Jessica, We Hardy Knew You

By Joe Pietaro
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: July 28, 2008

Olympic Swimmer’s Positive Test for Clen Jeopardizes Her Beijing Chances

Claiming her innocence while her lawyer states the positive test for Clenbuterol contained only “low amounts” of the drug, swimmer Jessica Hardy ‘s dreams of winning Olympic gold in Beijing this summer are in doubt. After testing positive in both her “A” and “B” tests following meets during Olympic trials on July 4, the 21 year-old began spinning damage control.

For her to fail a ‘sandwich’ unrinalysis after testing negative on July 1 and 6, Hardy is going to try to use them as leverage against the middle test. How far that will go remains to be seen, especially with the back-up ‘B’ test coming out the same. Her fate will be determined by proceedings that will begin in the near future.

Clen can clear the body and is not usually detected through the urine 72 hours later. That would make it appear that Hardy used the substance right after her July 1 test, or sometime the next day. It appeared to be out of her system on July 6 with the negative test, so that leaves a small window of when she could have used it.

“I’m innocent,” Hardy told reporters via telephone in the company of her attorney, Howard Jacobs. “That’s all I can say to everybody. Whether or not people choose to believe me, I’m innocent.” Not the easiest sell, especially with Howard basically admitting that the positive test was correct by claiming the low amounts. Low or high, Clen is a banned substance and if Hardy was caught using it, she is wrong. Only making it worse on herself by denying the obvious, Hardy should also look into finding more convincing counsel.

A check of her official website, www.jessicahardy.net showed that the page was ‘not found.’

Photo credit: theage.com