Cameron van der Burgh: gold medalist, world record holder, cheater?

When it comes to swimming, athletes who complete in the games search for any possible advantage they can find.  Just ask Michael Phelps, who knows a few things about winning medals.  In the case of one of the gold medalists in London, just because you’re cheating doesn’t mean you can’t also be honest.  South African swimmer Cameron van der Burgh admitted to cheating his way to a gold medal and a world record in the 100m butterfly.  However, according to van der Burgh, it’s not cheating if everyone else is doing it, too.

“If you’re not doing it, you’re falling behind,” van der Burgh said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.  “It’s not obviously — shall we say — the moral thing to do, but I’m not willing to sacrifice my personal performance and four years of hard work for someone that is willing to do it and get away with it.  I think it’s pretty funny of the Australians to complain because in the underwater footage if you actually look at Brenton Rickard in the lane next to me, he’s doing the exact same thing as me yet they’re turning a blind eye.  It’s got to the sort of point where if you’re not doing it you’re falling behind or your giving yourself a disadvantage so everyone’s pushing the rules and pushing the boundaries, so if you’re not doing it, you’re not trying hard enough.”

Swimmers in the 100 meter butterfly are allowed two dolphin kicks, once at the start of the race and once after the turn-around at the wall.  van der Burgh took multiple dolphin kicks, just like everyone else in his race.  If he was caught by judges he would have been disqualified, but since there’s no review in swimming, he can admit it after the fact and keep his gold medal.

Tags: swimming, london olympics, Cameron van der Burgh, south africa, south african swimmer Cameron van der Burgh admits to cheating, dolphin kick, 100 meter butterfly, gold medalist, world record holder admits to cheating, 100m butterfly gold medalist cheated, illegal dolphin kicks, brenton rickard, world records

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