Sprint News 4/29/12: CAS Rules on Brits; Brazil Fails in 800 FR

…One race that went almost unnoticed by those outside of Brazil (and without access to TV feeds) at last week’s Maria Lenk Trophy was an attempt by their 4×200 free relay to earn a qualification time of 7:13 in a time-trialed swim. The attempt was done at the end of the meet, and after several swimmers had already completed other relay commitments, so it was probably doomed from the beginning, but they swam only a 7:17.45. The silver lining was that they were led off by Joao de Lucca in 1:48.28, which is another lifetime best for him – though still outside of the Olympic Qualifying Time. Given that he will probably be back in the states at Brazil’s last chance qualifying meet next month, that might be the end of his Olympic chase for 2012. Thiago Pereira chose not to swim in this relay, as he wasn’t intending to swim the race at the Olympics. It might not have mattered…

…the BBC is reporting that the CAS has ruled on the case of the World Anti-Doping Association versus the British Olympic Association, in the favor of WADA. This was the case where the British Olympic Association decided to stipulate an additional “Olympic selection criteria” that didn’t allow athletes with serious doping bans onto the next Olympic Team. They maintained the rule even after the CAS struck down a similar rule held by the IOC, declaring it as “double jeopardy” punishment. The BOA held all along that the ban was not a “punishment,” rather that it was a “selection criteria” that Olympic athletes had to have “clean” doping records. WADA’s stance was that they were just following rules that the BOA, and other Olympic organizations, signed off on. WADA won out in this case. The immediate reactions have been overwhelmingly negative. Canada’s Annamay Pierse tweeted “Makes me sick to think that I worked my a** off to make the Olympics through so many obstacles & cheaters who were caught get to compete!!”. There has been a minority that agrees with the ruling, however, citing a need for international consistency in penalty (including calls for simply increasing suspension lengths to 4 years, rather than a specific Olympic ban). There are those who have also said that “they’ve done their time” and that the “BOA action was unfair“. At the least, this clears up the uncertainty that has lingered for the last 4 years for many athletes. The official WADA announcement is expected to come out tomorrow afternoon…

…Elliott Keefer was one of the few SwimMAC swimmers to stick around for the final day of action, but he used it to break another NAG Record. This time, it was the 200 breaststroke, where he swam a 1:57.27. Just like in the 100, that broke the record held by Gary Marshall. Marshall’s old 18-24 record was 1:58.34 from 2006…