After last week’s French Olympic Trials wrapped up in Dunkerque, comeback swimmer Laure Manaudou, who earned her spot in London in the 100 and 200 backstrokes, had a lot of interesting comments in this interview by the French-language paper La Parisienne.
Two Missed Doping Tests
The big headline is that Manaudou admitted that she’s missed two doping tests, implying that she was not in a location that she said she would be when the random collector came knocking. This would mean that if she were to miss one more test between now and the Olympic Games, she would theoretically receive a suspension.
Of course, this rule has been liberally interpreted, and in at least one very high-profile case, Rafael Munoz of Spain, he was able to earn an overturning based on a doctor’s note.
Manaudou says this fact is causing her a lot of stress, and this is something that is not considered when discussing the return of great athletes. It’s one thing to regain the normalcy of training and competing, it’s a whole other matter to become reaccustomed to living one’s life by certain administrative regiments like the whereabouts filings.
Re-Swim of 50 Free? Fred Not Done Yet
When asked about partner and baby-daddy Fred Bousquet, who failed to earn a spot on the Olympic team, Manaudou says that she thinks there will be a reswim, as it’s hard to get a true reading at the end of a very long meet. She said that upon that reswim, she’s 100% certain that Bousquet and “Flo” (younger brother Florent – who was 2nd in the first run) would earn the spots.
My feeling is that these are the words of a supportive sister and girlfriend moreso than a rational expectation. Afterall, the winner of that 50 free, Amaury Leveaux, swam significantly more yardage than either swimmer by that point of the meet. The interview must have also been taken prior to French Swimming announcing their official 29-swimmer roster.
She did, however, incinuate that Bousquet might not be done yet, despite missing the team. She thinks that his “mental toughness’ will carry him through in 2013 and 2015, especially as he’s now only focused on the 50; she already confirmed that he will be travelling to the European Championships to race the 50 fly in May, but that she would be remaining home in Auburn to focus on training.
She and Fred will, however, return home to Marseilles after the Olympics and train towards World’s in 2013; though of course plans often can change after an emotional experience like the Olympics (much as we saw happen once with Manaudou after 2008).