Olympic gold medallist Brooke Hanson says she witnessed cheating early in her swimming career.
Hanson, now retired, represented Australia in swimming from the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada until late 2007 when she gave away the sport aged 29.
Looking back to her formative years as a breaststroke contender, Hanson recalled a moment at a FINA Swimming World Cup in the late 90s when she realised she wasn’t competing on a level playing field.
“No names, but I was at World Cup in the late 90s,” Hanson told Sportsday NSW.
“It was the 100-metre breaststroke final, I have looked up and I’ve finished fourth place.
“To get out of the pool you’ve got to go under the lane ropes, I’ve gone under the lane rope, under the next lane rope then out onto the pool deck.
“In front of me was a Chinese swimmer whose back was covered in a lot of acne, the jaw was really sticking out – more acne, no boobs, hair under the armpits and down at the bikini line and spoke with a really deep voice.
“She gets out of the pool, ducks into the crowd and disappears.”
Hanson says once that Chinese swimmer disappeared, another person emerged from the crowd to complete the mandatory drug test, duping officials by wearing the exact same goggles and swimming cap.
“Out of the crowd comes this tiny, small, Chinese swimmer that was dry – not even wet – in the same swimming cap and goggles and goes over to the drug testers and says, ‘Yes, I just won’,” Hanson explained.
“I’m there going, ‘I just got fourth, I missed the podium and you’re not the swimmer I raced’.
“They just sent this other small person out that wasn’t on any performance-enhancing (stimulants).
“Our management and everyone was trying to fight for that moment that, ‘these aren’t the swimmers we raced’.”
Hanson believes that the incident led to changes at major swimming events, with the same athletes that were cheating eventually getting caught once alterations to the drug testing regimes were made.
“We then go onto the World Championships, and they moved the crowd further away to make sure the drug testers were standing there as soon as the swimmers came out,” Hanson said.
“Eventually those athletes that were the cheats got done for performance-enhancing drugs.”
Hanson retired as an Olympic gold and silver medallist, a nine-time World Championships gold medallist and two-time Commonwealth Games silver medallist.