The 36 Irish records currently held by Michelle de Bruin will not be acceptable to Swim Ireland, the new governing body for the sport. In one of the organisation's first major decisions, swimmers have been invited to apply for Irish records through a different set of procedures to that of the now defunct IASA. As a consequence, de Bruin's name will not appear on the books.
The new method of application excludes de Bruin because she was banned from the sport last August for four years for tampering with a urine sample. The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne dismissed her appeal earlier this year. In effect, her times will no longer be recognised by Irish Swimming and from January 2000 her name will not appear in published records.
Regulation 11.1 of the new procedures states: "Applications for Swim Ireland records will not be accepted where the applicants are swimmers who have been or are banned or suspended from swimming by FINA (the sports governing body) for reasons which call into question the integrity of the competitive performances or times set by that swimmer, either in the present or in the past." The move means that those swimmers who held records immediately before de Bruin can now apply to have their names put back on the Swim Ireland books. De Bruin will be permitted to apply once her ban is completed but, according to Swim Ireland, she cannot forward the times of her old swims. Any application must be made on the basis of a new swim. As she has publicly stated that her competitive swimming career is over, this is unlikely to happen. "The motivation was to give young swimmers the opportunity to go for it again," said a Swim Ireland official, Clare Mulholland. "We would encourage all sporting bodies to take a similar stance to the one we are taking."
The unprecedented decision was taken by Swim Ireland only after considerable legal advice and given the remarkable but controversial impact de Bruin has made on the list of Irish records, it is a significant step by the fledgling body. Anxious to show determined leadership following a series of child abuse scandals which have torn the sport apart, the timing of the announcement is also hoped to encourage swimmers going into next Wednesday's National Championships at the Grove Baths in Belfast.
With the exception of three events, the Olympic gold medallist holds all of the Irish records in freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and individual medley in all of the distances over both short and long courses. To complete the stunning collection, she also holds seven Ireland all-comers records and was part of three record-breaking relay teams.
Niamh O'Connor in the 50 metres backstroke, Carol Ann Heavey in the 1,500 metres freestyle and Chantal Gibney in the 50 metres freestyle are the only swimmers other than de Bruin to hold records outside the breaststroke. Gibney is the only Irish woman to have broken a de Bruin mark. The Trojan swimmer swam 25.84 seconds for the 50 metres freestyle last year at the Ulster Games to break the previous mark of 25.85 seconds.
A number of the records set by de Bruin, such as her 54.87 seconds 100 metres freestyle set at the National Championships in 1995, were likely to last for many years. None of the current list of individual records precede 1994 with several set just last year. Her 200 metres and 400 metres freestyle records were set in March and April of 1998.
Throughout her career de Bruin won a total of four gold and three silver medals at the 1995 and 1997 European Championships and three gold and a bronze medal at the 1996 Olympic Games.
Swimmers now have over five months to have their names inserted in the new record list. A full set of revised records will be published by Swim Ireland in January 2000 based on the fastest time claims received before December 31st 1999.
