By Jason Marsteller
PHOENIX, Arizona, July 18. WHILE reading through a recent edition of LEN Magazine, the European Swimming League's official publication, I ran into something that caused a bit of confusion regarding the Ian Thorpe bombshell reporter Damien Ressiot dropped at the World Championships in L'Equipe.
In a May interview with LEN, Ressiot responded with the following when asked if his report on Thorpe was timed for the World Championships:
"The article came out during the World Championships because that is when my investigation was concluded."
However, in a recent article in The Sydney Morning Herald as reported here:
"But it became clear in talking with Ressiot that L'Equipe – which some have criticised as waging a propaganda campaign – timed the release of the Thorpe news for maximum publicity. Not only did the paper wait to release the story as if it was a live scoop on Thorpe – at the competition where the newly retired swimmer and the world's press would be – it waited until Ressiot would be there to take the hits.
'I had to come to Melbourne if only to be present when the article came out and to shoulder my responsibility,' he said."
Having been a part of the media machine for quite some time, I understand that people can be misquoted. However, there seems to be a direct contradiction between statements made by Ressiot within a month of each other. That's not a lot of time to develop a completely different memory.
Whether Thorpe winds up on the wrong side of the doping case remains to be seen, as reported here. But, the continual push into an athlete's privacy when it comes to things that can kill a career or legacy should be handled with the utmost discretion – and not for the betterment of any publication's bottom line.
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July 19, 2007. When I was at World Championships in Melbourne, I felt that the timing of the announcement was very premeditated. It not only really angered me for Ian, it also angered me for the athletes who were finally getting a little bit of media attention. While the media should have been clamoring over the athletes making news at the games, all attention turned violently toward a retired hero who was being attacked. The whole thing stinks. Lauren
July 19, 2007. I am not a swimmer – not even an athlete – but I have stood on the sideline for many years and seen the unimaginable amount of blood sweat and tears that go into the career of a world class athlete such as Ian Thorpe.
Given this, I was incensed at the fact that Ressiot and L'Equipe saw fit to air a story so patently designed to destroy so much of what Thorpe had worked towards achieving over the years.
The complete disregard for ethical journalism displayed by Ressiot and L'Equipe in actually airing the story was compounded by the timing thereof. I do not believe that the intention was anything bar maximum exposure, maximum bottom line. If this had not been the driver, it would have done well to have kept the story on 'ice' for a little longer.
Both L'Equipe and the individual who served as their information source regarding what should still have been a private issue deserve the utmost contempt. I trust that no self respecting swimmer will, in future, select to cooperate or be associated with a paper that has marked itself as the 'pony paper' of sport. Geraldine
July 20, 2007. Yes. Msr. Marsteller is exactly correct regarding the L'Equip controversy. The planning and timing at the World Championships is obvious to many of us. Many reporters have no idea how personally damaging they are to others' careers and they don't care. They have a "cycling mindset," where if you get caught for doping or something, they think it only increases your media coverage, gives you more time to do magazine layouts, and enhances your image as "more real." It is as if London tabloid journalism and Italian paparazzi style reporting has jumped the fence and now is coming to swimming and is hunting for victims. A lab report here, a doping rumour there, or where someone is having a holiday or who is flying them where is fair game. Look at what is happening with Laura Manaduou. Every move she makes is being followed by the Italian and French media. How many other French swimming starlets can you name? L'Equip wants to "be the story" not only report it. Anonymous
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