Another record For Almeida; Brazil In The Doping Doldrums; & Park’s Doc Must Pay

News Round-Up

Brandonn Almeida, 19, added a South American record to his tally of successes at the Brazil Open and senior championships as the meet wrapped up in Palhoça with Pinheiros taking the team trophy well ahead of Corinthians and Unisanta.

For Corinthians, Almeida, cracked out a 3:49.46 win the 400m freestyle for gold and the continental record inside the (3:49.62 at which the mark had stood to Olympic teammate Leonardo de Deus since last year.

Almeida was a footnote to controversy at the nationals, when Brazilian media reported that his 4:12 victory in the 400m medley would not count as a world junior record because the swim meet did not feature anti-doping tests. Almeida was, in fact, no longer eligible to hold the junior mark, reserved for boys who are 18 or younger by the close of any year.

Correct, it would seem, was the worrying line that there was no anti-doping presence at the first Brazilian swim championships to be held beyond a home Olympic Games in what might well be described as the most controversial of doping years in Games history.

The national swim federation, the Confederação Brasileira de Desportos Aquáticos (CBDA) asked for testing to be conducted by Agência Brasileira de Controle de Dopagem (ABCD) but received no reply, according to Brazilian media reports.

The ABCD has been suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) because Brazil was found wanting when it came to applying the WADA Code in respect of structures required to hold tribunal hearings.

According to the Brazilian Ministry of Sport, ABCD could not conduct testing in Palhoça. A statement for the ministry suggested that Brazil’s swim federation could and should have done mire to ensure testing took place in Palhoca, stating that the federation was obliged to hire an independent testing agency to conduct testing either through or with the knowledge of FINA, …

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