World News – UA – Brenton Rickard: Australian Olympic swimmer reveals positive drug test eight years after London Games

Australia at risk of medal stripping for the first time in Olympic history after re-analysis of sample taken at London Games eight years ago gave positive result

Two-time Olympian Brenton Rickard, who won bronze with the 4x100m medley team in 2012, revealed on Friday that a sample he provided to London had been retested and contained a small amount of an agent masking, furosemide

The result means Rickard and each of his medley teammates – James Magnussen, Christian Sprenger, Hayden Stoeckel, Matt Targett and Tommaso D’Orsogna – stand at risk of losing their medals

Australia are proud of a flawless doping record at the Olympics and have never been without medals before

In an email to his teammates, obtained and published by the Sydney Morning Herald, a ‘devastated’ Rickard denied ever taking performance enhancing drugs and said the situation was his ‘worst nightmare’

The concentration of furosemide found in his sample was « extremely low », he said, and the re-analysis did not detect any other banned substances

Nonetheless, the International Olympic Committee has initiated proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport and will seek to overturn all of Rickard’s results from the 2012 Games. In addition to competing in the 4x100m medley, he reached the finals of the 100m and 200m breaststroke, finishing sixth and seventh respectively

Rickard, now 37, hired lawyers to fight the disqualification, which he said was « patently unfair and disproportionate », not least because he was not swimming in the final – his involvement in the innings was enough to earn a medal

« As you know, I would never, ever knowingly or intentionally take a prohibited substance without a TUE [therapeutic use exemption] » he wrote « This is not acceptable in my own personal values , nor ever acceptable in the culture of our team

« I have always hated doping in sport, so you can imagine how sickened and horrified I am to find myself in this predicament This is my worst nightmare »

When contacted by Guardian Australia, the Australian Olympic Committee said it would not comment as a process was in place Swimming Australia was also contacted for comment

Rickard, who was the Australian Institute of Sport Athlete of the Year in 2009 and is a past president of the Australian Swimmers Association, also won a large number of medals at the World Championships in 2007 and 2009 and has hosted National, Commonwealth and Oceanic competitions records

Australia has long been proud of its own doping record Current star Mack Horton has been widely praised for taking a public stand against China’s Sun Yang at last year’s world championships Sun was finally banned for eight years in February after being accused of ordering a member of his entourage to break vials containing his blood

But at the same championships where Horton held his protest, it was revealed that her teammate, Shayna Jack, returned a positive test for the banned substance ligandrol She is currently appealing a four-year ban from the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, which threatens to end his career

Brenton Rickard, London 2012 Summer Olympics, Olympics, Swimming, Australia