World Champion sprinter Vlad Morozov has posted an open letter to FINA president Julio Maglione on his Facebook page on Tuesday after Monday’s announcement that he would not be allowed to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games.
In the letter, Morozov points out that he has been tested by 5 different anti-doping authorities, both in-competition and out-of-competition, and has never had a positive test or a missed test.
FINA named Morozov as one of 3 Russian swimmers who were named by Richard McLaren in his WADA-sanctioned report on the Russian state-run doping coverup. Aside from those names announced as being ineligible for the Olympics, like the ones released by FINA, the names of swimmers that McLaren has accused of cheating the system has not been made public, and FINA’s release provided no clarity on what exactly the accusations were against Morozov and fellow would-be Olympians Nikita Lobintsev and Daria Ustinova.
Morozov has spent most of his elite swimming career training in the United States, though since turning pro he has shifted a lot of his time to training in Russia.
Yulia Efimova is already planning an appeal to the CAS, according to her agent, though she was barred from the Olympics in a different group of 4 athletes as a result of a prior positive test.
While Morozov’s letter pleads his case to Maglione, Maglione has also expressed displeasure with the decisions of WADA and the IOC, telling Russian state-controlled media that the McLaren commission “exceeded its powers.”
Dear Julio Maglione,
Recently I found that due to a decision by FINA I can no longer compete in the Olympic Games 2016. It is of a great surprise to me.
I’ve always been a clean athlete. Throughout the last 6 years I’ve been drug tested by doping control agencies at my home and at the pool, at least once a month, and sometimes every other day. I’ve been controlled by FINA, WADA, RUSADA, USADA, UKAD in competition and out. Throughout these years of constant doping control I have never had a positive test or a missed test.
I am sure that I am a clean athlete and my name must stay clean, supported by the facts of testing throughout the years. I am sure that in a justice-driven system I have full right to take part in the Olympic Games.
I deeply respect Olympic values and am asking you with hope in justice and truth to let me compete at the Olympic Games.
With best regards,
Vladimir Morozov.
Member of Russian National Swimming Team.
it is positive or negative result.
They can not destroy someone’s dreams if no a or b sample.
What the heck happened here.
The whole argument of “Morozov is clean because he tells us so” is ridiculous.
The old “Change one molecule and test clean theory” at work. Aint sports, politics and government grand!
I have read a good bit of McLaren’s report and believe it to be both substantive and thorough; therefore, I really, really doubt Morozov was named in it for no reason other than to slander him, or for any other purpose other than to simply provide the facts.
This.
The commenters who defended Vlad and said all kinds of absurd things about McLaren report clearly has never read it.
Even IOC and the Russians themselves do NOT dispute the validity, accuracy and truthfullness of the Maclaren IP report.
I wish he would just own up to it. I dont believe for a second that the McLaren report would just arbitrarily name him and intentionally ruin his career. There is more to what has been released in the report and his statement.
We still have no clear understanding of why he’s been banned, just ‘his name appeared in the McLaren Report’. That’s definitive proof he’s been doping? I hate all the speculation and arbitrary allegations. We need some official clarification before the games start otherwise this is a mess.
It’s hard to know what he got cut for at this point. With all the dirty test swapping the Russians were doing one of his tests probably got caught up in there, putting him in the McAllen report.
His samples could’ve been completely clean in the first place but it’d be impossible to know
Snap poll:
‘LIKE’ if it makes sense to just allow any kind of substances for every swimmer.
‘DISLIKE’ if you think doping agencies can be ahead of athletes and credibly enforce PED regulations.
Wrong questions:
“LIKE” if you think that allowing all athletes to ingest any performance-enhancing substance they want, thereby reducing sport to a freakshow where it is as much pharmacist against pharmacist as it is athlete vs. athlete.
“DISLIKE” if you think that the current system – while allowing for its obvious imperfections – at least mitigates the use of PED’s in sport and also protects athletes from themselves & unscrupulous others.
Anyone who believes that “open season” is a reasonable response to what’s happening right now should read the interviews given by the East German swimmers that were subject to State-plan 1425. Glandular cancers, children with birth defects, reduced life expectancy… All manner of negative consequences.
The current PED testing… Read more »
Jose Conseco (pro baseball player) made a decent case in favor of legal steroid use. I don’t agree with him, but we need level playing field. It is a legitimate question to ask when anti-doping enforcement has gotten to be this arbitrary and capricious.
On one hand, who knows what chemicals athletes take that aren’t even on the WADA banned substances list? And how do you account for micro-dosing, where an athlete stays just below the allowed concentration of a substance, or chugs gallons of water until their urine is diluted enough to come back “negative”?
On the other hand, we don’t know if PED use can be done safely. I’m sure there are swimmers who would jeopardize their health… Read more »
While Vlad is under no obligation to do so, I would like to hear a top-tier swimmer detail exactly what supplements they DO take. I assume most Olympic medalists at least use some legal vitamins and nutritional supplements (creatine, multi-vitamins, even caffeine, etc.) It would help allay some of the suspicion most spectators have.