Two-time Australian Olympian Thomas Fraser-Holmes has been handed a hefty 12-month ban by FINA for three missed doping tests, the Daily Telegraph reports. The ban will cause him to miss next year’s Commonwealth Games taking place in his home country.
Sports lawyer Tim Fuller will act for Fraser-Holmes and plans to appeal FINA’s ban immediately to the Court Arbitration for Sport. Fuller says, despite the missed tests, Fraser-Holmes has a ‘clean’ record.
Over a three-month period athletes must provide an hour-long time-slot when they can be tested by FINA and ASADA drugs testers unannounced. Missing a test counts as one strike, and three strikes within 12 months can lead to a two-year ban from sport.
Fraser-Holmes isn’t the only Australian to be guilty of missed tests, as last month it was reported he and two others were in hot water. 2016 Olympic silver medalist Madeline Groves and open water Olympian Jarrod Poort are also facing potential bans for allegedly missing three tests over a 12-month period as well.
Fraser-Holmes, who is currently in Monaco preparing to compete on the Mare Nostrum Tour, is said to be hopeful of getting the ban overturned.
This will have no impact on Australia’s World Championship roster, as Fraser-Holmes opted out of the Aussie Trials in April in hopes of setting himself up for the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and the Olympics in 2020.
In the case of Groves, her case is ongoing and has yet to be heard by FINA. Fuller, who is also representing Groves, is seeking dismissal of her potential ban.
Along with being a two-time Olympian, Fraser-Holmes has also represented Australia at the last three LC World Championships, winning bronze in the 4×200 free relay in 2015. He also has three Pan Pacific and five Commonwealth Games medals to his name.
Jeez , it seems you all would have been hanging the nearest person if a horse went missing……
Perhaps wait to find out the facts, and just see if it is laziness or poor FINA systems ……there is no suggestion of substance wrong doing.
Is there a better example of a world-class swimmer that regularly makes finals but NEVER makes the podium than TFH? It just seems like he’s always in the mix, but never comes up with the big swim. Between Pan Pacs, Worlds, and the Olympics, he has a grand total of 1 individual medal. Obviously he’s a tremendous swimmer, but this just came to mind when I saw news about him.
As predicted . TFH had enormous talent but could have done better if he was more self centred personality . This might have included not having his parents follow him to the GC . All the Mothers out there – fgs let your sons grow up & cook their own d*** dinner .
Didn’t figure he was a cheater, you learn something new every day
This seems perfectly fair.
I think 3 chances is pretty fair. Come on TFH, top level swimmers need to be tested.
Well you reap what you sow. Aus has held the bar high and must accept responsibility for this. What is going on in the administration? Why are they checking what their charges are up to? It appears that too many are thinking they are above the swamp. Well this shows that you are not and you need to get your act together. A lot of the culture stems from the top perhaps this is advice from the President of Australian Swimming on how to behave.
Might be time for another clean out?
Whilst I would be all in favour of a clean-out of the likes of Sailor Boy from the SAL administration; these issues begin and end with the swimmers themselves. These are not first year rookies on the national team but rather are grown adults and experienced internationals with at least 1 full Olympic cycle behind them.
They are educated on what they need to do; its ludicrous to suggest that they have to have baby-sitters appointed to them. TFH knew he was on 2 strikes, one would have thought he would’ve known that he had to dot his I’s and cross his T’s and make sure he was covering himself …. no matter how inconvenient.
Yes, there was apparently testimony… Read more »
Cannot agree more!!!
BTW, CW what’s your opinion about Michael Diamond’s story?
Said much more succinctly than I could. Swimming is an individual sport, and athletes are responsible for keeping their Whereabouts updated.
Not sure if it has been mentioned here yet, but apparently the sanction for Tommy Fraser-Holmes is effective from Thursday, and is not backdated to the third missed test. According to FINA statistics, Tommy Fraser-Holmes was tested in March, so by deduction the third strike happened before then.
Maybe SAL could impose additional sanctions if swimmers miss tests as a further incentive for swimmers to remember to update their Whereabouts information. Believe athletes already get fined if they miss a test.
If you’re Australian or any other country for that matter you receive a 12 month – 3 year ban for missing tests. If you’re Brazilian, Chinese or Russian and get tested positive for a known steroid or blocker you receive 3 months. That really makes sense. Well done FINA. Dropping the ball
Yet again
While I agree about this ban it’s actually sad that it’s easier to get away from a long suspension if you test positive for something minor than if you miss tests.