Swimmer Jessica Hardy tests positive for steroids

The test indicated that the 21-year-old Californian used the banned agent Clenbuterol at the trials.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gary Hall Jr. thinks the sport of swimming has its share of doping cheats just like baseball and track and field. In recent years, though, swimming has avoided the widespread scandals that have damaged other sports.

Some, like USA Swimming chief Chuck Wielgus, believe a culture of fair play and education is partly responsible.

“Within the culture of swimming, if you’re doing something you shouldn’t be doing, we want to catch you and throw you out of the sport,” he said. “In other sports, it’s about excuses and justifications and being innocent until you’re proven guilty.

“Our athletes are very informed about what drugs can do when they attack your system, what drugs are illegal.”

Wielgus’ comments at the U.S. Olympic trials earlier this month may prove prophetic in light of swimmer Jessica Hardy testing positive for the banned anabolic agent Clenbuterol at the trials.

Her attorney, Howard Jacobs, confirmed the drug positive Thursday.

The swimmer’s agent, Evan Morganstein, has said he was told Hardy had two negative tests sandwiched around a positive sample at the trials.

Hardy, a 21-year-old swimmer from Long Beach, qualified for the Beijing Olympics in two individual events — the 100-meter breaststroke and 50 freestyle — and the 400 free relay. She was a strong contender to medal in her specialty, the breaststroke.

Hardy is at home with her family in Southern California while her case unfolds after she left the U.S. training camp at Stanford.

The American team departs Friday for Singapore, where it will train until Aug. 4 before leaving for Beijing. The Olympic swimming competition begins Aug. 9.

Wielgus said USA Swimming has been notified of the anti-doping case involving Hardy, whom he did not mention by name Thursday.

“The matter is being handled by USADA and we are hopeful that the matter will be resolved expeditiously,” he said in a statement.

Typically, a first-time offense results in a two-year ban.

Hardy’s case recalls that of Jessica Foschi, who in 1995 tested positive for the anabolic steroid mesterolone at the U.S. nationals in Pasadena, Calif.

Foschi, then 15, denied knowingly taking the drug. The Court for Arbitration in Sport upheld her positive test for steroids, but reduced a two-year international ban against the Long Island, N.Y., swimmer to six months. The case was resolved in time for her to compete in the 1996 Olympic trials, but she didn’t make the team.