Tokyo Olympian Michael Brinegar is out of the men’s 1,500m freestyle heats on the final day of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials preliminaries after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled in favor of the Anti-Doping Agency’s blood doping allegations. United States (USADA) for a three-month period in 2022. This means Brinegar faces a four-year ban.
USADA claims Brinegar, now 24, blood doped based on test results from June, July and August 2022 after the 2022 World Championships that were above the benchmark for erythropoietin (EPO).
Brinegar was originally scheduled to compete at these Worlds, but withdrew after contracting COVID-19 and says the testing took place during “a period of time when I wasn’t training.”
In that same statement, Brinegar said he was informed of the allegations by email from USADA “24 hours before (he) was about to swim the 1500m on the first day of the International Team Trials in Indianapolis ago is a year old” to 2023. US nationals.
This means that on June 26, Brinegar allegedly received an email informing him that there were anomalies in his athlete’s biological passport that resulted in an abnormal passport result. USADA considers adverse Passport results to be reliable information for opening a case against an athlete.
This was a three-month period before Brinegar began training at Ohio State in October 2022. Since then, Brinegar has moved to train at The Swim Team with Marc Schubert, with whom he has trained on and off for the past nine years. Brinegar officially joined TST after the 2023 U.S. National Championships.
Brinegar said USADA told him that if he contested the finding, he would face a four-year ban that would be reduced to two years if he did not contest. He said he was also informed that “if I denounced someone else, my sentence could be reduced by an additional year.”
“I was devastated. But knowing I hadn’t cheated, I chose to fight,” he said.
An independent arbitrator ruled in favor of Brinegar in November 2023, but USADA appealed the decision to CAS. The CAS decision to uphold USADA’s initial findings was issued yesterday, June 22, the day before Brinegar was scheduled to race the 1,500m freestyle in Indianapolis.
UPDATE: If an athlete decides to challenge a USADA decision, the first step in the process is an independent arbitrator. In this case, the arbitrator ruled in favor of Brinegar in early December 2023, which is why he was eligible to compete in the Portugal Open Water World Cup that month.
Schubert told SwimSwam:
“As Michael Brinegar’s coach for nine years, I fully support his innocence. It makes no sense for an athlete to take drugs during an eight-week break (without training) while recovering from COVID. It was during this period that he was tested. Additionally, I am shocked that USADA offered to reduce his sentence to two years if he did not fight the suspension. Why would an innocent athlete accept this offer? Additionally, they offered him a further penalty reduction if he reported athletes he knew were cheating. Why would an innocent athlete accept these offers? I support Michael and the Brinegar family in their fight against USADA and these unjust accusations.
Brinegar finished 17th in the 400 freestyle heats (3:51.53) and 12th in the 800 freestyle heats (8:00.15) earlier at the trials. He was ranked third in the 1500 freestyle.
Below is Brinegar’s full statement along with what he shared on Instagram.
Full statement from Michael Brinegar:
“As an Olympian and the son of an Olympic swimmer whose U.S. women’s team faced a systematically doping East German team, cheating is a betrayal of everything I was taught and of everything I stand for. I am deeply disappointed by the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and by USADA’s accusations which are completely unfounded.
Almost exactly a year ago, 24 hours before I was set to swim the 1500m on the first day of the International Team Trials in Indianapolis, I received an email from USADA. In the email, USADA claimed that the test results from July, August and September 2022 were proof that I was blood doping. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. If I contested the finding, I would be subject to a 4-year ban, or the ban would be reduced to two years if I did not contest the finding. Additionally, if I reported someone else, my sentence could be reduced by an additional year. I was devastated. But knowing I hadn’t cheated, I chose to fight.
Although the tests still came back negative for all banned substances, USADA suggests that I was blood doping during a time when I was not training and recovering from COVID-19. I was preparing to compete in my first 25k at the World Championships in Budapest at the end of June, but withdrew from the Worlds after contracting COVID. Given that I had already missed the biggest competition of the year, it is absurd to suggest that I would then indulge in blood doping while taking my first extended break from training in years.
I have never used any banned substances and my commitment to competing under fair and equal conditions is unwavering. After an independent arbitrator initially ruled in my favor in late November 2023, I turned my attention to realizing my dream of representing my country at the Paris Olympics. In early January, I received notice that USADA was appealing the arbitrator’s decision in my favor and had to prove my innocence once again. I tried to refocus and started training for the pool events and was looking forward to competing in the 1500m in my home state.
Again, about a year later, 24 hours before I was scheduled to swim the 1500m in the preliminaries, I received an email yesterday stating that CAS had ruled in favor of USADA. I am devastated to be unable to compete today due to the CAS decision based on faulty assumptions and misinterpretation of the facts.
I will continue to seek justice in this matter and thank everyone for their support and understanding during this difficult time.