Colorado Springs (Colorado, USA): Swimmer Jessica Hardy has withdrawn from the US Olympic team, and won't pursue her appeal of a doping ban prior to the Beijing Games, the US Anti-Doping Agency said on Friday.
"US swimmer Jessica Hardy tested positive for the prohibited substance clenbuterol at the US Olympic trials on July 4, 2008 and has agreed to withdraw from the 2008 United States Olympic Team in the best interests of the team," USADA said in a statement.
USADA said that Hardy had agreed to an arbitration ruling banning her for two years, with the provision that she can "come back to the panel to present evidence which could reduce her period of ineligibility."
Hardy tested positive after placing fourth in the 100-meter freestyle final on July 4 at the US Olympic Swimming Trials in Omaha, Nebraska.
But Hardy passed doping tests July 1 and July 6, when she qualified to swim in the 100 breaststroke and 50 freestyle at Beijing.
USADA chief executive Travis Tygart praised Hardy for putting the concerns of the Olympic team first, rather than pursuing all of her legal options with the start of the Beijing Games just a week away.
"While it is an unfortunate circumstance for an Olympian to come this far only to lose a coveted position on the Olympic Team, Ms. Hardy is working expediently and agreeably to resolve the situation with as little impact to the US Olympic team as possible," Tygart said.
"While some might have chosen to exhaust their legal options to try to force their way into the Games, Jessica instead chose to put her team's interests ahead of her own."
In the immediate aftermath of the positive test result, Hardy's attorney Howard Jacobs had said the swimmer would seek an expedited appeal so that she might have a chance to compete in Beijing.
She could also have taken her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
A statement from USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus reads: "In the wake of Hardy's withdrawal from the team, USA Swimming said that two other swimmers already on the roster and with the team at its pre-Olympic training camp in Singapore would take her place in the 100m breaststroke and 50m freestyle."
"According to the pre-approved procedures, swimmers from the existing roster will be placed in the open events," a statement from the federation said. "Rebecca Soni will swim the 100m breaststroke and Kara Lynn Joyce will swim the 50m freestyle."
Soni was already on the team as the winner of the 200m breaststroke at the trials. Joyce was on the team as a relay alternate after Dara Torres withdrew from the 100m individual freestyle.
While USA Swimming has said their rules prohibit them from adding new swimmers past a certain date, there has been consternation that Tara Kirk, who finished third in the 100m breaststroke final in Omaha by just one-hundredth of a second, didn't qualify for the team and therefore can't take over a 100m breaststroke spot.
Nor will Lara Jackson, third-place finisher in the 50m free at trials, get an Olympic chance.
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