Russia's Maxim Shcherbakov, 19, has been suspended for a year for failing to state his availability for anti-doping tests for a period of eight months. On 2:12.79 over 200m breaststroke at the European junior championships last year, Shcherbakov's best  effort this year was a 2:16.79 at Russian nationals in May. 

It is not known wether Shcherbakov had decided to retire but had not done so officially and that is what landed him in trouble with the WADA Code and FINA rules. 

His case is among those that highlight the inconsistency of treatment of athletes in the current anti-doping regime. With the judgment of the Russian teenager comes no explanation of why, no reason given by athlete or country or FINA as to what might have happened. 

Earlier this year, Rafael Munoz, of Spain, faced a case against after he missed three out-of-competition tests. The penalty for such an offense is a suspension of up to two years. Munoz was set free on the basis that a doctor on Spain said that the swimmer had been "psychologically vulnerable" at the time of one of the missed tests. Within months, Munoz was crowned European 50m butterfly champion. 

Among the latest batch of doping cases reported by FINA was a Methylhexaneamine positive from Croatian swimmer Ante Krizan, who will serve a nine-month suspension.

The Russian's story comes on the back of a couple of odd cases in Germany that do not make the FINA doping cases list (though Germany's federation, the DSV, is obliged to report all cases to FINA under the international federation's rules). In one case a 13-year-old boy, whose mother gave him "Spasmo-Mucosolvan", an  expectorant in common use in Germany and often prescribed to youngsters with chesty coughs tested positive for  the banned substance clenbuterol. According to SwimNews sources, the boy had so much wanted to race at the meet in question with his mates that his mother agreed even though her son had a slight cough. She now accepts blame for what has happened but also believes that the DSV, the German federation needs to do more to prevent such things.

Parents and coaches in Germany have said that the advice given on what can and cannot be taken down the ranks at club level needs to be improved. That includes specific education aimed at making parents of very young swimmers aware that even over-the-counter drugs can present a serious problem in sport. The box that contains Spasmo-Mucosolvan states "Wirkstoffe: Clenbuterolhydrochlorid..." but one German coach indicated that unless you are aware of such things, they mean nothing against a backdrop where most of your school friends and their parents think nothing of picking up such common medicines at the local chemist (an doctors prescribe it without hesitation) when the family goes down with a winter cold.

Another unusual case in German involves a 14-year-old diver who quit the sport in 2008 and notified the DSV but no notice reached domestic testing agency NADA. As such, the teenager has now been  banned for two years and her name placed in the register of offenders.

From Italy, meanwhile, coach Andrea di Nino, reports heartening news: after season upon season of waiting for testers to call on his squad, WADA agents arrived at last at an ADN Project team traning session and tested Evgeny Korotyshkin (RUS) for the first time out-of-competition and then followed him from Italy to Russia to conduct a second out-of-competition test. Before that, just one test, on Jason Dunford, had been the previous record for WADA tests among the group, and the Kenyan only arrive this year.

The appearance of WADA testers followed Di Nino's criticism in an article in Gazetta dello Sport of a system that he claims is falling down on the job.  

The Italian coach tells SwimNews: "WADA exists.... great. I'm so proud to [have my swimmers] controlled so often." His main reason for feeling that way is that he believes swimming has a doping problem, in common with many other sports. If a squad has a reputation for being checked regularly, those with a mind to cheat will tend to look elsewhere for coaching, Di Nino suggests.

Many in swimming now believe that the anti-doping regime needs to be more rigorous and intelligent. While reports are due out in one leading swim nation where a national anti-doping agency states that a swimming federation's claims that its swimmers are tested regularly are false and that the sport of swimming is among those least tested in that country, aquatic sports in Brazil are under scrutiny even within their own community as the number of positive tests reaches alarming levels.

In an editorial on South America's top swim site, Best Swimming, Alex Pussieldi makes a call to arms under the headline "VAMOS ATRÁS DOS CRIMINOSOS!" [Let's Get the Criminals!]. The piece talks of the "rage" felt in Brazil over each passing positive, including the case of Daiane Becker. That is coupled, Pussieldi states with a feeling of "frustration and the fact that we are still full of criminals in our environment who keep on selling the idea of paradise that is in fact a living hell for our athletes."

The author does not believe that "Daiane Becker is innocent" because she is "old enough and mature enough to know what it right and wrong". But his anger is reserved from those in the shadows who fed the two-year suspension but are now nowhere to be found.

He writes: "We all know that Daiane did not fall into this alone. Someone gave her the prescription, some doctor wrote a prescription, some pharmacist sold it, someone helped to make up her 'diet'. These 'someones' are still active, leading their normal lives as if nothing had happened." 

Pussieldi notes that IOC President Jacques Rogge if of the view that the doping crisis in sport will only turn around when nations take it seriously and make it illegal to supply athletes with banned substances, in a system in which the police can intervene and have authority in such cases. 

Pussieldi writes: "It is not enough to think that these two years of suspension and the elimination of the Daiane Becker resolves the problem ... We [Brazil] are the world record-holders of doping in swimming and we'll never get a medal for holding that title. Worse, much worse, is the image of a corrupt programme, the stain and effect of all of this.

"We will never manage to popularise our sport. We will never get close to having a media profile capable of attracting spnsors. For incredible as it seems, our sport is dirty..."

He calls for a determined effort to stamp out rogue practice. "We need to find these people [doctors, nurses, coaches, officials and others in the shadows helping athletes to dope] and to remove them completely from our path. It is time to do something."

Becker, he notes, is ruined: no London 2012, no Rio home Games in 2016 under article 45 of the WADA Code.

Pussieldi's closing poser: "Was it all worth it?"

That is a theme we will be returning to in the near future as we consider the current state of the fight against doping in sport, with a focus on swimming. 

The Latest WADA Prohibited List