The University of Florida‘s F Club Committee has revealed its latest inductees into the storied school’s Hall of Fame, with American Olympic medalist Conor Dwyer among those honored.
Identified as ‘Gator Greats’, the top tier of inductees are said to have brought recognition and prominence to the University of Florida and themselves by their athletic accomplishments as a student-athlete.
Dwyer joins fellow inductees Jeff Demps (Men’s Track & Field & Football), Joe Haden (Football), Michelle Moultrie (Softball), Chandler Parsons (Men’s Basketball), Christian Taylor (Men’s Track & Field) and Mike Zunino (Baseball).
Dwyer competed as Florida Gator from 2009-2011, wrangling up 12-time All American honors and 3 NCAA titles during his reign. He also notched SEC, NCAA Male Swimmer of the Year and SEC Male Commissioner’s Trophy awards as a student-athlete in Gainesville.
Beyond Florida, Dwyer earned gold medals at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games as a member of the men’s 800m free relay, also snagging individual 200m free bronze in Rio.
However, in 2019, Dwyer was suspended for 20 months after a panel found he “had testosterone pellets inserted in his body in violation of the rules.”
According to USADA (the United States Anti-Doping Agency), Dwyer tested positive for an anabolic agent in three different out-of-competition tests on November 15, November 27 and December 20, 2018.
His suspension expired in August of 2020, however, in October of 2019 the then-30-year-old announced his retirement from competitive swimming.
Per his Instagram post at the time, “Today i’m announcing my retirement from professional swimming. It has been an incredible ride and I have accomplished more than my wildest dreams. It was an honor to represent my country alongside my teammates.
“Thank you to my coaches for teaching me that you can achieve anything if you out work everyone. To my mom who taught me how to swim, to my parents who took me to swim practice when it was 5am and subzero in Chicago and sacrificed so much for me because they believed in me and my dreams. Thank you to all my siblings and cousins for never missing a single meet, for being my rock throughout this unforgettable ride. To all the friends and teammates that have been there, old and new, I cherish every moment and memories we have made throughout the years.
“I have always felt that swimming chose me- it has and will always have a very special place in my heart.
“This is an unfortunate end to an incredible chapter of my life. I believe that things happen for a reason, and I can’t wait to share with you all the next chapter of my life.”
Dwyer seems to be made of Teflon. Nothing sticks to him. No consequences for his actions. The number of comments about his suspension on swimswam has always been weirdly low. And his drug taking was intentional.
Should be the hall of shame. total BS way to end your career.
Very fitting he and chandler parsons enter the Florida HOF at the same time. Both massive underachievers in their sport, but probably two of the larger over achievers in terms of career earnings/notoriety/dating out of their league
Except only one of those is an exposed drug cheat who got caught in one of the most blatant, idiotic, and shameful attempts to dope.
I’m sorry, didn’t he get the t pellets put in due to depression that he had around or post 2018? All of these comments about how he doped coming out of high school and in college I don’t think is accurate based on previous research. Am I missing something here?
Testosterone pellet injections are not a cure for depression. He was depressed that his swimming and fitness was declining as he aged. If it was so bad he should’ve gone to therapy not doped.
If you believe that, then I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
“One pill makes you larger, and and one pill makes you small…”
You have to wonder when he started doping. Think he was a 1:43 200 freestyler coming out of high school and had crazy drops at Iowa before transferring to Florida and continuing to make huge gains. The line at the time was that he didn’t take high school swimming seriously, but maybe there was something else going on dating back.
He grew up in one of the reaches area of the northern Chicago suburbs where drug usage in high schools wasn’t even a news. There WAS money. The fact that Loyola Academy – the high school he was attending – is actually a Catholic high school may meant nothing.
He had a growth spurt freshmen year in college.
But at some point he did dope, and no one knows when.
What I’m surprised about is the doping that got him caught. He didn’t seek out Someone who specializes in helping Olympic or drug tested athletes, He went to an anti-aging clinic to get something middle age men use. Except he was in his late 20s.
What are i find interesting is that he was getting supplemental Testosterone which is needed if the body stops producing it due to some steroids.
Ohhh we’re putting dopers on the HOF now?!
Should we ask for some type of ban like we’re doing with Russians too?
You cannot even appeal the case with pallets. It’s not like you’ve drunk “accedently” the water from somebody else’s bottle put by mere accident on the deck in your lane.