Swimmer Tara Kirk settles claim with USA Swimming

Bremerton swimmer and 2004 Athens medalist Tara Kirk has settled a case against USA Swimming, the governing body of her sport, after claiming she was financially damaged by the group's negligence in failing to place her on the Beijing swim team last summer.

Kirk was denied entry onto the team in spite of finishing third in the 100 meter breaststroke at the U.S. Olympic Trials -- an event in which the first-place finisher, Jessica Hardy of California, later tested positive for a banned substance.

In most sports, Kirk would have advanced onto the Olympic team, which takes the top two finishers in every event. But USA Swimming, because of a delay in receiving test results, said the positive test came too late to change the Olympic lineup. An arbitrator last summer ruled that USA Swimming had followed its own posted rules in setting the roster, so Kirk could not be placed on the team.

But the arbitrator left the door open for Kirk to pursue damages. And for an athlete suddenly bereft of sponsors that come with the term "Olympian," those damages can be substantial.

USA Swimming settled the case as a followup arbitration loomed next week.

Terms of the settlement were not announced, by mutual agreement. The parties issued a joint statement saying the matter had been "resolved to the satisfaction of all parties."

Kirk said in an e-mail that she's excited about moving on with her life, and is in "preliminary talks" with the Bremerton Schools Foundation to endow a fund for an elementary swim program in her hometown community, which has produced three Olympic swimmers in the past two Summer Games.

Kirk also is getting married in August.

The Bremerton native and former Stanford star, now retired, said she got what she wanted from the arbitration process.

"I'm now looking forward to working to prevent this problem from ever happening again, through appropriate rules changes to the selection procedures," she said.

USA Swimming, from the outset, refused to accept responsibility for the SNAFU, although individual coaches in the U.S. Swimming program acknowledged it makes sense to schedule the Olympic Trials farther in advance of the Games to allow testing to be completed, among other things.

Hardy, who qualified for the Games in four events, was suspended for two years, but recently had that suspension reduced by a year after convincing a separate arbitration panel that she ingested the banned substance in question, the anabolic agent clenbuterol, accidentally through her nutritional supplements.

Hardy and the nutrition company, AdvoCare, have sued one another over the matter, which could prohibit Hardy from competing in the London 2012 Games.