FINA, the international governing body of aquatic sports, has responded to SwimSwam’s inquiries regarding the alleged drugging incident that occurred at a party on the last day of the 2022 FINA World Championships, which took place in Budapest, Hungary from June 18 to 25, 2022.
Canadian swimmer Mary-Sophie Harvey spoke out via Instagram about being drugged in Budapest while attending a party near the end of the meet. Sources tell SwimSwam that both swimmers and non-swimmers were in attendance at said party.
FINA claimed that they were not aware of what happened to Harvey until SwimSwam contacted them asking for further details regarding the incident. They eventually issued a statement:
“FINA is aware of the distressing media reports regarding Mary-Sophie Harvey and FINA is deeply concerned about her well-being. We are in contact with Swimming Canada and the Local Organising Committee. In 2021, FINA adopted widespread measures aimed at safeguarding athletes and an Independent Investigation Officer will be assigned to investigate the matter further.”
SwimSwam has since then asked FINA about which of those measures would apply in this situation, and whether they have received reports of similar drugging incidents at this year’s meet or the 2017 FINA World Championships that were also in Budapest. FINA has not responded to those follow-up questions.
On her Instagram, Harvey also posted photos of bruises that she said she received while she was unconscious due to the drugging, although she said that she had other bruises that she didn’t feel comfortable sharing.
Harvey said that she was completely unconscious for four to six hours after being drugged, and that she did not know how she was drugged at the time that it happened. She stated that she was with her teammates when the incident occurred.
When SwimSwam reached out to Swimming Canada about what happened to Harvey, they claimed that they were still looking into the situation at hand, but to their knowledge, athletes left the team hotel following team Canada’s final meeting to celebrate on the final night of the World Championships.
They also issued a statement, which you can read here:
“First of all, health and safety of our team members is first and foremost on teams. Our team management and medical staff are always looking out for team members, aware of their whereabouts and fully engaged with any issues.
We are aware there was an incident the night before departure from Budapest. As soon as team staff became aware, Mary received excellent medical treatment from our team physician on site, and was cleared to travel home.
Staff have been in contact with Mary since her return and we are offering her support. We continue to gather information on the situation, and the file has been forwarded to our independent Safe Sport officer.”
Links to 2017 Reports?