The 2023 version of Vertical Blue, a well-known annual freediving competitors held in Dean’s Blue Gap within the Bahamas, was the topic of a lot hypothesis and controversy within the freediving group. Specifically, the unofficial baggage search of Croatian freediving athletes Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar was carried out by the occasion organizer and fellow freediving athlete William Trubridge on July 4, 2023.
Whereas the Croatian athletes examined destructive in a doping management carried out the identical day, social media customers continued to debate the substances allegedly discovered within the athletes’ baggage: the WADA-banned furosemide, Vertical Blue-banned benzodiazepines, and sildenafil – primarily if the substances are thought of performance-enhancing for freediving. US freediving athlete Tory George was additionally subjected to doping management later that night and is at present in a battle in opposition to what he claims to be a false optimistic in his preliminary outcomes.
Freediving Doping Controversy
After 12 months of intensive investigation, together with over 400 hours of analysis and interviews by writer Kristina Zvaritch, DeeperBlue.com is completely releasing this four-part sequence about doping in freediving. The sequence is impressed by the occasions that preceded the 2023 version of the famend Vertical Blue freediving competitors and its aftermath. Kristina acquired no compensation for this investigation.
The sequence consists of the next articles:
This last article examines how WADA-compliant doping management procedures must be ordered and carried out, evaluating them to Vertical Blue’s July 4th doping management. It additionally covers different unofficial doping controls ordered by Vertical Blue, hears from William Trubridge on how he turned involved with doping and the accused athletes, examines conflicts of curiosity, and analyzes how freediving organizations responded to the 2023 occasion’s baggage search and doping management.
How Trubridge Grew to become Involved with Doping in Freediving
A number of feedback on social media indicated that, whereas the baggage search was mishandled, William Trubridge was nonetheless a pioneer for tackling an issue he noticed rising within the shadows of aggressive freediving – an increase in doping.
I requested Trubridge how he turned involved with doping in freediving.
“For the longest time, most of my profession, I wasn’t involved about doping within the depth disciplines. After which, lately, the wealth of type of anecdotal data and anecdotes about folks doping, and a few of them pretty open, like college students speaking about how their teacher, who’s a high-level freediver, beneficial this or that substance, or folks being seen arriving at full competitions with rucksacks stuffed with prescribed drugs.”
“Info began to pile up, and it turned increasingly more clear that one thing was occurring. That began to turn out to be prevalent, and everybody was speaking about it. However not one of the organizations had been actually doing something about it. That’s after we felt that with a view to defend the sports activities, Vertical Blue would should be a bit extra proactive about countering doping.”
Ordering a Doping Management
First, let’s discover how the World Anti-Doping Company (WADA) conducts doping controls. The WADA ‘Code’ is an important doc that outlines anti-doping tips for sports activities organizations and authorities companies. It goals to create constant anti-doping insurance policies throughout totally different sports activities and be certain that all athletes are held to the identical requirements concerning banned substances and practices.
Ordering a WADA-compliant doping management is just not a easy process that simply anybody can provoke. WADA’s Worldwide Requirements for Testing and Investigations Part 4 – Planning Efficient Testing highlights a fancy course of with many rules concerning every management’s planning, coordination, and documentation. Following worldwide requirements is necessary for compliance with the WADA Code.
Laws are stringent to make sure that controls are truthful, preserve a component of shock, and protect testing integrity.
Threat Evaluation and Check Distribution Plan
It begins with an anti-doping group (ADO) conducting a Threat Evaluation (Article 4.2.1) to find out the probability of doping in a particular sport. The Threat Evaluation is complete—an ADO wants to contemplate 9 factors at minimal, similar to what prohibited athletes would most definitely use, rewards or potential incentives for doping, the historical past of doping within the sport, and extra.
Subsequent, the ADO creates a Check Distribution Plan primarily based on the Threat Evaluation outcomes. They replace this plan commonly all year long, contemplating new data and testing carried out by different ADOs.
Deciding whether or not an athlete is international-level or national-level
Whereas creating the Check Distribution Plan, ADOs have to establish whether or not an athlete is international-level or national-level, in keeping with Article 4.3.1. Since assets are restricted, Worldwide Federations ought to give attention to conducting testing on international-level athletes, whereas nationwide anti-doping organizations (NADOs) ought to give attention to national-level athletes.
Gathering whereabouts data
After selecting which athletes have to be examined, ADOs accumulate athletes’ whereabouts data (Article 4.8). This permits ADOs to find an athlete to conduct No Advance Discover Testing for in-competition and out-of-competition testing. Excessive-level athletes in sports activities are sometimes positioned in Registered Testing Swimming pools, that means they have to present their whereabouts data commonly to allow them to be randomly examined all year long.
As soon as an athlete is chosen for testing, an ADO creates a Testing Order by way of ADAMS (‘Anti-Doping Administration and Administration System’) to be issued to a Pattern Assortment Authority and start the precise doping management.
Administration by way of ADAMS
ADAMS is a device that WADA and ADOs use to make sure efficient monitoring and implementation of anti-doping rules. Each step of the doping course of, together with planning and distribution, athlete whereabouts data, Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs), and outcomes administration, is documented in ADAMS to permit coordination between a number of ADOs and Worldwide Federations within the doping management course of for every athlete.
Doping controls in motion
Doping controls have 4 authorities accountable for totally different components of the particular doping management:
- Testing Authority – The group ordering the pattern assortment.
- Doping Management Coordinator – The anti-doping group (ADO) or third celebration coordinating doping management points.
- Pattern Assortment Authority – The group that gathers athlete samples is accountable for pattern assortment compliance.
- Outcomes Administration Authority – The ADO conducts doping management outcomes administration.
Freediving Doping Controls
Freediving is a small sport with two record-governing our bodies – CMAS (‘World Underwater Federation’) and AIDA (‘Worldwide Affiliation for the Growth of Apnea’).
CMAS is an Worldwide Federation beneath WADA, which suggests it’s accountable for governing freediving on the international stage. CMAS can be a WADA Code Signatory – it should conduct drug assessments, handle outcomes, present schooling, and implement sanctions, all whereas complying with the WADA Code; AIDA is just not but a Code Signatory. CMAS conducts its anti-doping actions by way of the Worldwide Testing Company (ITA), an impartial group that manages anti-doping packages on behalf of Worldwide Federations.
Since CMAS is accountable for international-level freediving athletes, it’s the Testing and Outcomes Administration Authority for freediving doping controls. Nevertheless, it makes use of ITA as its Doping Management Coordinator and a 3rd celebration as a Pattern Assortment Authority.
Beneath are three screenshots of doping management types ordered by CMAS on Croatian freediving athletes Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar, who competed in numerous international locations in 2023 and 2024.
Each high-level worldwide athletes are a part of CMAS’ Registered Testing Pool. They commonly endure doping controls a number of occasions all year long and supply their whereabouts quarterly in order that they are often positioned for out-of-competition testing. Maricic has offered whereabouts data to CMAS since 2018, whereas Klovar started in 2021. The athletes estimate that in 2023 alone, Maricic had 6 to eight in- and out-of-competition assessments, and Klovar had 12 or extra.
Vertical Blue 2023’s July 4th Doping Management
The doping management carried out on Croatian athletes Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar on July 4, 2023, notably differed from their earlier experiences. This management occurred greater than two weeks earlier than Vertical Blue 2023, scheduled for July 20 – 30. Beneath is a photograph of Maricic’s doping management type from July 4th, crammed out equally to Klovar’s and US freediving athlete Tory George’s types.
Discover that the Testing Authority, Pattern Assortment Authority, and Outcomes Administration Authority are listed because the Bahamas Anti-Doping Fee (BADC). Whereas Maricic and Klovar had been certainly current within the Bahamas for Vertical Blue 2023 (which takes place in Dean’s Blue Gap on Lengthy Island), the BADC is a nationwide ADO – it will usually use its assets to check national-level Bahamian athletes somewhat than international-level athletes just like the Croatians.
The primary distinction between the July 4th doping management and the athletes’ earlier controls is {that a} non-public particular person (Vertical Blue organizer and freediving athlete William Trubridge) ordered the management somewhat than the athletes’ Worldwide Federation – CMAS.
Nevertheless, it’s necessary to notice that within the Bahamas Anti-Doping Fee Anti-Doping Guidelines, beneath Article 5.4.1, a provision states, “BADC shall conduct take a look at distribution planning and Testing as required by the Worldwide Normal for Testing and Investigations.” Whether or not the BADC adopted this standards, regardless of a non-public particular person ordering the take a look at, remains to be unclear.
The BADC didn’t reply to my request for remark.
The truth that a non-public particular person ordered the July 4th doping controls might clarify why the pattern assortment course of and outcomes administration procedures had been, as you’ll quickly learn, so significantly totally different from WADA-compliant out-of-competition doping management practices.
First, let’s check out the anti-doping guidelines for Vertical Blue 2023.
Vertical Blue Doping Management Coverage and Procedures doc
The 2023 version of Vertical Blue had a novel component – the VB Doping Management Coverage and Procedures. The doc outlined an additional algorithm and procedures for doping management on the competitors that athletes needed to conform to compete within the occasion, together with further substances that aren’t on WADA’s Prohibited Listing.
Blind settlement
Within the doc’s introduction, athletes had been requested to signal the registration type with out realizing the phrases and circumstances. The second query is, “Do you conform to VB and AIDA coverage concerning doping testing (copies accessible on request)?”
Within the first article of the sequence, I included excerpts from my interview with William Trubridge. Once I requested him why he didn’t hyperlink the Doping Management Coverage and Procedures on to the Google registration type, he said that they in all probability may have performed so, however “in a manner, it’s additionally an indication, as a result of I imply, if somebody is asking to see the insurance policies and procedures and desirous to test them out…I wouldn’t say it’s a pink flag, however it’s simply an additional piece of knowledge, I assume, about that case.”
In different phrases, Trubridge’s assertion means that athletes who requested to evaluate the Doping Management Coverage and Procedures doc can be considered negatively, to various levels, by those that agreed to the principles with out studying them, regardless of the common proper to look at any doc earlier than agreeing to it.
This additionally raises an necessary query – how would an athlete with a prescription for one of many Vertical Blue-only banned substances (similar to benzodiazepines or thioamides) on the Doping Coverage and Procedures doc apply for a TUE beforehand in the event that they didn’t ask to see the doc throughout registration?
Audio recording
In response to level 6 within the Vertical Blue Doping Management Coverage and Procedures, “For readability in any potential litigation, the doping officer/AIDA decide might document audio of any communications with the athlete upon presenting themselves and throughout the testing.”
William Trubridge secretly recorded audio of the Croatian athletes throughout VB2023’s July 4th baggage search, which was later uploaded to Vertical Blue’s YouTube channel.
Nevertheless, William Trubridge secretly recorded the Croatian athletes throughout the July 4th baggage search utilizing his cellular phone. He or a staff member then uploaded chosen snippets of the Croatian dialog to a YouTube video accompanied by English translations. Observe that Trubridge is neither a doping officer nor an AIDA decide.
Doping management administration
Level 2 within the doc states that “athletes should adjust to cheap requests for testing by an official WADA doping officer or AIDA decide, when visited at their residence tackle or any tackle the place they’re actively training freediving associated actions.”
But on the third competitors day, William Trubridge carried out a number of the male athletes’ unofficial doping controls with residence drug assessments. As soon as once more, Trubridge is neither a WADA doping officer nor an AIDA decide.
I’ll talk about this unofficial doping management in additional element later within the article.
Outcomes disclosure
Level 8 within the doc mentions that if an athlete assessments optimistic for a PED, they are going to be faraway from the occasion with no refund and banned from Vertical Blue occasions for all times, and “except there’s a dispute and/or evaluation of the B-sample, the athlete’s title may also be disclosed publicly and to the AIDA Technical Committee.” A ‘B pattern’ is the second pattern collected in a doping management.
Nonetheless, as detailed within the second article of this sequence, these protocols had been violated in Tory George’s case. AIDA Worldwide was knowledgeable of George’s Hostile Analytical Discovering (AAF) – a preliminary end result that signifies the presence of a banned substance in his July 4th doping management pattern however not but confirmed as an ‘anti-doping rule violation’ – earlier than George himself acquired his outcomes. This untimely disclosure denied George the chance to dispute the findings or request a B pattern evaluation earlier than different events had been notified.
Non-public competitors guidelines
Because the 2023 version of Vertical Blue was held beneath AIDA guidelines, I requested 2024 AIDA Worldwide President Sasa Jeremic if AIDA Worldwide permits non-public competitors organizers to make their very own guidelines for his or her competitions.
“Organizers mustn’t impose any further guidelines, and judges and organizers work collectively to make sure that AIDA guidelines usually are not overruled in AIDA competitions,” she instructed me. “AIDA Judges are taking care that each one AIDA guidelines are adopted and utilized within the competitions.”
“We all the time encourage athletes to register for AIDA competitions by way of the AIDA web site straight and get knowledgeable with guidelines and rules which are relevant to this competitors,” Jeremic continued. “Nevertheless – we don’t have management over paperwork that athletes signal straight with organizers.”
How athletes had been chosen for doping management at Vertical Blue 2023
I requested Trubridge why he selected Vitomir Maricic, Petar Klovar, and Tory George for doping management and the 2 Croatian athletes for a baggage search. He instructed me that different athletes additionally underwent doping controls however that he may solely talk about Maricic, Klovar, and George as a result of they’d spoken about it publicly on social media.
Nevertheless, it’s necessary to notice that solely George broke the information on social media himself—Vertical Blue introduced the information of the baggage search and doping management on the Croatian athletes through Instagram.
“All the athletes who had been examined with low season testing had been both World File holders…or there was a considerable amount of anecdotal type of knowledge that made them a extra larger threat athlete for doping. So, subsequently, he [Tory George] is in that second class.”
As for Maricic and Klovar, Trubridge instructed me, “There’s a wealth of information that goes into making a choice about who will get examined or not. And all of that knowledge, none of it’s black and white within the sense that it’s 100% incriminating, as a result of if it was, then that may have been used already to incriminate them. So it’s by definition going to be type of anecdotal.”
“However when there’s a hundred items of anecdotal details about this athlete and 0 about this different athlete, then clearly this one is a greater, extra environment friendly use of the assets the funds that we have now for testing.”
“I don’t suppose it’s a good suggestion for me to enter all of that details about like there’s this one time when he mentioned this, there’s that is different time when he was seen doing this, there’s this different time when somebody mentioned this, I imply a few of it’s on the market publicly.” He then proceeded to inform me an excerpt from Mateusz Malina’s doc titled “The Undisputed Fact” (the unique has been eliminated, however you possibly can nonetheless discover it right here).
Malina refers to 3 athletes – Vitomir Maricic, Petar Klovar, and David Custic – because the “Rijeka trio,” stating all of them skilled collectively. Custic broke a Dynamic with Bifins (swimming for distance in a pool with bifins) World File, then later failed a doping take a look at for steroids. Malina mentioned that Maricic claimed to be Custic’s coach.
“All of them began collectively, and so they had been coaching collectively,” Trubridge instructed me as he completed the story. “So then, by itself, that’s only one instance. However there’s a wealth of knowledge like this that makes a reasonably clear image that that is an athlete who’s at a a lot larger threat of doping to this different athlete for whom there may be zero anecdotal type of knowledge like that.”
Pattern Assortment
The Croatian athletes concerned within the July 4th doping management – Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar – observed some key variations between the pattern assortment course of and their earlier doping controls.
Athlete whereabouts
In an official out-of-competition doping management, the Pattern Assortment Authority informs the doping management officer (DCO) of an athlete’s whereabouts at a given time (Part 5.3 – Conducting Out-of-Competitors Testing within the WADA Doping Management Officer’s Coaching Instrument Package Guide). With this data, the DCO can find the athlete for testing or notify them through telephone name that they’ve been chosen for doping management and to report back to the doping management station instantly.
As described within the first article of this sequence, within the case of the July 4th doping management, the DCO confirmed up on the unmarked constructing the place Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar had been getting their baggage searched by William Trubridge and Royal Bahamas cops. That is extremely irregular, contemplating the athletes couldn’t have listed the constructing’s tackle of their whereabouts data. Since William Trubridge and Vertical Blue employees deliberate and executed the baggage search, they might have solely notified the DCO of the athletes’ location.
Moreover, Trubridge met Maricic and Klovar on the airport once they landed. Whereas Maricic and Klovar have their journey plans listed of their ADAMS places, solely WADA and related ADOs would have entry to them. So, how did Trubridge know when the athletes would land? He couldn’t have gotten that data from ADAMS, nor may anybody at an ADO lawfully give him that data, as it will be a extreme breach of athlete privateness.
Tory George is just not a part of ADAMS and has by no means been requested to offer data on his whereabouts. This raises an necessary query: How did the DCO know George can be on Lengthy Island on July 4th for the baggage search and doping management? This date was greater than two weeks earlier than the beginning of Vertical Blue 2023, which was scheduled to start on July twentieth.
Nevertheless, it does appear that some forethought was given to finding athletes’ whereabouts. The VB Doping Management Coverage and Procedures states that “athletes should provide their present residence (residential) tackle as a part of registration to the occasion.” Nonetheless, it didn’t ask athletes to specify once they would arrive on the island, leaving my earlier questions unanswered.
DCO’s expired identification badge
Vertical Blue posted a submit on their official Instagram account to “dispel false claims made publicly.” Certainly one of these claims was that whereas the DCO current on the July 4th doping management had an expired identification card, athletes scanned the cardboard’s QR code, which confirmed it was legitimate till 2025.
I requested the athletes whether or not they scanned the QR code to confirm the expiration date. Maricic mentioned the DCO briefly confirmed his ID to begin the method however didn’t supply the athletes to scan it or clarify the expiration date.
In the meantime, George instructed me that in his personal July 4th doping management, he tried to scan the QR code. When that failed because of the plastic enclosure overlaying a part of the QR code, he instructed the DCO that the ID badge ought to in all probability come from the plastic cowl. The DCO took his ID again with none additional feedback or explanations.
Nevertheless, WADA’s 2021 Code Implementation Assist Program Pointers for Pattern Assortment – Chapter 2, Part 3 explicitly states, “In case personalised IDs have been issued by a TA/SCA (Testing Authority/Pattern Assortment Authority) to its SCP (Pattern Assortment Personnel), the TA/SCA ought to handle the administration of such IDs to make sure they’re renewed prematurely of the expiry date of the ID. SCP mustn’t conduct periods with expired IDs.”
Because the BADC was the Pattern Assortment Authority, it’s the BADC’s accountability to resume the IDs of its personnel earlier than they expire. Moreover, in keeping with protocol, the DCO mustn’t have carried out the doping management with an expired ID.
Lacking authorization letter
Moreover, George knowledgeable me that he was not introduced with an authorization letter for his doping management, which is required in WADA’s Worldwide Requirements for Testing and Investigations Article 5.3.3, “Pattern Assortment Personnel shall have official documentation, offered by the Pattern Assortment Authority, evidencing their authority to gather a Pattern from the Athlete, similar to an authorization letter from the Testing Authority.” An authorization letter might be generated and printed straight from a Testing Order in ADAMS.
Moreover, in keeping with WADA’s Doping Management Officer Report Kind, in Part 4 – Pattern Assortment, the DCO should test a ‘sure’ or ‘no’ checkbox stating “Had been the athletes proven the letter(s) of authority?” It goes on to state “if answered ‘No’ the DCO ought to present an evidence for not displaying all Athletes the letter(s) of authority.”
Maricic additionally didn’t recall seeing this doc in his doping management or listening to an evidence of why it wasn’t introduced to him.
Outcomes Administration
The BADC was listed because the Outcomes Administration Authority on all three athletes’ July 4th doping controls.
Let’s first look at how Tory George acquired notification of his preliminary outcomes.
Unofficial notification of Tory George’s outcomes
George had beforehand said that “the optimistic results of my drug take a look at was not communicated within the appropriate manner.” His entire story was the topic of the second article on this sequence, “Freediving Doping Controversy Half 2: What Occurred to Tory George?” and discusses his doping management on July 4, 2023, how he acquired his outcomes, and the aftermath of his Hostile Analytical Discovering.
In response to George’s account within the article, he was unofficially knowledgeable about his July 4th doping management end result on August 6, 2023. This data got here from Ricardo Paris, the President of AIDA USA (the US nationwide department of AIDA Worldwide), who had reportedly acquired a name from William Trubridge. Notably, George solely acquired his official outcomes through e-mail from the Worldwide Testing Company (ITA) on August 10, 2023 – 4 days after the unofficial disclosure.
Once I requested Trubridge how George’s outcomes had been communicated to him, he said, “it was AIDA USA who contacted him [Tory George] concerning his optimistic end result. Vertical Blue wasn’t concerned in informing the athlete themselves.” However after I requested Paris how he acquired the outcomes, he mentioned, “I heard the information about Tory when official WADA ITA outcomes had been launched weeks after Vertical Blue.”
This contradicts Article 14.1.2 within the WADA Code, which states that outcomes might be launched to “the Athlete’s Nationwide Anti-Doping Group, Worldwide Federation, and WADA…concurrently with the discover to the Athlete.” In different phrases, the athlete and all listed organizations ought to obtain the outcomes concurrently.
A submit on Vertical Blue’s Instagram instructed a distinct story. It said that the laboratory that examined the athletes’ samples despatched a report back to the BADC and WADA, “who in flip knowledgeable CMAS, AIDA and the Occasion Organiser, as per protocol.” In Vertical Blue 2023’s case, Trubridge was the Occasion Organizer.
Paris’ and Trubridge’s explanations don’t match the protocol outlined in Code Article 14.1.2. Nobody however Tory George, CMAS, WADA, and his nationwide ADO (which might be USADA – america Anti-Doping Company) ought to have acquired the outcomes concurrently.
Tory George receives official notification from ITA
I requested George to point out me the official ITA e-mail that communicated to him his doping management outcomes on August 10, 2023.
The e-mail was despatched to:
- Tory George
- USFF (america Freediving Federation, which is a nationwide member of CMAS)
- WADA Outcomes Administration
- USADA
- Dr. Michel Leglise (CMAS Anti-Doping and Medical Director)
That official e-mail, despatched in keeping with the requirements outlined in Code Article 14.1.2, didn’t embody AIDA Worldwide, AIDA USA, or William Trubridge.
So, how did these events obtain George’s preliminary outcomes earlier than he acquired them?
BADC lacked Outcomes Administration Authority
Moreover, the e-mail said that originally, the BADC was the Testing Authority and the Outcomes Administration Authority. It mentioned, “Nevertheless, contemplating that you’re not a citizen of the Bahamas, BADC discovered that it was not within the place to proceed with the Outcomes Administration of your AAFs.” Consequently, “within the current case, CMAS is exercising its proper beneath Article 7.1.2 of the CMAS ADR [anti-doping rules] to proceed with the Outcomes Administration of your AAFs beneath the CMAS ADR.”
Article 7.1 of the WADA Code stipulates that the Anti-Doping Group that ordered the pattern assortment is accountable for outcomes administration. In typical freediving doping management eventualities, CMAS would act because the Testing Authority and Outcomes Administration Authority whereas delegating doping management procedures to ITA. Nevertheless, within the case of the July 4th doping management, because the testing authority listed was the BADC, the outcomes administration authority additionally needed to be listed because the BADC in keeping with commonplace protocol.
Nonetheless, since George isn’t a Bahamian citizen, the BADC doesn’t have authority over his outcomes administration, which compelled CMAS to take over per Article 7.1.3 (“in circumstances the place the principles of a Nationwide Anti-Doping Group don’t give the Nationwide Doping Group authority over an Athlete or different One that is just not a nationwide, resident, license holder, or member of a sport…Outcomes Administration shall be carried out by the relevant Worldwide Federation”).
The BADC has been a Code Signatory since 2009, so it was probably conscious that it doesn’t have authority over non-Bahamian athletes’ outcomes administration. But, it nonetheless proceeded to ignore this rule. Was it performed intentionally, because the BADC knew that CMAS can be compelled to do the Outcomes Administration in the long run?
AIDA Worldwide receives the outcomes
AIDA Worldwide instructed me it was unaware of the out-of-competition doping controls to happen at Vertical Blue 2023 on July 4th. Nevertheless, one month later, on August 3, 2023, AIDA Worldwide acquired an sudden e-mail from the BADC that included the July 4th doping management outcomes. William Trubridge was CC’ed on that e-mail.
The following day, AIDA Worldwide acquired one other e-mail from ITA that included George’s AAF and requested that AIDA Worldwide inform the athlete in regards to the findings. AIDA Worldwide instructed ITA it didn’t have that authority and directed them to CMAS.
I requested Professor Dr. Nenad Dikic, the president of Clear Sport (an impartial anti-doping group acknowledged by WADA) and AIDA Anti-Doping Supervisor, in regards to the Outcomes Administration on this case, and he offered extra particulars. “AIDA couldn’t be listed as a degree of contact by regulation, and all outcomes that AIDA acquired are unlawful and in opposition to privateness and knowledge safety,” he instructed me. “Much more, there is no such thing as a manner to try this by way of ADAMS. Solely athletes, the BADC, CMAS, and WADA may have the outcomes. An athlete can’t be introduced doping optimistic since he didn’t waive a gap B pattern and had the preliminary listening to, however his end result was circulated instantly by Mr. Trubridge.”
“If outcomes had been in ADAMS, Mr. Trubridge couldn’t have that data by regulation and was not approved to speak outcomes with anyone,” Professor Dr. Dikic continued. “If Mr. Trubridge believes that testing was organized for AIDA, why did he inform the CMAS Director of Doping Management outcomes that belong to AIDA and the President of AIDA USA?”
I contacted the BADC for clarification on the matter, however they didn’t reply to my request for remark.
Unofficial Doping Controls Carried out by Vertical Blue
The July 4th doping management was not the one occasion the place Vertical Blue initiated testing procedures.
Unofficial doping management in Dominica
Lower than two months earlier than the July 4th doping management, Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar underwent one other Vertical Blue-ordered doping management – this time, in Soufriere, Dominica, the place the athletes had been coaching depth.
At round 8 p.m. on April 15, 2023, a DCO from the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Group (RADO) arrived at their residence to conduct a doping management. The DCO was with a physician who said he was a witness.
Upon reflection, Maricic discovered a number of uncommon points of the doping management course of in Dominica. Whereas a few of these practices are permissible however unusual, others raised questions on whether or not they adopted commonplace protocols:
- Presence of a witness: The DCO arrived with a physician performing as a witness. Whereas in a roundabout way prohibited, this follow is rare in Maricic’s expertise.
- Non-public funding: The DCO said Vertical Blue and William Trubridge despatched him. Whereas non-public funding of doping controls is feasible, it’s not typical in Maricic’s expertise.
- Use of AIDA doping management types: The DCO offered doping management types from AIDA. This shocked Maricic, as he was unaware that AIDA was conducting out-of-competition testing then.
- Joint testing order: Maricic and Klovar had been listed in the identical order. This raised logistical questions on sustaining correct oversight, as WADA tips stipulate that DCOs mustn’t let athletes out of their sight as soon as contact is made (Part 4.2—Doping Management Stations within the WADA Doping Management Officer’s Coaching Instrument Package Guide). For instance, if the DCO witnesses an athlete offering a pattern privately in a toilet, the opposite athlete can be overlooked of sight in one other room.
After the management, Maricic said to me that he thought nothing extra of it till he spoke to the AIDA Sports activities Officer on the telephone someday across the July 4th baggage search and doping management. The Sports activities Officer questioned to Maricic why William Trubridge saved always asking him about controls from Dominica—are they Maricic’s controls? Maricic replied that he assumed so, however why is Trubridge asking the Sports activities Officer? After a complicated dialogue, Maricic realized that the Sports activities Officer knew nothing about their Dominica management.
Once I requested 2024 AIDA Worldwide President Sasa Jeremic in regards to the Dominica management, she commented, “The Sport Officer acquired a report from a Canadian lab and was not capable of perceive for a while what these outcomes are for, as codes of samples talked about within the report weren’t equivalent to any of doping types that had been despatched to him in that interval. And because it typically takes time to obtain doping types from distant places, similar to if judges are touring, and so forth., he saved that report on the aspect, considering that reply will come from someplace.”
“Finally, he was contacted by William Trubridge, who defined that assessments are for Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar in Dominica.” Jeremic instructed me, “However kind of, as outcomes had been destructive, nobody was bothering an excessive amount of with procedures and protocol. It stayed solely in feedback and discussions between board members. AIDA has by no means ordered and arranged out-of-competition testing and didn’t order this one – we allowed out-of-competition testing, however who can organize them and the way must be clear.”
“At the moment, we didn’t have an advisor company specialised in doping like we have now Clear Sport at this time, and all had been managed ‘in-house,’” she continued. “Now, with steering of Clear Sport and with getting ready to turn out to be WADA Signatory, AIDA is conducting and out of the competitors testing.”
Within the outcomes of this explicit doping management, the next 4 authorities had been listed:
- Testing Authority – Ms. Sasha Sutherland of the Caribbean RADO
- Pattern Assortment Authority – Caribbean RADO
- Outcomes Administration Authority – AIDA (reportedly with out their information)
It seems that William Trubridge took issues into his personal palms by downloading the AIDA Doping Management Kind (which is freely accessible to the general public on the ‘Paperwork’ part of the AIDA web site), directed the Caribbean RADO to check the athletes, after which listed AIDA Worldwide because the Outcomes Administration Authority. In doing so, he as soon as once more bypassed Article 4.1.1 of the WADA Worldwide Requirements for Testing and Investigations, which particularly lays out how an ADO should full thorough Threat Evaluation and Check Distribution planning on an athlete’s doping management.
Unofficial Doping Management on Vertical Blue 2023’s third Competitors Day
Returning to the scene of Vertical Blue 2023 – the July 4th doping management was not the one management administered to athletes collaborating within the competitors.
As talked about earlier within the article, the 2023 version of Vertical Blue had a particular caveat – athletes registering for the occasion needed to conform to the Vertical Blue Doping Management Coverage and Procedures, marking the primary time supplementary anti-doping measures had been carried out in a Vertical Blue competitors. In response to the doc, “athletes should adjust to cheap requests for testing by an official WADA doping officer or AIDA decide, when visited at their residence tackle or any tackle the place they’re actively training freediving associated actions, whether or not coaching, competitors, or instruction.”
Nonetheless, a couple of male athletes confirmed that William Trubridge carried out some doping controls on the third competitors day of Vertical Blue 2023. Trubridge confirmed that he, Vertical Blue medics, and a medic they employed from the native clinic had used Amazon-purchased multi-panel urine drug assessments to check athletes’ urine.
I requested Trubridge if he or the medics had been official doping management officers or AIDA Judges, and Trubridge confirmed that neither he nor the medics had been both. “We didn’t have to make use of, for these assessments, official testing officers, since, as we instructed the athletes, they had been preliminary assessments,” he instructed me. Trubridge said that if an athlete examined optimistic and disputed their outcomes, then an AIDA Choose would have taken a pattern and despatched it to a forensic laboratory or one thing related.
The multi-panel urine drug assessments Trubridge and the medics used examined for the presence of various drug teams, together with benzodiazepines. Trubridge allegedly approached a number of male athletes individually to witness them giving urine samples in a car parking zone with no physician current and no doping management types to fill in; they needed to write their names and the date on the again of their testing kits exterior on the hood of a automobile.
Considerations amongst male athletes at Vertical Blue 2023
Two male athletes who most popular to stay nameless felt uncomfortable about how the assessments had been being carried out and that it was Trubridge testing them.
These male athletes talked about:
- The cups not being labeled straight: Since athletes’ names weren’t written straight on the cups, one athlete’s pattern may simply be swapped for one more, whether or not by mistake or with intention.
- Disclosing present drugs: Since some prescription drugs can doubtlessly set off false positives in urine drug assessments, athletes should disclose any drugs they’re at present taking to doping officers. Nevertheless, Trubridge is just not a doping officer and doesn’t have the authority or medical information wanted to carry out these assessments.
- Battle of curiosity: Trubridge is a fellow athlete. Whereas he withdrew from competing at Vertical Blue 2023, he’s nonetheless lively in aggressive freediving and participates in different freediving competitions.
Examples of medicines which will set off false positives embody:
- Methamphetamines: The ADHD remedy Adderall
- Amphetamines: The antidepressant remedy Wellbutrin
- THC or barbiturates: Over-the-counter NSAIDs similar to Advil, Motrin, and Aleve
- Benzodiazepines: The antidepressant remedy Zoloft (which is an SSRI, not a benzodiazepine)
Whereas disclosing taking an NSAID like Advil for menstrual cramps is probably not a extreme concern for some athletes, others might not really feel comfy telling a fellow competitor that they take Wellbutrin for his or her despair or Zoloft for anxiousness or panic assaults. That is why the precise to privateness is amongst athletes’ rights within the WADA Code – and why there are accredited doping management officers administering doping management to keep away from potential conflicts of curiosity.
Nevertheless, these considerations had been sidestepped on this case by declaring the testing as ‘unofficial preliminary testing,’ which was extremely uncommon for such an occasion.
If correct protocol had been adopted
Since Vertical Blue’s 2023 competitors was held beneath AIDA guidelines, I requested AIDA Worldwide about their involvement in baggage checks and doping management.
AIDA Worldwide President Sasa Jeremic confirmed that AIDA Worldwide had no prior information of the baggage test or unofficial doping controls carried out by Vertical Blue earlier than they occurred. Moreover, she said, “They had been performed fully in a different way than how we might have performed so if AIDA judges had been concerned. AIDA judges are skilled for doping management and baggage searches, and there are protocols that have to be adopted.”
Moreover, AIDA Anti-Doping Supervisor Professor Dr. Nenad Dikic said that “doping management officers have duties which are outlined by the Code and Worldwide Requirements of Testing, in addition to the AIDA DCO guide. William Trubridge broke the DCO duties; he was in a battle of curiosity as organizer and competitor since he carried out doping controls and did different investigation actions within the title of Native Organizer and NADO.”
Battle of Curiosity
Avoiding conflicts of curiosity is essential in anti-doping efforts to take care of equity in sports activities. When the folks concerned in testing and decision-making don’t have any private stake within the outcomes, it ensures unbiased outcomes, protects athletes’ rights, and helps them belief the system.
Article 4.1.2 in WADA’s Worldwide Requirements for Testing and Investigations focuses explicitly on this subject. It states, “The Anti-Doping Group shall be certain that Athlete Assist Personnel and another Individuals with a battle of curiosity usually are not concerned in take a look at distribution planning for his or her Athletes or within the technique of number of Athletes for Testing.”
How Vertical Blue selected athletes to check
Within the first article of this sequence, I mentioned how William Trubridge confirmed that an government group of three folks (himself, Marco Cosentino, and a 3rd particular person who didn’t want to be specified) selected which athletes to check for the July 4th doping management. In the identical interview, Trubridge additionally instructed me the testing prices got here from the occasion price range and that “it was fairly costly, and we didn’t have an enormous price range for it.” Vertical Blue had a number of sponsors for its 2023 occasion, together with Garmin, Double Okay, and Orca.
Initially, Trubridge was included on the listing of opponents for Vertical Blue 2023, showing there for a interval main as much as the occasion. Whereas he instructed me in an interview that he dropped out of the competitors “someday in June,” a webpage archive from July 3, 2023, simply someday earlier than the baggage search, confirmed him nonetheless on the listing of opponents. Whether or not he determined to take part at Vertical Blue 2023 earlier than or after deciding to check Vitomir Maricic, Petar Klovar, and Tory George, there may be an obvious battle of curiosity with him as a competitor.
Many social media customers highlighted this battle of curiosity since Klovar aimed to beat Trubridge’s 7-year-old CNF World File (a dive to 102m / 335ft of depth with solely arm and leg strokes).
How a NADO chooses athletes to check
I turned inquisitive about how the BADC may permit Trubridge to order doping management and carry it out on his behalf. This isn’t solely as a result of he’s a fellow athlete but additionally as a result of, as said earlier within the article, threat evaluation and take a look at distribution planning appear very advanced and require plenty of work on the a part of the ADO. Because the BADC didn’t reply to my request for remark, I reached out to USADA (the USA nationwide ADO) with a query: “If an occasion organizer wished to pay for an out-of-competition doping management on an athlete, would a NADO like USADA be capable of organize this?”
USADA replied, “Our requirements require that testing and all different anti-doping selections be made by USADA, impartial of the consumer. Whereas our purchasers could make testing suggestions and we’ll contemplate any intel offered, they can not inform us who to check or examine. Equally, all our OOC [out-of-competition] testing packages should fall beneath a longtime and strong rule set, with monetary and operational commitments additionally made to outcomes administration, medical exemptions, Whereabouts, and so forth.”
Moreover, USADA talked about, “In conditions the place USADA already has jurisdiction over an athlete and receives ideas that point out the necessity for testing, an organizer wouldn’t be accountable for any related prices.”
In response to USADA, which presides over US athletes because the BADC presides over Bahamian athletes, a non-public particular person can present intel however can’t order testing by way of them. Moreover, if USADA orders testing on an athlete inside their jurisdiction, the occasion organizer wouldn’t must pay something for the doping management.
Enter from WADA
I made a decision to go one step additional and ask WADA straight if an occasion organizer who’s a collaborating athlete can order out-of-competition testing on a fellow athlete. WADA responded, “If the occasion organizer is a person athlete in the identical occasion they’re organizing, they need to not, in precept, be concerned within the direct implementation of the testing program.”
Whereas WADA’s response signifies that an athlete organizer shouldn’t be straight concerned in implementing the testing program, this battle of curiosity is just not explicitly prohibited within the WADA Code or the Worldwide Requirements for Testing and Investigations. This creates a notable hole between WADA’s said precept and the formal rules.
Persevering with with regards to battle of curiosity – when you recall from the second article of this sequence, William Trubridge, on behalf of AIDA USA, proposed to AIDA Worldwide a vote to ban the three athletes from that 12 months’s AIDA World Championship and to ban two substances in freediving: benzodiazepines and sildenafil.
This example turns into much more advanced when contemplating that AIDA USA Vice President Francesca Koe additionally serves as Vertical Blue’s Chief of Media, additional blurring the traces between these organizations and doubtlessly compromising impartiality.
It is a notable situation in freediving—athletes are additionally judges, competitors organizers, and members of the boards of freediving organizations, and they’re typically unpaid, creating a fancy net of conflicts of curiosity.
Freediving Group Responses
Maybe essentially the most fascinating a part of the Vertical Blue 2023 doping controversy is how freediving organizations responded to the July 4th doping controls.
AIDA Worldwide
As described within the first article of the sequence, AIDA Worldwide employed the anti-doping group Clear Sport to handle AIDA’s anti-doping actions.
Then, within the second article of the sequence, William Trubridge and AIDA USA submitted a proposal for a particular vote to AIDA Worldwide to ban benzodiazepines and sildenafil. AIDA Worldwide believed the members of the AIDA Meeting must be knowledgeable on what they’re voting for, so that they enlisted Clear Sport’s assist in the seek for scientific research on the substances somewhat than by way of data from social media posts. The vote remains to be into consideration since no scientific research have been discovered.
Nevertheless, AIDA Worldwide is at present gathering data to analysis the prevalence of benzodiazepines amongst aggressive freediving athletes. AIDA may also maintain its first Worldwide Convention on Freediving Science and Medication in Dahab, Egypt, on October 31, 2024, the place subjects of debate will embody anti-doping points in freediving and the presence of benzodiazepines in freediving competitions.
2024 AIDA President Sasa Jeremic had a last thought on the matter: “I feel that each one of freediving society had an opportunity to be taught so much from all these occasions, athletes about their rights and duties, and sports activities authorities in regards to the significance of defining and following correct guidelines and procedures within the battle to maintain freediving a clear sport, freed from doping.”
CMAS
Alternatively, CMAS provisionally suspended Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar by the use of a Presidential Order – the place the CMAS President can droop a CMAS member for as much as 60 days till the Board of Administrators can convene to ratify the ruling. Nevertheless, out of the general public eye and simply someday earlier than the 60-day restrict was reached, CMAS privately ratified the Presidential Order but lifted the suspension since “in lack of sport tournaments the need of preserving their [the athletes’] well being circumstances and the steadiness of competitors is just not imminent.”
It’s necessary to notice that the Presidential Order states, “The athletes didn’t current any Therapeutic Use Exemption certificates in respect of the substances discovered of their possession.” Nevertheless, Maricic and Klovar couldn’t have utilized for Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) for benzodiazepines or sildenafil since neither of those substances is on WADA’s Prohibited Listing. As for furosemide, which is on the Prohibited Listing as a diuretic and masking agent, Article 4.1 of WADA’s Worldwide Requirements for Therapeutic Use Exemptions permits athletes to use for a retroactive TUE if the substance was used or of their possession for emergency medical therapy.
It appears that evidently since no official anti-doping rule violation had been dedicated by the pair of Croatian freedivers, charging them with a CMAS Code of Ethics violation was the one option to justify their suspension.
Finally, this Code of Ethics route was the street CMAS selected – the CMAS Disciplinary Committee ultimately discovered the athletes responsible of “having been present in possession of gear able to enhancing athletes performances, thus altering the result of a contest, and on the identical time inflicting hurt to the well being of freedivers.”
Observe that WADA doesn’t at present contemplate these two substances to be performance-enhancing, and neither did CMAS till after the conclusion of Vertical Blue 2023. In truth, in keeping with a CMAS Instagram submit, CMAS “resolved to provisionally ban…benzodiazepines and sildenafil…till a full scientific report is delivered on this respect by the competent CMAS commissions.” As of August 2024, CMAS has not launched a scientific report in regards to the substances and whether or not they’re “able to enhancing athletes performances.”
For the responsible verdict given to them by CMAS, Maricic, and Klovar had been fined 5,000EUR every and given a six-month suspension.
After I started asking extra pointed questions on Vertical Blue’s July 4th doping management, CMAS directed me to their lawyer. After informing me that CMAS didn’t order the July 4th baggage search or doping management, CMAS’s lawyer didn’t reply any follow-up questions.
A observe from the AIDA Anti-Doping Supervisor
AIDA Anti-Doping Supervisor and President of Clear Sport Professor Dr. Nenad Dikic had an fascinating tackle the matter: “The Vertical Blue case exhibits that Athletes usually are not supplied with sufficiently sturdy safeguards, that are undefined, underdeveloped, and unclear. It additionally exhibits that athletes are weak and that there is no such thing as a safe option to defend their rights. As an alternative of sanctioning the primary perpetrator in the entire occasion, Mr. William Trubridge, CMAS, took benefit to punish athletes for an alleged anti-doping violation handled as an moral violation.”
“Your entire case factors to the necessity to evaluate the rationale and supply a greater definition of the CMAS Code of Ethics,” he continued. “This might forestall a unilateral interpretation to the detriment of athletes and defend their vulnerability and elementary human rights.”
In different phrases, Professor Dr. Nenad Dikic believes that the Vertical Blue 2023 case exhibits that athletes lack correct safety as a result of unclear and poorly developed guidelines. Moreover, as a substitute of holding the first individual accountable—William Trubridge—CMAS punished the athletes for an ‘moral violation.’ This highlights the necessity for a clearer CMAS Code of Ethics definition to raised defend athlete rights.
William Trubridge in Hindsight
I requested William Trubridge the query, “This occasion occurred over 6 months now and it has been one thing that has introduced plenty of division and dialog to the group. You’ve each acquired reward and criticism from the group. Upon reflection, is there something that you’d have performed in a different way?”
Trubridge instructed me, “I imply, if I benefit from hindsight, positive, there’s ways in which I might have performed issues which are possibly given a bit extra readability, for positive, however I positively don’t remorse. I feel, firstly, for one thing that hasn’t been performed earlier than, it was executed in a manner that was fairly strong. So, I’ve to provide myself and the staff credit score for the truth that we type of led the best way with new sorts of checks and the whole lot and that it appeared to perform fairly nicely, aside from clearly the complaints from the individuals who had been came upon.”
“And so yeah, would I alter? Would I not do it if I used to be in that place once more? Positively not. There was nothing in regards to the course of that was savory. There’s nothing about it that was pleasing, that was one thing that I wished to do. It was one hundred percent pulling enamel out of my mouth type of factor. You possibly can’t even go and evaluate it with simply being an athlete, with the ability to compete and do what I’m accustomed to doing, what I take pleasure in doing and do greatest.”
“However the easy reality is that we might not be within the scenario that we are actually, the place organizations are mobilizing with a view to change their doping checks and controls, so as to add substances, additional petitions from hundreds of athletes.”
“And all that’s the seen stuff – what’s invisible is all the athletes who had been possibly beginning to transfer or gravitate in direction of utilizing these varieties of gear. As a result of I’ve heard of it occurring, ‘Organizations aren’t doing something, so we would as nicely do it as nicely.’ That type of factor, and I’m hoping that that’s been circled as nicely. You’d must assume that there’s been some impact to that type of spherical motion.”
“And so none of that may have occurred if Vertical Blue had not taken the motion that we did in 2023. We’d be in a very totally different place, we would produce other world data which are bogus, that we don’t find out about, and so forth.”
“So, yeah, it was positively one thing that needed to occur.”
Temporary Abstract
The Vertical Blue 2023 freediving competitors, held on Lengthy Island within the Bahamas, was the topic of an alleged doping controversy. On July 4, 2023, Croatian athletes Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar had their baggage searched upon arrival to Lengthy Island, carried out by occasion organizer William Trubridge and two Royal Bahamas cops. The alleged substances discovered within the athletes’ baggage had been publicized through an Instagram submit and a YouTube video on Vertical Blue’s social media accounts. The bags search was adopted by an official doping management, which Trubridge ordered himself somewhat than by commonplace anti-doping authorities. US athlete Tory George was additionally subjected to doping management later that night.
Vertical Blue’s official YouTube channel revealed a video containing audio clips from the baggage search and pictures of remedy packaging allegedly present in athletes’ baggage.
These doping controls held on July 4th deviated from commonplace procedures in a number of methods. The doping management officer’s identification was expired, and correct athlete notification protocols weren’t adopted, with the doping management officer someway managing to find the Croatian athletes in an unmarked constructing and realizing George was on the island regardless of the athlete’s lack of official whereabouts data. Furthermore, the outcomes administration course of broke from commonplace WADA protocol – George realized of his preliminary doping management outcomes from unofficial sources earlier than receiving official notification, violating confidentiality and WADA commonplace procedures.
Maricic and Klovar additionally underwent a questionable and seemingly unofficial doping management in Dominica, reportedly ordered by William Trubridge, two months earlier than Vertical Blue 2023 commenced. In the meantime, on the third competitors day of Vertical Blue 2023, Trubridge additionally carried out further unofficial doping controls on some male athletes utilizing residence drug take a look at kits, disregarding correct doping management procedures. This raised considerations amongst athletes, significantly given Trubridge’s twin function as each organizer and competitor, creating a transparent battle of curiosity.
After Vertical Blue 2023’s July 4th baggage search and doping management, freediving organizations had totally different responses to the scenario. AIDA Worldwide employed an impartial anti-doping group to handle its anti-doping actions and is at present analysis the prevalence of benzodiazepines in freediving. In distinction, CMAS swiftly suspended Maricic and Klovar regardless of the absence of a transparent anti-doping rule violation. CMAS later fined the athletes and imposed a six-month ban for a CMAS Code of Ethics violation somewhat than an anti-doping rule violation. In hindsight, Trubridge has no regrets on the baggage search and doping management and states it was one thing that needed to occur.
The Investigation Concludes
My authentic concept for writing this text was to place all the social media posts surrounding the Vertical Blue 2023 baggage search and doping management right into a timeline for folks to have the ability to observe clearly. It is because I noticed many feedback beneath posts expressing confusion over the scenario and desirous to know what occurred. Nevertheless, identical to a recreation of ‘Phone,’ social media posts and feedback had been unclear, typically absent of details, and oftentimes full of opinions. What was particularly troubling was seeing folks make small mentions of ‘due course of’ or questioning if correct procedures had been adopted, solely to be accused of doping themselves for ‘supporting cheaters.’
However as I started interviewing folks and asking questions, I discovered that lots of them additionally had their very own questions and opinions however feared talking them aloud or attaching their names to their phrases – understandably so. And with each individual I interviewed got here a suggestion of “Oh, you also needs to speak to so-and-so.” I saved being given extra data, which become extra questions on my half than I may have imagined. And so, a easy timeline article advanced into 4 huge articles totaling over 100 pages – one 12 months after asking my first query.
What the reality of the matter is, is that we might by no means know what the reality of the matter truly is. All we are able to contemplate is whether or not commonplace procedures had been adopted, whether or not actions had been taken with moral intentions, and whether or not the Vertical Blue 2023 baggage search and doping management set a precedent that we wouldn’t thoughts being utilized to us sooner or later. Moreover, we should tackle how freediving organizations can successfully examine doable freediving-specific performance-enhancing medication whereas sustaining equity and integrity within the sport.
In spite of everything, we, too, might someday be aggressive athletes and the topic of scrutiny somewhat than scrutinizing safely behind our cell phones. I consider that everybody talked about on this article was performing with good intentions – however did their actions match these good intentions? That’s as much as you to determine.
Now, 4 articles, one 12 months, and over 400 hours of labor later, I notice that my goal for writing these articles is one thing else. What I need is for freedivers to as soon as extra interact in significant discussions about this subject – this time, armed with extra details and particulars, and hopefully absent of threats, feelings, and wild accusations. As a result of whereas anecdotes and gossip are plentiful, the reality and arduous details are what actually matter. We are able to all agree that protocols and rules have to be adopted to determine the belief of our aggressive freediving athletes and guarantee an excellent enjoying subject.
The freediving group is small, however additionally it is mighty. It’s my hope that this investigation acts as a catalyst for optimistic change in our sport, with transparency, equity, and mutual respect at its forefront in order that we are able to proceed to maintain rediscovering the boundaries of the human physique – collectively.
