Jessica Kate Foschi (born 1980) is an American former competition swimmer.
Early life and education
Foschi is from Old Brookville, New York, and started swimming competitively at five years old at the Long Island Athletic Club. By the age of 12 she was setting regional age group records. In 1992, she made the Junior National Team and won three national freestyle events.
She graduated from Friends Academy high school in 1998, and went on to attend Stanford University. She graduated from Duke Law School in 2007. While at Duke, she wrote a 2006 law review note on the general issues of doping and sports in the Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law that is described as "impressive" in a 2015 textbook about sports law that also reviews and analyzes her experience with USA Swimming, the American Arbitration Association, FINA, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport that began in 1995.
Swimming career
In March 1995, at age 14, Foschi placed second in the 800 freestyle at the Spring Nationals to Janet Evans by less than a half-second. By November 1995, Foschi had a global ranking of 13th in the 800 freestyle, and according to Newsday was considered by "most swimming observers" to be a "longshot" for the 1996 Olympics team but otherwise "a clear candidate for elite status later in her career."
In November 1995, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Foschi tested positive for steroids after coming in third place for the 1500-meter freestyle at the August 1995 Summer Nationals championships in Pasadena, California. The steroid found in her urine, mesterolone, was not legally available in the United States and was found in her sample at one of the highest levels measured in a male or female athlete.
In November 1995, a three-member USA Swimming panel, by a vote of 2–1, put Foschi on probation, which meant she continued to be eligible to compete, including for the 1996 Olympics. After Foschi, her parents, and coach submitted polygraph tests supporting their denials of knowledge about the use of steroids, the panel found Foschi either had no knowledge of consuming the steroid or had been sabotaged. Medical evidence was submitted to the panel that found chronic steroid use "very improbable" and showed all subsequent tests were negative for the steroid. The sabotage finding was the first in United States sports, and panel members who believed Foschi was a victim of sabotage noted the high level of the steroid found in her test result.
After the probation decision, Foschi set New York State records in the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle in November 1995. According to the Buffalo News, Foschi received "polite applause" at the awards ceremony, and commented about the impact of the probation decision, "It's a little more difficult than it normally would be, but I'm basically trying to focus on my swimming, and not try to worry too much about that. It only messes up my focus."
In February 1996, the president of USA Swimming appealed the probation decision to the USA Swimming board, seeking an automatic suspension because of the duty of an athlete to guard against sabotage, and there was a hearing in which Foschi testified and denied knowingly consuming banned substances. During the hearing, it was stipulated that Foschi did not knowingly take mesterolone, and the issue to be decided was whether international swimming guidelines permitted a lack of knowledge to serve as a defense. In February 1996, USA Swimming changed the sanction to a two-year suspension, which made her ineligible to compete in the Olympic trials. FINA, the organization that administers international swimming competitions, then imposed a lighter sanction on another swimmer in a similar case, and the USA Swimming president then again appealed the suspension decision to the USA Swimming board, which in late February 1996, removed the suspension and restored the two-year probation.
Before the suspension was decided, Foschi's parents filed a lawsuit in the United States federal court system on her behalf against USA Swimming and the United States Olympic Committee to contest the suspension, and the case was moved to a New York trial court. After USA Swimming restored the probation, Foschi competed in the U.S. Olympics trials in March 1996. Foschi finished the trials without qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team, placing 4th in the 800-meter freestyle, 5th in the 400 freestyle, and 9th in the 200 freestyle. After the trials, Foschi commented, "I wasn't that concerned about not making the team, I just wanted to swim the fastest time."