Was Michelle Smith/de Brun guilty?

Atlanta are 5 hours behind no? Maybe the poster was a kid at the time, I remember being let stay up to watch by my parents. The last medal she won the bronze was definitely at some time in the evening over there.

foggy_lad wrote: »

I'll always remember the look on the american swimmers face when she finished behind smith when she won her third gold medal, the american looked seriously pissed.

The closest American in that race finished 6th. Michelle Smith had nothing to do with that swimmer not winning the race or a medal for that matter.

foggy_lad wrote: »

I still feel that Michelle smith winning was so upsetting to the Americans on home soil that they created most of the media buzz and confusion over tests and results and could even have tampered with samples in an attempt to have smith disqualified so their own swimmer could claim what they considered was rightfully hers/theirs.

Smith did not test positive in Atlanta.

The first team to smell a rat was the Dutch swim team. The Netherlands protested to prevent Smith from even competing in Atlanta on the grounds the she only managed to swim the qualifying times after the deadline. FINA dismissed the protest and let her compete. Her previous times were not fast enough to secure participation in the Olympics. The Australian papers then got a hold of the story and ran with it. The times she swam in the lead up to Atlanta were so drastically improved from her previous bests that it was bound to arouse suspicion. Less than a year earlier she couldn't even manage to finish in the top 25 in the UK. The speculation was afoot before she even hit the water. The American media did not really address the rumours until towards the end of the meet when they started asking Smith directly about the accusations. The Australian media were the harshest on Smith implying that her cheating was a foregone conclusion.

When Smith was in her late teens she was routinely beaten by other teens in the country. None of them were world class but she kept going in the sport whereas they went on to other things. The best Irish swimmers today are leagues ahead of Smith in talent without a doubt, such as Fiona Doyle and Gráinne Murphy. Kids that had talent from the off.

grenache wrote: »

Are you saying the American (Evans was her name I think) looked drunk?

Smith and Janet Evans never competed against each other in Atlanta.

Janet Evans was past her prime and didn't even qualify for the 400 final. Only the 800 where she was well beaten by her compatriot. She likely only kept going in the sport to participate in a home Olympics. The only reason she is even associated with Smith in Atlanta is because when she was asked by journalists about Smith she acknowledged there were rumours swirling on deck.