The Week That Was: William & Mary to Reinstate Men’s Swimming, Brenton Rickard Returns Positive Doping Test From 2012

Photo Courtesy: College of William & Mary

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The Week That Was sponsored by Suitmate.

The College of William & Mary announced it was reversing its decision to cut seven sports at the end of this upcoming season, reinstating men’s swimming and diving after reinstating the women’s team a few weeks ago. Australia was also at the forefront of the swimming news week as two-time Olympian Brenton Rickard returned a positive doping test from the 2012 Games, ultimately threatening to lose Australia’s bronze medal from the men’s medley relay where he swam in the preliminaries. Legendary coach Don Talbot also passed away this week after many years as the national team coach for the Australians.

Read below the five biggest stories in The Week That Was sponsored by Suitmate.

The Week That Was #1: William & Mary Reverses Decision to Cut Sports

Photo Courtesy: College of William & Mary

By Matthew De George

William & Mary has changed course on its reduction in varsity sports, announcing Thursday that it will reinstate seven programs that had been slated for discontinuation. That includes men’s swimming.

The university had announced in September that seven sports would be cut, including men’s and women’s swimming. The other affected sports included men’s and women’s gymnastics, men’s indoor and outdoor track & field and women’s volleyball.

Last month, citing pending Title IX litigation, it decided to reinstate three women’s sports: Women’s swimming, women’s volleyball and women’s gymnastics. That move wasn’t received as well even by team members in the reinstated sports, with the women’s swimming team vowing to fight on under the “one family, one fight” banner. That has yielded, among other things, $3.6 million in pledges raised to fund the swimming team.

It also has forced the William & Mary administration to rethink its approach and the problems it was hoping to solve with the original cuts, the threat of Title IX lawsuits an indication that the changes weren’t achieving those goals. Hence, Thursday’s decision that all seven sports will remain through at least the 2021-22 season, allowing the school to undertake “a phased approach that allows for a gender equity review paired with exploration of alternative solutions leading to a long-term financial plan.”

#2: Brenton Rickard Returns Positive Doping Test From 2012

Photo Courtesy: Peter H.Bick

By Ian Hanson

The Australian Olympic Committee and Swimming Australia has been rocked by a positive drug test to champion breaststroker Brenton Rickard, back-dated to the 2012 London Olympics.

The test threatens to strip six Australian swimmers of their medals for the first time in history and comes at the same Games that saw the Australian men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team embroiled in the infamous “Stilnox affair.”

The Age newspaper in Melbourne has broken the extraordinary revelations that “Dual Olympian Brenton Rickard, part of the men’s 4 x 100 metre medley team that won bronze at the Games, has tested positive to banned diuretic Furosemide in a re-screening of the sample he gave eight years ago.”

Rickard, who is a former president of the Australian Swimmers Association and former team leader, is shattered and has emailed his teammates to break the news.

The Week That Was #3: Hall of Fame Coach Don Talbot Passes Away at 79

Photo Courtesy: Darrin Braybrook, Sport the Library / Swimming World Archive

By John Lohn

The swimming world has lost a legend from its coaching ranks, as Australia’s Don Talbot died on Tuesday at the age of 87. Talbot, a 1979 inductee into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, is regarded as one of the greatest coaching minds in history, having guided his homeland to significant success while also molding some of the top names in the sport. Talbot was known as a taskmaster, but his success also warranted tremendous respect and appreciation for his coaching skills.

Talbot made his name known through the work he did with John and Ilsa Konrads, freestyle aces for Australia in the 1950s and 1960s. With Talbot guiding their careers, the Konrads siblings each set world records in the 400, 800 and 1500 freestyle, with John adding a global standard in the 200 freestyle and three medals at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. At the same time, he was developing Kevin Berry, who made his first Olympic squad as a 14-year-old in 1960 and would win gold in the 200 butterfly in 1964.

#4: Kieren Perkins Named Swimming Australia President

Aussie Kieren Perkins (center) and Daniel Kowalski at Atlanta 1996 – Photo Courtesy: Swimming Australia

By Ian Hanson

At the end of a tumultuous fortnight and a week tinged with sadness and Rickard’s positive drugs test, there is finally some light emerging at the end of the tunnel for swimming in Australia.

The unveiling today of Olympic swimming legend Kieren Perkins OAM as the 20^th president of Swimming Australia could well prove to be the midas touch the sport has been searching for.

And it comes just days after the sad passing of legendary coach Don Talbot at 87 – the man who presided over an era which saw Perkins dominate world distance swimming in the 1990s.At 47, Perkins takes over from retiring president, fellow Olympian, yachtsman John Bertrand, who resigned from his post last month after a seven-year reign.

The Week That Was #5: USA Swimming to Allow LSCs to Sanction Broader Meets, Amending COVID Bylaws

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

By Dan D’Addona

Although USA Swimming Local Swimming Committees (LSC) can sanction meets that include clubs outside their LSCs, the governing body has decided to implement amendments that place a focus on safety in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. With coronavirus cases spiking in many areas around the United States, USA Swimming took steps to ensure that meets organized at the LSC level placed emphasis on creating a safe competition atmosphere.

At the beginning of October, USA Swimming gave LSCs the opportunity to sanction meets with clubs from outside their LSCs. This decision was made to enable a return to strong competition and to give athletes the chance to race at a higher level than what would be possible within the LSC. However, USA Swimming made a point of requiring the LSCs to abide by all local, state and federal public health guidelines.

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