While FINA, the Mexican Swimming Federation, and the Mexican Olympic Committee have still not offered an explanation for the qualifying times that were used to send Mexican swimmers to the World Aquatics Championships this week in Mexico, one of the swimmers on the World Championships team has responded to a request to verify times.
Mexican swimmer Daniel Ramirez Carranza, who trains in the United States at Oklahoma Baptist University, says that he qualified for the World Championships in the 100 free (50.68) and the 100 fly (53.88), with both times swum at the Mexican National Championships. He also says that his personal bests in those events are 50.1 and 53.7, respectively.
Both of his times from Mexican Nationals were, in fact, faster than the World Championship “B” standards of 51.12 and 54.36, respectively. This means that Ramirez is, in fact, eligible to swim at the World Championships. The issue at hand, however, is that his teammates in those two events should not have been, were Ramirez entered with correct times.
Ramirez was entered in the meet with a time of 49.38 in the 100 free and a 52.50 in the 100 fly, which fall .01 and .02 seconds, respectively, under the FINA “A” standard. By pushing his times under the FINA “A” standard, it allowed Mexico to enter a second swimmer in those events (Mateo Gonzalez in the 100 fly, who’s entered with a 52.49 that there’s no evidence of; and Lorenzo Loria in the 100 free with a 49.38, that there’s no evidence of).
When asked specifically if he has ever swum the entry times that were sent to FINA for the World Championships, Ramirez said that no he hasn’t, but that “the Mexican Federation sends those times.”
Ramirez’s comments indicate that he was unaware of what times would be used for the World Championships, and that all he knew was that he had, in fact, qualified for the meet within the boundaries of the FINA qualifying rules.
Ramirez placed 50th in the 100 free in 50.70, and Loria was 58th in 51.18. The 100 fly prelims have not yet been swum.
Shocking and to think that FINA upholds the standards by appointing a Mexican representative on the TSC. Perhaps they thought they wouldn’t get caught or it would be fixed by their representative??
FINA never ceases to amaze. How are they allowed to get away with this nonsense? Does no one say anything? Are there no consequences?
I can’t imagine how FINA could let this happen without money changing hands.