‘Worst nightmare’: Australian swimming team could be stripped of Olympic medals after athlete tests positive for banned substance

Six Australian swimmers might have their medals from the 2012 London games stripped after a retesting of one of the team members revealed the presence of the banned diuretic – furosemide.

Brenton Rickard, a member of the Australian bronze medal winning 4x100m medley team, tested positive for a masking agent which doesn’t have a performance-enhancing effect, but helps to hide the presence of doping.

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Rickard denied taking prohibited medicine stressing that the re-analysis of his doping probe containing the concentration of furosemide found was “exceedingly small.”

“As you know I would never, ever knowingly or deliberately take a banned substance without a TUE,” he said in an email to his teammates.

“It is not acceptable within my own personal values, nor ever acceptable within the culture of our team.I have always abhorred doping within the sport so you can imagine how sickened and horrified I am to find myself in this predicament. This is my worst nightmare,” Rickard added.

If found guilty, the athlete and the rest of his teammates would be stripped of their Olympic bronze medals despite Rickard having taken part just in the heats and not in the medal winning race.