Trojan Swim Club to suspend participation by international athletes in aftermath of Russian doping scandal

The high-profile Trojan Swim Club will suspend participation by international athletes after the International Swimming Federation barred two Russian swimmers who train with the USC-based group from competing in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Dave Salo, head coach of the Trojan Swim Club and USC’s men’s and women’s swimming teams, said in an email to The Times on Thursday that the suspension will last until “I can somehow find a way to assure we don’t have these kinds of problems.”

“Other than regular testing I don’t know what the answer is,” Salo said.

Olympic medalists Nikita Lobinstev and Vladimir Morozov were among seven Russian swimmers banned from the Games earlier this week as their country’s doping scandal continues.

Lobinstev and Morozov, who competed for the Trojan Swim Club at the Los Angeles Invitational earlier this month, were named in a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation headed by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren.

Salo expressed surprise at the bans, noting that the Russians have trained with the club for “the past several years” and have been subject to frequent random testing by WADA and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency during that time.

“They would be stupid to knowingly engage in doping,” Salo said. “If it is found to be true then I am thoroughly disappointed. … If the doping problem in Russia is as egregious as the McLaren report suggests and to the extent that the athletes are pawns in the process then I would have to join the cry to suspend all Russian athletes from the Games.”

Morozov, who holds three school records at USC, plans to appeal the decision to bar him from the Games to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

A third Russian swimmer banned from the Games, Yulia Efimova, also trained with the Trojan Swim Club. She holds the world’s second-fastest times this year in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke.

Efimova was suspended in 2014 after failing a doping test, then was briefly suspended again this year after testing positive for meldonium before the International Swimming Federation reinstated her in May. She wasn’t allowed to train with any U.S.-based teams during the ban. This month’s L.A. Invitational results don’t list her as being attached to any club.

Russia’s Olympic committee withdrew Efimova from the Games. She intends to appeal the decision, as well.

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Twitter: @nathanfenno