One of the world’s leading swimming coaches has called for a “nuts and bolts” investigation into his sport because he says it is not clean.
The Briton Jon Rudd, who guided the Plymouth-based Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte to Olympic gold at London 2012, also warned that swimming’s governing body, Fina, “risked losing respect” if it did not begin an immediate inquiry into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the sport.
Russia has had 27 swimmers banned during the past five years – including Meilutyte’s main rival Yuliya Efimova, who faces a possible lifetime ban after testing positive for a banned substance for the second time in her career. However, Bigg believes that the problem is wider than one country.
“There’s no doubt in my mind we’re not a clean sport,” Rudd told BBC Sport. ”It was a shock the first time Yuliya tested positive and it’s disappointing a talented athlete has chosen this route to try and achieve her ambitions.”
Rudd, who was the head coach for England Swimming during the 2014 Commonwealth Games, added: “At the moment there are lots of question marks about several nations so let’s open it up and let’s see the nuts and bolts of swimming.
“If we were to have the level of scrutiny and investigation in swimming that we’ve seen in athletics, then the only people who would be against it would be those who have something to hide.
“Fina have to be behind that and they have to be strong or they lose credibility and respect.”
However, Fina’s executive director, Cornel Marculescu, insisted that a large-scale investigation into drug cheats was not needed. “I think there is a problem, but in swimming it is not a big problem,” he told the BBC. “People say ‘now it’s your turn’, but we are doing everything we can and have nothing to hide.
“This is a battle we will not win but we will fight and fight – no matter what the level of athlete or the nation they come from.”
