Orange County-based Olympic swimmer Michael Brinegar received a four-year ban from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) on Friday that prevented him racing in the preliminaries of the 1,500-meter freestyle Saturday at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, his coach Mark Schubert said.
Brinegar, a 2020 Olympian who trains under Schubert at The Swim Team, disclosed in a statement Saturday that he has been contesting a notification by USADA from last year that his “test results from July, August and September 2022 were proof I was blood doping.”
The case featured a series of appeals, including the latest by The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that sided with USADA, Brinegar stated.
“I am deeply disappointed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling and USADA’s accusations that are utterly unfounded,” Brinegar wrote in a long Instagram post. “Over the last year I’ve been dealing with the most incredible challenge of my life.”
In June 2022, Brinegar said he withdrew from the open water 25K at World Championships in Hungary because of COVID-19.
“USADA suggests I was blood doping during a period when I was not training and when I was recovering from COVID-19,” stated Brinegar, who raced for Tesoro High as a senior in 2018.
“If I contested the finding, I would be subject to a four-year ban, or the ban would be reduced to two years if I did not contest the finding. In addition, if I turned in anyone else, my sentence could be reduced an additional year. I was devastated. But knowing that I had not cheated, I chose to fight.”
Brinegar stated an independent arbitrator ruled in his favor in November 2023 but USADA appealed the decision. Brinegar added he was notified Friday that CAS ruled in favor of USADA and that he could not race Saturday.
A statement from the USADA on Saturday confirmed the Friday timeline.
“On Friday, we received the operative decision from an independent arbitration panel from the Court of Arbitration for Sport following a full evidentiary hearing finding that Mr. Brinegar committed a rule violation and received a four-year suspension beginning yesterday, June 21,” the USADA stated. “We will issue a statement on Monday announcing the decision and will publish the full-reasoned decision when it has been delivered by the court.”
Brinegar was seeded third in the 1,500 freestyle. He raced earlier at the Trials in the preliminaries of the 400 and 800 freestyles and didn’t advance to finals.
“As the coach of Michael Brinegar for the past nine years, (I) am completely in support of his innocence,” Schubert said in a statement. “It makes no sense that an athlete would blood dope during an eight-week break, not training, while recovering from COVID. This period is when he was tested.”
“Additionally I am shocked that USADA would offer to reduce his sentence to two years if he did not fight the suspension. Why would an innocent athlete agree to that offer?” added Schubert, a six-time U.S. Olympic coach.
After Tesoro High, Brinegar swam at the University of Indiana, the alma mater of his mother and U.S. Olympic swimmer Jennifer Hooker. She raced at the 1976 Olympics dominated by an East German squad powered by a state-orchestrated doping program.
“Cheating is a betrayal of everything I have been taught and stand for,” Brinegar stated. “I will continue to seek justice in this matter.”
