Tokyo 2021: Australian Olympic Committee backs investigation into Ian Thorpe medical records leak

With the newly-elected FINA president wanting justice served, the AOC says it would welcome an independent investigation into the leaking of Ian Thorpe’s private medical records.

Ian Thorpe with Susie O’Neill back at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has backed calls for an independent investigation into the shameful leaking of Ian Thorpe’s private medical records more than a decade ago after key eyewitnesses alleged that a senior Olympic official was behind the breach.

World swimming’s newly-elected president Husain Al Musallam wants the case reopened after the finger was pointed at his predecessor, Mustapha Larfaoui, who was in charge of running the sport when Thorpe’s confidential test results were leaked to a French newspaper in 2007.

Al Musallam told News Corp that it was never too late for justice to be served and the AOC strongly agreed, saying it would welcome an independent probe into the matter.

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Ian Thorpe‘s confidential tests were leaked to the press in 2007.

“Let me start by saying that Ian Thorpe is an amazing Australian athlete and a great Australian Olympian,” the AOC’s chef de mission in Tokyo Ian Chesterman said.

“I fully believe that there should be an absolute pursuit of the truth in this situation. And I certainly hope to get to that point sooner rather than later.”

Chesterman’s comments were endorsed by swimming legend Susie O’Neill, who was one of Thorpe’s teammates at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Also working with the Australian team in Tokyo, O’Neill said there was never any doubt that Thorpe was anything but squeaky-clean, even after his critics unsucessfully tried to smear his name.

“Ian‘s reputation and image is above all that stuff,” O’Neill told News Corp.

Ian Thorpe with Susie O’Neill back at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

“Even though to him, obviously, it was a really big deal, I think no one believed any of it was true, but if he would like it reopened, then I would support that.”

Swimming’s world governing body has long been criticised for sweeping Thorpe’s case under the carpet after initially promising a full investigation, but FINA has had a sudden change of heart after a change in leadership and the emergence of fresh claims about exactly who tipped off the French newspaper which published the leaked report.

Larfaoui, who was the FINA President, an IOC member and on the executive board of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) at the time of the leak, has always been the prime suspect.

Now 88, he has not denied the accusation or that he spoke to the French journalist, but claims he can’t remember what he said at the time, saying: “Sorry – it was 14 years ago. I don‘t remember well that situation and I don’t want to say the wrong thing.”

Sources within FINA have alleged that Larfaoui did tell his trusted inner circle at the time that he was unaware the man he had disclosed the information to was a journalist, but that alone wouldn’t absolve him because the protocols around athlete private medical records are crystal clear and sacrosanct.

Former FINA president Mustapha Larfapha is repoprtedly the official behind the breach.

A closely-guarded secret for years, the alleged details about FINA’s role in leaking Thorpe’s test results have only just come to light through News Corp’s ongoing investigation into the sport’s murky past.

Australian anti-doping officials have long held deep reservations about the way FINA conducted itself while the case was being investigated.

According to a confidential report seen by News Corp, FINA pressured Australian doping investigators to charge Thorpe with a violation even when all the scientific evidence pointed to the fact he was innocent.

When the Australian investigators ruled that Thorpe had no case to answer, FINA filed two appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but both were thrown out.