Australian Olympian Brenton Rickard tests positive for banned substance

Six Aussies could have their medals from the London Olympics stripped after a former teammate tested positive to a banned substance.

Six Australian Olympians could be set to have their medals stripped after former swimmer Brenton Rickard tested positive to a banned substance.

Rickard competed at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and was a member of the men’s 4x100m medley relay team which won bronze.

As first reported by The Sydney Morning Herald’s Samantha Lane, a re-screening of Rickard’s sample he gave eight years ago tested positive to the diuretic Furosemide, a banned masking agent.

According to the report, the International Olympic Committee is seeking to disqualify Rickard’s results from the London Games, in what would be an Australian first.

The Australian team recorded the fourth-fastest time during the men’s 4x100 metre medley relay heats in 2012, with Rickard swimming alongside Hayden Stoeckel, Matt Targett and Tommaso D’Orsogna.

Stoeckel and Targett were the only two from the heat squad to swim in the final, where Australia placed third, finishing behind America and Japan.

Christian Sprenger replaced Rickard with James Magnussen replacing D’Orsogna for the final.

Brenton Rickard in the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Rickard’s lawyers say there was an “exceedingly small concentration” of Furosemide in the sample, according to the report.

Rickard informed his former teammates of the “shocking situation” in an email, which was obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald.

“This outcome would be grossly unfair and disproportionate, particularly given I did not swim in the final. I also think it is not right for the Court of Arbitration for Sport to make a decision about this when you are not a party to the proceedings,” Rickard wrote.

“I have always abhorred doping within the sport so you can imagine how sickened and horrified I am to find myself in this predicament. This is my worst nightmare.”

The 37-year-old former breaststroke swimmer is adamant he is innocent, and will fight the punishment in a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing, which will begin Monday in Lausanne, Switzerland.