Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Explaining whereabouts rules for athletes after swimmer Penny Oleksiak's ban

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Explaining whereabouts rules for athletes after swimmer Penny Oleksiak's ban · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Penny Alexia, Canada's most decorated female olympian, has accepted a
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  Speaker 1: ban from competition until twenty twenty seven. It stems from
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  Speaker 1: three so called whereabouts failures issued by the World Anti
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  Speaker 1: Doping Agency. So athletes must provide a daily sixty minute
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  Speaker 1: availability window ninety days in advance to be tested, regardless
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  Speaker 1: of where in the world they are. The twenty five
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  Speaker 1: year old from Toronto will have any competitive results from
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  Speaker 1: June sixteenth onward disqualified. That includes medals, points and prizes.
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  Speaker 1: Let's discuss this a little bit more with Brittany McClain Campbell.
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  Speaker 1: Brittany's a former Olympic teammate at Penny ALEXIAX and the
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  Speaker 1: host of The Ready Room on CBC Sports. Brittany, thank
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  Speaker 1: you very much for joining us. Do we know what's
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  Speaker 1: behind these three failures to be available for the whereabouts checks?
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  Speaker 2: All we've been told at this point is that there
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  Speaker 2: was an error on.
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  Speaker 3: Kind of the up keep of them, So to provide context,
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  Speaker 3: you did a great job breaking it down, but each
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  Speaker 3: athlete will have to provide an hour window every single day. Naturally,
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  Speaker 3: things change in life. You can have an appointment run long,
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  Speaker 3: you can have a flight that runs late.
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  Speaker 2: There are so many levels to this.
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  Speaker 3: You can grab a bite with a group of friends
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  Speaker 3: and all of a sudden, your time window might be
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  Speaker 3: needing to be adjusted. There is a system in place
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  Speaker 3: to be able to adjust timing, but unfortunately there is
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  Speaker 3: still room for air. So in this situation, we know
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  Speaker 3: that Penny has received three infractions. So basically she either
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  Speaker 3: wasn't where she said she would be during that one hour,
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  Speaker 3: or she missed inputed information. So basically maybe there was
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  Speaker 3: a spelling error or an error on the actual information
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  Speaker 3: input in. But she has remained very firm in the
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  Speaker 3: stance that she is still a clean athlete. She believes
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  Speaker 3: in clean sports and this was an error unfortunately, to
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  Speaker 3: miss testing.
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  Speaker 1: I'll tell you what I've heard from some other Olympic athletes,
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  Speaker 1: and you tell me if you agree with this, that
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  Speaker 1: one violation could happen. This is kind of an onerous requirement,
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  Speaker 1: and you know things can happen. You know, once twice
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  Speaker 1: a little bit more difficult. But once you have those
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  Speaker 1: two failures, third is kind of unimaginable. If you're still
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  Speaker 1: a competitive swimmer who wants to remain eligible, what's your
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  Speaker 1: perspective on that?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, and you're absolutely right.
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  Speaker 3: I mean it's a huge responsibility put on the athletes,
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  Speaker 3: but at the end of the day, there aren't excuses.
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  Speaker 2: This is something she would have been doing since she
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  Speaker 2: was sixteen.
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  Speaker 3: Years old, fifteen maybe even so it's been almost a decade,
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  Speaker 3: and so this is something the athletes are very accustomed to,
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  Speaker 3: and as much as it can be inconvenient or things
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  Speaker 3: can happen, it is entirely up to them and a
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  Speaker 3: responsibility of them if they want to compete at this
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  Speaker 3: level and keep the clean sport kind of understanding still prevalent.
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  Speaker 2: So yes, it's disappointing.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, I completely understand why people do think that way.
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  Speaker 2: I think mistakes happen.
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  Speaker 3: I think there are some challenges though when it comes
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  Speaker 3: to I don't think everyone fully understands, like having to
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  Speaker 3: put down an hour of your day every single day,
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  Speaker 3: the you know, a flight, like I said, the example
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  Speaker 3: with a flight, or one time I was stuck in
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  Speaker 3: traffic and my mom called me that they were at
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  Speaker 3: our house. You know, you better get home, and I'm
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  Speaker 3: racing the clock and I made it in time. But
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  Speaker 3: we think the human error element is absolutely sustainable, and
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  Speaker 3: we talk about one we talk about two, you're definitely
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  Speaker 3: on the edge, but when you know you've already had two,
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  Speaker 3: I think this is definitely disappointing to have happened with
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  Speaker 3: a third strike. And I definitely think it's a good
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  Speaker 3: reminder to athletes. I know that's one of the basis
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  Speaker 3: that Swimmy Canada has been discussing for their athletes. This
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  Speaker 3: is also a bit of a wake up call and
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  Speaker 3: understanding that hopefully it's a lesson that everyone can learn
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  Speaker 3: that not only are these situations existing, but there are
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  Speaker 3: consequences to the actions and this is what is going
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  Speaker 3: to take place for Penny two years out of the water.
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  Speaker 1: I really appreciate you agreeing to speak with us. I
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  Speaker 1: know it's always difficult for I mean, it's great to
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  Speaker 1: have athletes who are helping with the media because we
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  Speaker 1: gain your insight. It's sometimes difficult for the athletes because
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  Speaker 1: you you know, you know the people you're reporting on,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Penny Alexiac. But I have to I have
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  Speaker 1: to ask you this, like I think for a lot
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  Speaker 1: of us outside the world of competitive swimming, given everything
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  Speaker 1: we've heard about missing three of these whereabouts checks, and
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  Speaker 1: it just sounds suspicious. It sounds problematic. It sounds like like,
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  Speaker 1: you know, could this be because of doping? So how
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  Speaker 1: would you respond to that?
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  Speaker 3: It's a very fair question, Ian, I think everybody has
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  Speaker 3: different areas of question behind this story. I think the
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  Speaker 3: one thing that I firmly believe in I think back
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  Speaker 3: to the Penny that I know, the respect I have
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  Speaker 3: for her as an athlete, and also the tea made
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  Speaker 3: that I experienced watching her win Olympic gold. And I
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  Speaker 3: also think to everything she's achieved for the country. Nobody's perfect,
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  Speaker 3: and this is really unfortunate, and I think she would
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  Speaker 3: be the first to admit that it's really unfortunate. But
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  Speaker 3: I think I acknowledge everything she's done for the sport,
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  Speaker 3: and I do, for me believe maybe it is on
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  Speaker 3: you know, how I know her as a person, and
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  Speaker 3: maybe it is on how much I believe in clean sport.
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  Speaker 3: But I do believe that Penny Alexiak is you know,
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  Speaker 3: a fair and a deserving individual, and I do believe
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  Speaker 3: that this is something she can get through. But I
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  Speaker 3: totally understand why this changes people's impressions of the memories
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  Speaker 3: they have of her. And no matter what, even though
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  Speaker 3: the band says for three miss tests. It is still
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  Speaker 3: titled and labeled, and like you said, I work in
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  Speaker 3: the media now I understand that it is labeled that
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  Speaker 3: Penny Alexiak receives a World Anti Doping Agency fan and
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  Speaker 3: not everyone has the ability to read into the context,
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  Speaker 3: and not everyone's going to give her the benefit of
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  Speaker 3: the doubt. But to me, as a teammate, as a
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  Speaker 3: believer in clean sport, I am giving Penny the benefit
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  Speaker 3: of the doubt. And I do believe that this was
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  Speaker 3: a mistake, and I do believe that she's done really.
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  Speaker 2: Exceptional things for the sport in this country.
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  Speaker 3: And yeah, I just it's it is sad, and I mean,
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  Speaker 3: I wish we weren't talking about this, but I understand
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  Speaker 3: that this is a repercussion of her actions and that
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  Speaker 3: this is kind of a reminder to hopefully a lot
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  Speaker 3: of people to not let this happen to them.
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  Speaker 1: So well said, and we appreciate the context so much.
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  Speaker 1: That is Penny Alexia's former teammate and Olympic medalist Brittany
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  Speaker 1: McLean Campbell, thank you so much.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Ian