SERIOUS doubt hangs over Michelle Smith's participation in this year's European Championships in Seville, Spain, because of a hardline stance taken by the secretary of the European swimming federation, Harm Beyer, over an alleged incident involving her coach and husband, Eric de Bruin, at the last European Championships in Vienna two years ago.
Smith has not said publicly whether she will take part in the championships, but she has said in the past that if de Bruin did not receive accreditation as her coach it would cause problems.
Since her return to competitive swimming after her haul of three gold medals and a bronze at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Smith has continually stated that it was no certainty that she would participate in either the European Championships or the World Championships in Perth, Australia, next year.
Beyer, however, has stated that if de Bruin is refused accreditation for Seville, it will have no bearing on the World Championships next year.
Beyer, the honorary secretary of the European body, LEN, and chairman of the International Federation's (FlNA) doping commission, has stated categorically that either de Bruin or a representative must first fully explain the incident which occurred two years ago in Austria involving an accreditation which was given to de Bruin.
"He is not affiliated to the Irish swimming federation. He is not affiliated to LEN," said Beyer.
"I do not know if the Irish federation even wished to do something about Mr de Bruin. That is not for me to decide. But there is someone who went to our accreditation centre in Vienna and got accredited improperly.
"He or someone on his behalf must come and clarify the matter. I requested that he come to my table in Vienna at the time, but he did not do that. In my personal experience this has never happened before.
"If anyone wishes to get him accredited for the European Championships in Seville, I must be approached," Beyer said. "My position will be that things must first be clarified regarding Vienna. I am not ready to start any procedure to issue him (Mr de Bruin) with accreditation for the next European Championships until what happened in Vienna is clarified. It is not my task to look for him or seek him out. He is not a LEN member. This is a pure LEN matter.
If people violate our rules the rules that LEN have set, then this cannot be accepted," Beyer continued. "Mr de Bruin violated our rules. He went to our accreditation centre in Vienna two years ago pretending to be somebody else and pretending to have lost his accreditation. An accreditation was given to him by the officials with his picture on it but with the information for somebody else on the document.
"I am not ready to forget it. If we forgot such an incident: how would you be able to maintain rules and regulations, how could you maintain procedures," asked Beyer.
The Irish Amateur Swimming Association (IASA) refused to seek accreditation on de Bruin's behalf for the last championships, but they are expected to have little problem this time around. According to an official, if Smith asks for de Bruin to be accredited as her coach, it is very likely to be passed by the IASA executive.
Michelle applied before for Eric and he was rejected. He was on a drugs ban. Based on that he was rejected. The ban finishes on July 31st of this year. There probably won't be an issue this time around because no ban will be in place in August. Once that is over the objection would probably no longer stand," said an IASA official.
"Mr Beyer was the one involved in Vienna. It's up to him to sort it out. He should clarify something he was involved in. As far as I understand it, it was all sorted out.
"I presume that if we apply and we put Eric's name on the form and they refuse, then they will give us good reasons for refusing, the same way as they would give reasons for refusing anyone. If the executive approve Eric's name, we'll just put it on the form," added the official.
Smith's first significant break-through into the international arena arrived at the Vienna Championships when she won gold in the 200 metres butterfly and 200 metres individual medley and silver in the 400 metres individual medley. But since her Olympic triumph, and her participation in the meeting in Galway last March, she has steadfastly refused to commit herself to anything this summer.
I'm still monitoring how my training is going and I haven't decided yet about the European Championships," Smith said yesterday. "I had a good weekend in Belgium but there is still some way to go. I'm not yet at a level where I would be happy competing at a European Championship level. It's too premature to say now what I'm going to do or what I am not going to do.
It would be a possibility that I wouldn't go, but I'm not thinking about that at the moment. For now I'm still concentrating on training. If it was the case that Eric was refused accreditation it would probably cause problems - problems in that I would want Eric to be there on the pool deck when I'm competing. I wouldn't be as confident or as happy competing if he was not on the pool deck as my coach. Obviously there has been a misunderstanding. That's what the man (Mr Beyer) is saying."
