SHE may have beaten a FINA doping panel ban but Rio Olympic swimming medallist Madeline Groves may still miss this week’s Gold Coast Commonwealth Games selection trials.
Australia head coach Jacco Verhaeren said the champion butterflier had entered the four-day trials starting on Wednesday but it remained to be seen whether Groves contested them after a tough lead-up.
“I think with her we will see on the day,” Verhaeren said of the Rio 200m butterfly silver medallist’s chances.
Groves, 22, had to clear her name to contest the trials after facing suspension for missing three drug tests in 12 months.
Last October she escaped a ban when she successfully argued to the FINA doping panel that her third strike should not count because WADA testers did not do enough to find her.
Verhaeren said it had taken an emotional toll on Groves and had disrupted her preparation.
Adding to her anxiety before fronting the FINA doping panel, Dolphins teammates Thomas Fraser-Holmes and Jarrod Poort were hit with 12 month bans for the same offence.
Then Groves underwent surgery late last year to treat endometriosis, a painful condition where a lining in the uterus is found on another part of the body.
“There is a bit of a question mark (about Groves), she obviously had a very different preparation,” Verhaeren said.
“She had to deal with being on three strikes, which is obviously very difficult.
“We are very happy that it was proven that she wasn’t guilty of that, but as you can imagine emotionally it is draining.
“It puts you in a position where working hard and dealing with that is very difficult so she definitely started her preparation a bit later so let’s see where she is at.”
Verhaeren did not want to touch on Groves’ health battle but said the butterflier was back in the pool training.
The Dolphins mentor said they could not afford to push Groves ahead of the Gold Coast Games otherwise they risk burnout ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“It’s difficult to tell what level she is at but she is back in the water and training – she can look forward now,” Verhaeren said.
“(But) we got to take it easy with her and at the end of the day she needs to make a decision to get over a couple of issues – let’s hope that’s the case.”
