting. "The odor, or the smell, just came about," she said. It was a "sweet whiskey smell." The Guys said they had mentioned the smell only to each other after they were in their car and driving away. They didn't return to confront Smith-De Bruin, they said. "We had been briefed to collect the sample. We had done that," said Mrs. Guy, who was barred from the hearing room while her husband was on the stand and testified for about an hour after he left. Mrs. Guy also said she was unable to see Smith-De Bruin actually produce the sample because the swimmer's fleece top was in the way. Smith-De Bruin, who remained impassive through most of the testimony, said there was a brief period when she took her eyes off the sample once it was on the kitchen table because she went to get a drink of water. Lennon also noted that the Guys stored the sample in its sealed container in their refrigerator over the weekend before shipping it to the testing center in Barcelona, Spain. FINA lawyer Jean-Pierre Morand said it was clear that someone had tampered with the samples before they came under the control of FINA. "For us this case is a case of tampering," Morand told the three-arbitrator panel. "Something happened with those samples, and I don't think it can be disputed." The ban includes the Sydney 2000 Olympics and the 2001 World Championships, in effect ending the 28-year-old Irish swimmer's career. "I am fighting for my reputation and for my right to go to Sydney," Smith-De Bruin said after the ban was handed down. Smith had a mediocre record before capturing three gold medals and a bronze at the Atlanta Games, three years after Erik de Bruin became her coach. Her marriage to de Bruin, the Dutch discus and shot put champion banned for four years after testing positive to excessive testosterone, stirred speculation that her own meteoric rise had been aided by drugs. But she said she had been tested more often than any of her rivals and each time the result was negative.
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