Photo of Hardy and Wilson coach Maggi Twinem at Hardy’s induction to Wilson Hall of Fame by Stephen Dachman 

The following sentence might read to you like so much legal gobbledygook:

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeal filed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against the decision of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) imposing a one year suspension on the US swimmer Jessica Hardy, commencing on 1 August 2008.

But for Jessica Hardy, Wilson alum and world record-holder in the breaststroke, that sentence is life changing.  What it means, in plain speak, is freedom.  What it means is that Hardy’s recently-set world records will stand, and that she’s a long way towards her dream of swimming in the Olympics.

The news, that the CAS was siding with her, came during a practice at USC.  Hardy says she had her coach hold her cell phone, in anticipation that a ruling would be coming.  When it rang for her, she hopped out of the pool—”I was doing a really hard set,” she says—and heard the good news.  “I was really really really happy,” she says.  “I had a total emotional outburst on the deck for about 30 seconds.”

The suspension came after Hardy had qualified for the 2008 Olympics in four events—a drug test she took at qualifiers came back positive for clenbuterol, a banned substance.  Hardy maintained that the test was due to a tainted supplement given to her by a sponsor, an assertion that CAS now backs up.  The statement reads, the CAS “agreed that Jessica Hardy had shown good faith efforts before ingesting the food supplements at stake.”  Regardless of intent, she was banned from the 2008 Olympics, and from competition from August 1, 2008 through July 31, 2009, a year-long period of her life she’s happy to turn the page on. 

“It brought up a lot of old feelings,” she says of getting the phone call informing her the suspension would not be extended.  “It was a release…what I did was compartmentalize everything and put it away.  If I didn’t then I wouldn’t have been able to train.”

With the ruling, which you can read in full by clicking here, Hardy’s records, set since her August 2009 return to competition, officially stand, and she’s now a big step closer to finally fulfilling her dreams of swimming in an Olympics.  She still needs for the IOC to rule her eligible, but with an official ruling body siding with her and backing her assertion that the test result was a result of a tainted supplement, and not willful ingestion, her odds look good. 

Of course, when you’ve been burned as Hardy has, it’s a little harder to put your faith in something.  “I’d just say it makes me more…comfortable about London,” she says.