Six Stanford women swimmers affixed small patches to their shoulders at the Olympic trials earlier this month, stirring so much suspicion that USA Swimming officials sent samples to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for testing.
David Schmidt, president of the company that makes the LifeWave Energy Enhancer, said one coach "apparently accused us of putting testosterone in the patch." Schmidt called the charge "ridiculous" and insisted the patch contains only amino acids and water-based solutions.
No test results were immediately available, but the incident reflects the heightened attention to doping issues on the brink of next month's Olympic Games.
USA Swimming spokeswoman Mary Wagner acknowledged that some coaches questioned the patches during the trials, held July 7-14 in Long Beach. Wagner said national team director Everett Uchiyama asked Stanford women's coach Richard Quick for samples, which he provided. Those samples were forwarded to USADA, Wagner said.
Quick, a three-time Olympic head coach who will serve as an assistant for the U.S. women's team in Athens, defended the patches as a new training device he began using earlier this year. Quick said he offered to stop using the patches in races at the trials after other coaches' reservations were brought to his attention.
Quick said it was "not a concern at all" that the samples were sent to USADA. The patches are designed to electronically stimulate acupuncture points, inserting current into the body to help an athlete improve stamina, according to Schmidt. No substances enter the body, Schmidt said.
"We're not trying to hide anything, because it was out there in broad daylight," Quick said.
Quick identified the six swimmers who wore the patches in Long Beach as Lacey Boutwell, Lauren Costella, Ashley Daly, Kirsten Gilbert and sisters Tara and Dana Kirk. Of those six, only the Kirks made the U.S. team: Tara in the 100-meter breaststroke and Dana in the 200-meter butterfly.
USA Swimming officials never told Quick the patches were prohibited. He instructed his swimmers to stop wearing them during races at the trials, he said, to avoid the perception of wrongdoing. The swimmers continued to use them during warm-ups.
The patches generated a buzz in swimming circles.
"Everybody's looking at them funny, and everybody is concerned about them, because drugs are an issue," said Dick Jochums, head coach of the Santa Clara Swim Club. "I don't think we (in swimming) are as lily-clean as everyone thinks. But if you were going to use drugs, I don't think you'd do it in the open like that."
Randy Reese, head coach of Longhorn Aquatics, a swim club in Austin, Texas, noticed Stanford swimmers wearing the patches earlier this year. Reese had no idea what they were, but he also said, "When you see something like that, you're always skeptical, especially with everything you're hearing now (about drugs in sports)."
Quick said he learned about the patch in February from a friend who is a doctor and who had read about it. Quick, long known for trying cutting-edge training techniques, contacted Schmidt, whose company, LifeWave Products, is based in Suwanee, Ga., outside Atlanta. Schmidt went to Stanford, demonstrated how the product works and assured Quick and his swimmers that no chemicals enter the body.
Schmidt said he invented a way to stimulate acupuncture points electronically without moving herbs or drugs through the skin. He described the process as programming amino acids in water-based solutions, much the way computer chips are programmed, to send information into the body without magnets or batteries.
Two doctors who specialize in acupuncture, contacted by The Chronicle on Thursday, had not heard of the LifeWave Energy Enhancer. Dr. Bryan Frank, past president of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture, called the concept "interesting" but said he wondered about the claim that nothing goes into the body.
"When you say amino acids, that could be anything under the sun," Frank said. "It sounds to me like a real vague description because they don't want to say what it is. It would not surprise me to see the IOC or sporting federations ban that type of thing unless the company comes forth with specific data showing exactly what it is."
Quick is the only swimming coach to use the patches. He had his Stanford swimmers begin wearing them in practice and competition this past season, after they met with Schmidt. The Cardinal women won the Pac-10 championship and finished fifth at the NCAA meet.
Quick said the incident at the Olympic trials speaks to the climate in sports today, which has been affected by the BALCO doping scandal.
"Any great performance or significant improvement has a little cloud over it," Quick said. "I'm one of the most outspoken swimming coaches against performance-enhancing drugs. I'm also known as a coach who tries to leave no stone unturned in how to improve in a safe, healthy, legal way."
The full text of this article is available at http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/07/30/SWIMMING.TMP
