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Drug row shaken off Thorpe, Krayzelburg set records at swim World Cup
Posted: Sunday February 06, 2000 08:22 PM
BERLIN (AP) -- Australian teen-ager Ian Thorpe and American Lenny Krayzelburg shook off a drug-testing controversy and a near-boycott Sunday to set world records at a short course World Cup. The 17-year-old Thorpe, the center of drug-taking allegations last week, sped across the pool at Berlin's fast new Europasportpark arena in 1 minute 41.10 seconds. That shattered the teen sensation's own record of 1:42.54 set in Hong Kong January 18 and drew heavy applause from 2,000 spectators. "I wanted to swim a good time, but that it's a world record surprised me," said Thorpe, adding of the allegations, "I've never gotten so much applause after a competition. That moved me deeply. It shows me that people are behind me and believe in me." Krayzelburg lowered his own 200 meter backstroke record by .005 hundredths of a second to 1:52.43, after recording a 100 meter backstroke record on Saturday of 51.28 seconds. The records followed a controversy after Saturday's races, centered around Thorpe, that was sparked by the random drug testing of five Australian swimmers. Australian coach Don Talbot threatened to withdraw his team for Sunday's races, complaining the swimmers including Thorpe had not been provided with tamperproof containers during the testing. Krayzelburg was among several other swimmers that complained, saying the sample could be popped open again and manipulated. The matter was finally settled when Berlin police agreed to seal the samples. German coach Manfred Thiesmann had triggered the drug-taking allegations last week around Thorpe with reported comments that other swimmers were skeptical about his performances. Talbot said he wasn't about to leave samples in Berlin that could be manipulated, since the allegations stemmed from a German coach. "There's no chance of us doing that," said Talbot. Thorpe owns the 200 and 400 meter world records in a regular 50 meter pool and is expected to be the star of the upcoming Summer Olympics. Thorpe said the drug testing controversy didn't affect his race. "Yesterday is yesterday," he said. "But Lenny Krayzelburg and I are still not happy with the doping control procedures. We believe a manipulation of the samples can't be completely ruled out. But that's important to protect innocent athletes." Thorpe plans to compete in the 200 and 400 freestyle races, the relays and most likely the 100 meter freestyle in Sydney. "It will be hard, very hard, but I'll keep up this level," said Thorpe. Krayzelburg also narrowly missed a third world record Sunday, when he fell short of the 50-meter backstoke mark held by Australian rival, Matt Welsh. The 24-year-old was timed in 24.17, short of Welsh's 24.11 and yelled "Bad finish, bad finish."
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