After 8 hours of deliberation, NADA (the Austrian anti-doping agency) came back with another postponement in the case of 22-year old IM’er Dinko Jukic.
The hearings surround a refusal by the 22-year old to give testing samples before a May 24th training session. When a testing official showed up at his Vienna training grounds, Jukic is reported to have told him that he would submit to testing after training, and then jump in the pool and swim off. The testing official, following proper protocol, called his supervisor and left the training center.
Under standard testing rules, a failure to submit to a test is treated as a failed test. This would mean Jukic would be facing up to a two-year suspension.
The reason why said suspension has not yet been handed out is that Jukic and his attorney are claiming that the hygiene at the pool were not suitable for the test that would have included both urine and blood samples.
Not a whole lot of Jukic’s argument has become public but there are three big questions that need to be answered:
1) Did he give a lack of hygiene as a reason to the tester at the time, or was it only sung after the fact?
2) Would the facility have been more suitable for testing after his training, or did he intend to move the testing elsewhere?
3) In what sense were the facilities, which were suitable for training, unhygienic?
It’s hard to pass judgment without hearing the answer to those questions.
Every athlete has a right to have the tests taken and samples handled in a clean environment. Besides which, what could he have been hoping to dodge by taking the test after practice, given that two hours is unlikely to affect the results of a blood test like it would one of urine?
My gut reaction is that this was a case of an young athlete being in a poor mood before a training session, and perhaps expecting the testing agent to wait or else not realizing the consequences. Still, this case is going to hinge on whether or not he can prove his charge of the lack of appropriate hygiene. Jukic and his attorney have brought forward an additional witness, but it’s not clear what she information she was sharing.
A suspension of any length would negate his results since the May 22 missed test, including a 7th-place in the 200 IM and 12th in the 200 IM at the World Championships. As a part of the 9th-place Austrian 800 free relay, that result would be lost as well.
The committee will now make their decision either October 11th or 24th, according to the Austrian News site news.at. Jukic did not participate in the 2010 FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup, though with his skill in short course, it’s possible that he could choose to this year.
The 22-year old is a three-time European Long Course Medalist, and at the 2008 Short Course World Championships, he scored bronze in the 400 IM.
