In Briefs: Brent Hayden Latest to Speak Out About Cielo, Brazilian Doping Suspensions

Canada’s Brent Hayden is the latest swimmer to speak out against the light suspension given to Brazil’s Cesar Cielo in the wake of the his positive test for trace amounts of the diuretic furosemide, which can be used to conceal the presence of other steroids in urine tests.

At this point, though all of the athletes only received warnings and evacuation of results from the Maria Lenk Trophy, the meet at which they tested positive, Cielo is the only one to have truly escaped punishment. As we reported yesterday, Henrique Barbosa and Nicholas dos Santos lost their spots on the World Championships roster after those results were invalidated.

Hayden, who would be among Cielo’s biggest challengers in the sprint freestyle races in Shanghai this summer, became the latest in a long-line of athletes who have taken offense to the lightened suspense that the Brazilian federation (CBDA) handed out.

He said that if Cielo didn’t receive a longer suspension than Venezuelan Albert Subirats, then something is wrong in the sport of swimming — referring to the swimmer who in June received a one-year suspension after failing to properly log his whereabouts with FINA three times. Subirats sent his schedule to his national federation, but they failed to properly forward it to the international governing body.

Hayden would go on to say that “I wish I could say it’s a totally clean sport and that everyone is honest, but unfortunately we do not live in a world of great integrity.” He questioned why, if this was supposed to be an isolated incident, was the same substance found in the tests of three other athletes.

Cielo supporters would be quick to point out that it is not uncommon for other athletes to share the supplements of Cielo, who is much wealthier than his teammates and can better afford top-of-the-line products. The pills that Cielo is reported to have taken were Caffeine pills, which among other things he uses to fight jet-lag when traveling around the world.

Hayden is now one of a long list of athletes who have spoken out against the suspension. Frenchman Alain Bernard called the news “bad for the world of swimming,” though lacking context it was unclear whether or not he was referring to a positive test for the defending World and Olympic Champion, or the light suspension.

Via Twitter, Australia’s Geoff Huegill responded that “How do you only get off on a warning? WTF,” a sentiment that was echoed by several of his teammates.

With so many of Cielo’s competitors speaking out against him, if he’s allowed to compete in Shanghai, it will create a very interesting dynamic on the pool-deck. Cielo has never been entirely as popular as his performances might indicate, and historically it’s fueled his fire (for example, he and the Auburn program took a lot of heat for recruiting so many foreign athletes to the NCAA). Though he missed a few days of training while appearing before the CBDA panel, he’s back in the water.

In related news, all of CBDA’s documentation has been handed over to FINA for review prior to an appeal before the CAS.