Something that separates competitive freediving from other sports is the seemingly tight-knit and supportive freediving community. Although rivalries exist, they are typically friendly ones. Friendships between top athletes are well known.
But at Vertical Blue 2023, a famous private freediving competition held annually at Dean’s Blue Hole in Long Island, Bahamas, the typical smoky haze of positivity disappeared weeks before the competition began.
Freediving Doping Controversy
After 12 months of extensive investigation, including over 400 hours of research and interviews by author Kristina Zvaritch, DeeperBlue.com is exclusively releasing this four-part series about doping in freediving. The series is inspired by the events that preceded the 2023 edition of the renowned Vertical Blue freediving competition and its aftermath. Kristina received no compensation for this investigation.
The series includes the following articles:
- Freediving Doping Controversy: Part 1 – Everything You Need to Know About Vertical Blue 2023 (this article)
- Freediving Doping Controversy: Part 2 – What Happened to Tory George?
- Freediving Doping Controversy: Part 3 – Examining the Drugs in Question
- Freediving Doping Controversy: Part 4 – When Ethics Are Forgotten
With a single Instagram post accusing two competing athletes of having performance-enhancing drugs in their luggage, social media users went up in arms against each other, throwing accusations of doping at the athletes involved and anyone defending them. Individuals who questioned the legality of the search or suggested a lack of due process also came under fire; people feared even questioning how the substances could be performance-enhancing, worried they might be labeled as cheaters. Competitive freediving became a deeply political topic, and friendships were lost over divided stances.
I started by attempting to write a single article on the subject, mainly to inform readers of the general timeline and link to relevant social media posts. However, the more I spoke to athletes, freediving organizations, anti-doping organizations, and medical professionals, the more questions I had. This resulted in an entire year of work and over 400 hours dedicated to interviewing, researching, investigating, and disseminating information. Naturally, one article grew into four, of which this is the first.
What happened during the Vertical Blue 2023 luggage search? What were the substances allegedly found in athletes’ bags? How did freediving organizations respond to the accusations? Join me as I search for answers in part one of this series.
A Note on WADA, the Code, and International Standards
While doping in sports has reportedly existed since the Ancient Olympics, the international sporting world came together in 1999 and created the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Its purpose is to set and standardize anti-doping rules, monitor compliance, conduct research and development, and educate the public.
At the heart of WADA’s efforts are its core document, the ‘Code,’ and eight International Standards, which thoroughly outline every aspect of the doping control process. These standards are essential for ensuring consistency and fairness across all anti-doping agencies.
Failure to adhere to these guidelines threatens the integrity of the doping control process, diminishes the trust and confidence of participants in organized sports, and threatens fair play.
Vertical Blue 2023 Luggage Search
July 4, 2023 – Arrival to Long Island
Pepe Salcedo and his girlfriend, Eliette Rutledge, walked into the airport lounge in Nassau, Bahamas, on July 4, 2023, waiting to board their plane headed for Deadman’s Cay. There, they saw Australian freediver Amber Bourke and three Croatian world champion freedivers: Vitomir Maricic, Petar Klovar, and Sanda Delija. All were heading to Vertical Blue 2023, a renowned private freediving competition at Dean’s Blue Hole on Long Island. Salcedo, Maricic, Klovar, and Bourke were heading to compete, while Delija came to train and Rutledge to commentate for the event, which would be taking place on July 20 – 30.
As the plane landed and the athletes stepped off, they were met by William Trubridge, the organizer of Vertical Blue and fellow competitor. Salcedo went to hug him, joking that Delija would be interested in participating at Vertical Blue if there were any cancellations. Trubridge said it was possible, but first, he needed to perform a ‘gateway’ luggage search. He gave them the choice of conducting a luggage search at the airport or a police station. The athletes were already sweating under the midday sun, so they chose to go to the police station.
Trubridge told Croatian athletes Maricic, Klovar, and Delija to put their bags in the back of his pickup truck and ride in the car with him. He then instructed Salcedo to drop his bags in the truck and follow him in Salcedo’s rental car. Salcedo asked, “What about Amber?” and pointed at Bourke, but Trubridge didn’t seem to notice, and she left in her rental car.
At one point, Croatian athletes Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar joked with Trubridge about Klovar setting a new Constant Weight No Fins (CNF) World Record at this year’s competition. CNF is the most challenging freediving discipline, involving an athlete diving down and up a line using only arm and leg strokes. Trubridge, also a freediving world champion, reached fame partly through his 102m (335ft) CNF World Record, which has remained untouched since 2016. Klovar’s official coach, Maricic, confirmed in an interview that setting a new CNF World Record was the main goal for Vertical Blue 2023.
Vertical Blue’s doping control policy
The ‘gateway’ luggage check William Trubridge mentioned was only part of the 2023 edition of Vertical Blue; previous editions did not include luggage searches. Trubridge told the athletes they had agreed to ‘special rules’ for this year’s Vertical Blue as they registered. He was referring to a document titled VB Doping Control Policy and Procedures, which stated that along with WADA’s (World Anti-Doping Agency) prohibited list of substances, there were additional prohibited drugs, mention of possible random baggage searches, and more.
The Search
William Trubridge walking into an unidentified building with athletes’ luggage in hand and a uniformed Royal Bahamas police officer in tow. Video provided by Vitomir Maricic.
William Trubridge and the athletes arrived at an unmarked, dilapidated building with worn couches and chairs. Everyone’s luggage was gathered together into a pile; meanwhile, the Croatians began arguing with Trubridge and asking if this was an official police matter or a private matter. Trubridge concluded this was a private matter – it was happening at a police station. Both he and a police officer in the room stated that no one was under arrest and was free to go at any time. Vitomir Maricic then took a photo of one of the armed police officers, but the officer demanded he delete it.
William Trubridge and a uniformed Royal Bahamas police officer searching athlete luggage. Video provided by Vitomir Maricic.
Maricic asked why William Trubridge, not only Vertical Blue’s event organizer but also one of its competitors, was searching their bags since there was an apparent conflict of interest. Trubridge told Maricic that no one on the Vertical Blue team was willing to do the search, so he had to do it himself. He and one of the police officers donned gloves, and the police officer began searching the bags, handing Trubridge any medications and blisters he found inside. Trubridge wrote the names of each medication on pieces of torn, wrinkled notebook pages and snapped photos of each blister.
William Trubridge checks the contents of athlete luggage while an armed Royal Bahamas police officer watches. Video provided by Vitomir Maricic.
According to Vitomir Maricic, in the middle of the search, Trubridge asked him and Petar Klovar, “Do you have prescriptions for these drugs?” Maricic told him yes and that they’d submit anything Trubridge needed for any drug he found. “I assumed maybe he would check his list and then ask for explanations for specific drugs, but he never asked again,” he disclosed to me.
During the search, Sanda Delija noticed Trubridge’s phone was recording audio of the entire interaction. The Croatians confronted him repeatedly, asking Trubridge why he was secretly recording them. According to the Croatians, Trubridge seemed to ignore them until he admitted that he wasn’t sure if recording audio without consent was legal.
Trubridge then informed Maricic and Klovar that they would undergo a doping control (an official testing procedure where a urine sample would be collected to test for prohibited substances). As multiple world record-breaking freedivers, the Croatian athletes were no strangers to the doping control process, so they asked for water. However, the police officers brought them a bottle of unsealed water, which they immediately noticed and refused to drink, as drinking unsealed water is not advisable for athletes undergoing doping control.
After Trubridge concluded his search of the athletes’ bags, he gave the list of items he had written down on paper to the officers to sign. However, none of the athletes had the chance to read what he’d written or sign off on anything themselves. When one of the athletes asked the police officers who were present their names, one officer gave his name, while the other refused.
As the luggage search concluded, Salcedo, Rutledge, and Delija left for their accommodations. At the same time, Maricic and Klovar met with a doping control officer (DCO) from the Bahamas Anti-Doping Commission (BADC) to collect their urine samples. The mood was dark, and a heavy cloud appeared over everyone at the luggage search. Nothing was communicated to Maricic or Klovar further on the matter until they opened their Instagram feed four days later to find a new post from Vertical Blue’s official account.
Trial by Social Media
Vertical Blue breaks the news on Instagram and YouTube
On July 8, 2023, four days after the July 4th luggage search, the freediving community was thrown into a state of shock. A post with an official statement appeared on Vertical Blue’s official Instagram account stating that three Croatian athletes (Vitomir Maricic, Petar Klovar, and Sanda Delija) underwent a doping control luggage search, and that “During the search, four (4) known Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) were discovered in the luggage of both athletes. These included substances that are on the WADA banned list for all sport, as well as other prescription drugs that are known to be PEDs for freediving, and are included on the banned list for VB according to its doping policy.”
The four substances that were allegedly found in the athletes’ luggage and their official status as performance-enhancing drugs are as follows:
- Furosemide – Belonging to the loop diuretic drug class to treat and manage fluid overload conditions, it is listed on WADA’s list of prohibited substances in the ‘diuretic and masking agent’ category rather than as a performance-enhancing drug.
- Alprazolam and diazepam – Belonging to the benzodiazepine drug class to treat anxiety, mental health-related conditions, and seizures, benzodiazepines are listed as a performance-enhancing drug in the VB Doping Control Policy and Procedures document. However, benzodiazepines are not currently on WADA’s Prohibited List.
- Sildenafil – Belonging to the phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitor drug class, sildenafil is primarily used to treat erectile dysfunction. Sildenafil is not listed by name in the VB Doping Control Policy and Procedures document and is not currently on WADA’s Prohibited List.
These substances, their uses, and their potential (or lack thereof) as performance-enhancing drugs are discussed in detail in the 3rd article of this series.
Vertical Blue’s official statement went on to mention that audio documentation revealed that “the athletes in question discussed (in Croatian language) the drugs that were in their luggage, as well drugs they had taken recently that they were concerned may still be detectable in their system.”
A video on Vertical Blue’s official YouTube account featured snippets of recorded audio during the luggage search and photos of the alleged drug blisters.
The audio documentation mentioned in the official statement was posted on Vertical Blue’s official YouTube account and featured two minutes of edited snippets of Croatian conversation that often trailed off mid-sentence. The written Croatian text was provided along with an unofficial English translation. Additionally, photos of the alleged drug blisters were displayed, with some images appearing to be duplicated.
Vertical Blue’s official statement concluded with the announcement of Maricic’s and Klovar’s lifetime ban from Vertical Blue, including the approaching Vertical Blue 2023. It further included that a report was being prepared for the Disciplinary Committee of the International Association for the Development of Apnea (AIDA), a freediving record governing body.
Comments on the post were a mix of emotions. Some Instagram users praised and supported Vertical Blue’s efforts in the fight against doping. In contrast, others questioned the legality of the search, accused the post of defamation, and objected to the lack of due process. Several commenters asked why some of the drugs were listed as performance-enhancing.
In the third article of the series, “Freediving Doping Controversy Part 3: Examining the Drugs in Question” (published next week), I examine sildenafil, benzodiazepines, and furosemide in more detail, using clinical studies to evaluate whether they could be considered performance-enhancing substances in freediving.
Public response from Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar
On the same day Vertical Blue broke the news of the luggage search, Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar posted a response via Instagram stating that the claims against them were false and that their lawyers advised them not to make any detailed statements. They mentioned in the post that they are “athletes that are clean, have always been, and this will all be soon clarified.”
Another two weeks later, the athletes uploaded a new post on Instagram titled ‘Stop unfair media trial.’ It included bullet points describing the Vertical Blue luggage search and a more detailed version of the events from their perspective.
Vitomir Maricic’s and Petar Klovar’s history of out-of-competition doping control
Many top athletes in sports are placed in a sports organization’s Registered Testing Pool. As part of this program, they must regularly inform the organization of their whereabouts, which allows for random doping controls to be conducted throughout the year, even outside of competitions.
As world champion athletes, both Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar provide their whereabouts through WADA’s ADAMS (‘Anti-Doping Administration and Management System’), a tool WADA and anti-doping organizations use to ensure effective monitoring and implementation of anti-doping regulations.
Maricic first started inputting his whereabouts and undergoing out-of-competition testing in 2018, while Klovar began doing the same in 2021. They estimate that in 2023 alone, Maricic had 6 to 8 in- and out-of-competition tests, and Klovar had 12 or more.
Additionally, Maricic informed me that they have never tested positive nor missed a single control (athletes are allowed to miss two controls every year, such as if an athlete doesn’t wake up for it, their phone is disconnected, they are at a different address, etc.).
Vitomir Maricic’s and Petar Klovar’s Vertical Blue 2023 doping control results
Both Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar tested negative for the July 4, 2023 doping control that immediately followed William Trubridge’s luggage search.
Freedivers start a public petition on Change.org
Some freedivers were quick to call for action after the news of the luggage search broke, starting a Change.org petition on July 21 addressed to AIDA International and CMAS (CMAS is the French acronym for the World Underwater Federation, a long-established freediving record-governing body).
The petition called on both organizations to ban benzodiazepines without the requirement for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (referred to as a ‘TUE,’ which is a special permission granted to an athlete that allows them to use a substance from WADA’s Prohibited Substances list to be treated for an illness or medical condition).
Furthermore, the petition requested that Petar Klovar and Vitomir Maricic be “immediately suspended from all competitions under Article 2.6 of the World Anti-Doping Code for the possession of Fursemid 40mg.”
As of August 2024, it has amassed 700+ signatures.
The same petition was also the focus of an Instagram post on William Trubridge’s official account but with the addition of 53 athlete names depicted as signing the petition. However, some athletes spoke up in the comments and protested their names being added.
Gus Kreveinas, a Lithuanian National Record Holder, commented, “First of all I would like to say that I am supporting fair play. And this situation makes me very sad. And what is the most disturbing and disgusting and makes me doubt the fairness of this process is that my name is being put on the list without me knowing! @willtrubridge , if you demand everyone to play by the rules please make sure that all play by the rules. Nobody has right to drag people in to this without their knowledge and agreement. End off!”
Jennifer Wendland, World Champion and former World Record Holder, was also taken aback at seeing her name written on Trubridge’s Instagram post. “I am a bit surprised to find my name on this, without ever having actively signed anything. Yes, I said I support this move against doping. But I would have liked to have both issues seperated: strict anti-doping rules including additional substances, and the question of how to properly process an alleged doping case (especially because to someone outside of VB it’s still a complete mystery whats going on). And I would have liked to actively sign and consent.”
Vitomir Maricic posted screenshots of Gus and Jennifer’s comments on his official Instagram account, along with Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger screenshots of other individuals stating that they did not sign anything. Additionally, a few screenshots included Instagram comment threads with users questioning why Vertical Blue’s official Instagram account had banned their accounts.
When I asked Trubridge how he compiled the athlete signatures on his Instagram account, he told me that there was a group of athletes who came together to organize the petition. “The names were kind of being added from people all over the group,” he explained. “So someone would say, ‘Oh, yes, these people have said they want to sign.’ And so they were being added using that kind of a system, like anyone in that group could add names. But I guess it wasn’t the most efficient system, because maybe some of those names hadn’t seen the exact wording of the petition, and so they weren’t comfortable with that wording when it came out.”
Interview with William Trubridge
During my research and interviews with athletes, I asked William Trubridge a few questions that received noteworthy responses.
How many athletes saw the VB Doping Control Policy and Procedures document before the competition?
During the luggage search, William Trubridge handed Sanda Delija the VB Doping Control Policy and Procedures in its printed form. The athletes present tried to access the Google Form used for competition registration to check for the VB document. However, they found that the registration form link was no longer available.
When I interviewed Trubridge and asked about that particular document, he mentioned to me that while several documents were linked in the Google Form, the VB Doping Control Policy and Procedures wasn’t one of them. On the competition registration, one of the questions simply stated, “Do you agree to VB and AIDA policy regarding doping testing (copies available on request) with a ‘yes’ and ‘no’ option.”
“Very few people actually asked to see the policies and procedures,” Trubridge told me. “We probably could have done so [attach the VB Doping Control Policy and Procedures to the Google Form], but the athletes who obviously were interested in (and again, there were very, very few) could just as easily write to us to ask to see those policies and procedures.”
“In a way, it’s also a sign,” Trubridge continued, “because I mean, if someone is asking to see the policies and procedures and wanting to check them out…I wouldn’t say it’s a red flag, but it’s just an extra piece of information, I guess, about that case.”
When was the VB Doping Control Policy and Procedures posted online?
In a comment thread on Trubridge’s Instagram post regarding the petition to AIDA International and CMAS, Trubridge stated, “the rules were written and online since before athletes pre-registered in February,” appearing to refer to the VB Doping Control Policy and Procedures document.
However, a look at archived Vertical Blue ‘News’ pages from March 5, May 28, and June 7 does not show the document listed. It finally appeared on the July 10 webpage archive six days after the day of the luggage search, and it has remained there since the writing of this article.
But in an interview with Trubridge, when I asked him specifically when the VB Doping Control Policy and Procedures were placed on the website, Trubridge asked, “They are on the website? Whereabouts are they on the website?”
When did William Trubridge drop out of Vertical Blue 2023?
Later in the luggage search, the athletes questioned why Trubridge himself was searching their bags since he was not only the event organizer but also a fellow competitor.
In my interview with Trubridge, I asked him exactly when he dropped out of Vertical Blue 2023 as an athlete. He told me he thinks he officially dropped out “sometime in June.” When I asked him what the process is for removing himself, he explained, “I removed my name from the spreadsheets and then sent an email to the webmaster who handles the website saying, ‘Can you take my name off the ‘in’ list for the athletes?’ and that went live straight away. And so any athlete can see at any time what the ‘in’ list is for the event.”
However, a webpage archive from July 3, 2023, just one day before the luggage search, showed him still on the list of competitors.
How did William Trubridge choose the athletes for doping control?
I wanted to understand the selection process for out-of-competition testing at Vertical Blue 2023.
During my interview with Trubridge, I asked him about this directly. He informed me it’s based entirely on profiling. “There’s a wealth of data that goes into making a decision about who gets tested or not. And all of that data, none of it is black and white in the sense that it’s 100% incriminating, because if it was, then that would have been used already to incriminate them. So it is, by definition, going to be kind of anecdotal.”
Trubridge told me that Vertical Blue management chose athletes for the out-of-competition testing. When I asked who that team consisted of, he said, “There’s an executive group of three people. Myself, Marco Cosentino, and then the third person, I’m not sure if…I mean, [REDACTED] is involved as an executive, but I would have to check in and make sure that I can kind of include [REDACTED] name on the list of people who are making this decision. So I’d have to follow up with [REDACTED] for that.”
When I asked him a few days later to confirm, he told me, “They do prefer to remain silent after all.”
Note: Pronouns were redacted to protect the privacy of the individual involved at the request of William Trubridge.
Were the uniformed police officers acting in an official capacity?
The videos taken during the luggage search show police officers in uniform, one of whom was armed with a gun on his belt. I asked Trubridge if the police officers were acting in an official capacity or off-duty. Trubridge responded, “They were off-duty, the police. It could not be an official police matter, so they were basically operating off-duty as security and as kind of officials come back to the search.”
When I asked if they were in uniform, Trubridge continued, “Yeah, I think they were in uniform. So according to the Bahamian law, they’re not required to remove that uniform when they’re off-duty. It wasn’t a choice because it simply could not be official police business because it doesn’t come under their mandate for the Royal Bahamas Police Force.”
However, according to the Royal Bahamas Police Force Standing Orders under Section A9 – Uniform, point 37 states, “Uniform will not be worn off duty.” As for being armed, according to a 2014 article in the The Tribune, a daily newspaper in the Bahamas, a Police Staff Association Treasurer stated, “police can only brandish police-issued firearms and ammunition within their hours of duty.”
Who determines what prescription-only substances enhance freediving performance and how?
I asked Trubridge about the specific point in the VB Doping Control Policy and Procedures that states, “any prescription-only substance that enhances performance in apnea/freediving and for which the athlete does not have a current prescription.” Specifically, who determines what prescription-only substances enhance freediving performance and how?
“That was a clause that we put in there but weren’t sure about using, and didn’t end up needing to use or probably wouldn’t have used in the end because it’s more of kind of like a gray area clause. It’s basically stating that there may be other PEDs that we’re not aware of that are obviously like prescription drugs you’d only be taking if you’re very sick but have a performance-enhancing effect on freediving. And if that’s the case, and someone’s taking substances purely to enhance the performance like that, then that’s banned as well.”
“I think Viagra (sildenafil) might have classified as this,” Trubridge added. He took a moment to check the Vertical Blue Policy and Procedures and then confirmed to me that sildenafil wasn’t listed there by name.
“So, for instance, sildenafil isn’t actually listed in the Vertical Blue Policy and Procedures,” Trubridge told me. “But that was something that we then (kind of in the course of research and actually discovering it in the luggage of the Croatians), we then did kind of research on it. And there were studies that show that in regular sport, it doesn’t do anything. But in sports where there is hypoxia, such as endurance sports at altitude and low oxygen, then it does have a benefit. And so, it was obvious that there was a potential that this was a PED.”
In other words, research into sildenafil’s potential as a performance-enhancing drug for freediving was only initiated after it was allegedly discovered in the Croatian athletes’ bags.
Trubridge assured me that this category wasn’t intended to be used to catch people out with a drug not listed in the document. “For instance, if someone had come in just with Viagra, which was, even if it was being used as a PED, we wouldn’t have banned them in that case because obviously, it’s not listed,” Trubridge explained. “We would have just told them, okay, please don’t use this during the event.”
As for who determined that sildenafil was a performance-enhancing drug for freediving, Trubridge stated, “A team of people. I’m not a doctor myself; I have a background in science and biology. But no, it was like advisors – and most of them are doctors or research scientists.”
Freediving Organizations Respond
CMAS and AIDA launch investigations
On July 11, 2023, CMAS posted on its official freediving Instagram account that it received information from Vertical Blue organizers and would send documentation to the Anti-Doping Commission and Legal Commission. Commenters praised the respectful and professional tone of the post, and the freediving world continued to wait for updates.
Then, on August 4, 2023, AIDA International stated on its news page that it had opened an internal investigation after Vertical Blue made the doping allegations public. It wrote, “The Technical Committee is reviewing our rules to reinforce the anti-doping controls and the respect of AIDA procedures for AIDA international competitions. We believe in striving to keep our sport clean and ensuring due process.”
CMAS publicly suspends Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar from competition
On July 27, 2023, less than a week after the petition to ban benzodiazepines and suspend Petar Klovar and Vitomir Maricic from competing went live on Change.org, CMAS announced via Instagram that both athletes have been provisionally suspended from any sports activities within CMAS, according to Article 10.2 of the CMAS Statutes.
Article 10.2 states, “Furthermore, the President may suspend on interim basis a natural or legal person member of the CMAS for a period not exceeding sixty (60) days, whenever urgent reasons justify such a resolution. In such a case the Board of Directors has to be convened as soon as possible to take all necessary resolution in accordance therewith.”
Additionally, CMAS stated that it provisionally banned the use and possession of benzodiazepines and sildenafil for in- and out-of-competition use until it obtains a full scientific report from its commissions.
CMAS provided me with a copy of the CMAS Presidential Order upon request. However, readers might note that at the end of the second page, a statement appears to be abruptly cut off: “WHEREAS: The Athletes did not deny the possession of the said substances, yet they claimed against the circumstances which led to the search carried out by the.”
When asked about the missing information, a CMAS representative stated in an email that they did not know what was originally intended.
CMAS quietly revokes the athletes’ suspension
On September 23, 2023, just one day shy of the Presidential Order’s 60-day limit on Vitomir Maricic’s and Petar Klovar’s suspension, the CMAS Board of Directors met to reach a resolution.
At the beginning of October, I asked CMAS directly what decision was made regarding the athletes’ provisional suspension. A CMAS representative stated to me in an email that the “CMAS Board ratified the Presidential Order which was issued in July in the case of Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar and supported the disciplinary proceedings set in motion on the merits, following the said presidential order.”
But when I asked the CMAS representative if that meant that the athletes’ suspension had been lifted, I received the reply, “Since an independent disciplinary procedure is currently on-going, and you will understand that it is mandatory to respect the confidentiality of such proceedings, please be patient and wait for official press releases from CMAS Judicial Bodies, which we expect to be released soon.”
CMAS did not mention that although it ratified the Presidential Order in that Board of Directors meeting, it also revoked the athletes’ suspension from competition.
I obtained a copy of the decision rendered by the President of the CMAS Disciplinary Committee. In it, Maricic’s and Klovar’s suspension was revoked since “in lack of sport tournaments the necessity of preserving their [the athletes’] health conditions and the balance of competition is not imminent.” In other words, the end of the freediving competition season was approaching, so it was unnecessary to continue the ban.
CMAS never officially announced the lifting of Maricic’s and Klovar’s suspension resulting from the Presidential Order.
Furthermore, on October 16, 2023, Tolis Bellos, who is the Director of CMAS Freediving Commission, posted on the CMAS Freediving International Facebook group that CMAS is “’the home’ to all freedivers” and announced that it has banned certain substances such as benzodiazepines and sildenafil. The post went on to say, “Considering all the above, and following the recent developments at the AIDA international freediving event in Bahamas (we were the only ones to take immediate action) and the following event in Cyprus, which appear to be far from the CMAS standards, we have resolved to discontinue further cooperation with AIDA.”
31st AIDA Freediving World Championship
Tolis Bellos seemed to be referring to Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar being allowed to compete at the 31st AIDA Freediving World Championship, which began on September 21, 2023. There, Klovar performed a Free Immersion (pulling down and up the dive line) AIDA World Record dive to 135m (443ft), and Maricic placed first in the men’s overall ranking.
Many social media users questioned why Klovar was allowed to compete since he had an underwater blackout (lost consciousness at depth) in the week before the World Championship. He allegedly suffered a lung squeeze (a lung injury occurring at depth) on an attempted world-record dive at the AIDA World Championships 2023 PreCompetition. In an interview, AIDA International President Sasa Jeremic (who began her presidential term in 2024) told me, “Petar was cleared to compete by the competition doctor and additionally presented a new medical certificate, which was requested according to AIDA rules.”
Jeremic went on to say, “All blackouts are categorized by the jury according to Article 5.2.4.8 of the AIDA Competition Rules and Regulations, with consequences defined in 5.2.4.10. For barotrauma injuries – Article 5.2.5. The jury that was present in the water during the dive, the competition medic, who was the first to help the athlete, and the medic who proceeded with post-check-ups are a better source of information about this or any other blackouts than social media users.”
William Trubridge also made an Instagram post about the subject, stating that he would not participate in the event because of two athletes’ participation, seemingly referring to Maricic and Klovar.
AIDA International hires Clean Game
On October 27, 2023, AIDA International hosted an AIDA Assembly meeting discussing anti-doping procedures for AIDA competitions. The announcement stated that AIDA had hired Clean Game, an independent anti-doping organization recognized by WADA, to assess its approach to anti-doping. Following this, AIDA created a new position of Anti-Doping Manager and appointed Professor Dr. Nenad Dikic, the president of Clean Game, to this role.
Professor Dr. Dikic announced that “adding new substances to an official ban list must follow scientific methods regarding their effects on health and performance, including the methods and protocols for testing and detection.”
Additionally, Professor Dr. Nenad Dikic told me that “due to the questions raised by the freediving community, we will try to conduct a study with the antidoping laboratory from Vienna and prove possible use or misuse [of benzodiazepines] in sports.”
CMAS Disciplinary Committee reaches a verdict
On January 27, 2024, CMAS announced via Instagram that the CMAS Disciplinary Committee found Klovar and Maricic guilty of breaches in the CMAS Code of Ethics. CMAS cited that the athletes’ possession of performance-enhancing substances was capable of “altering the outcome of a competition” and “causing harm to the health of freedivers.” Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar were fined 5,000EUR each and given a six-month suspension, including time already served.
Additionally, CMAS announced that it’s officially prohibiting the use of sildenafil and benzodiazepines in CMAS underwater sports disciplines, including freediving, and is “in the process of completing the testing procedure rules to be effective and applicable as of the upcoming 2024 international sports season.” One Instagram user questioned the protocol to test athletes for sildenafil and benzodiazepines since “given that these substances aren’t in WADA list, they cannot be testing in the laboratories accredited by WADA.”
In other words, Maricic and Klovar were suspended for allegedly possessing, rather than using, benzodiazepines and sildenafil at Vertical Blue 2023. Notably, these substances were not officially banned in CMAS competitions until six months after Vertical Blue 2023 concluded.
Attempts to Involve WADA
A new petition addressed to WADA appears on Change.org
A new petition, this time aimed at WADA, appeared on Change.org on December 9, 2023.
This time, there was no mention of athlete suspensions. Italian freediver Simona Auteri called for the inclusion of the following drugs on WADA’s Prohibited List for freediving:
- Benzodiazepines
- Sildenafil
- Hydroxyzine
- Chloral hydrate
- Propofol
- Precedex
- Thioamides
As of August 2024, it has amassed over 1,800 signatures, more than double the signatures of the previous petition, including a call to ban Vitomir Maricic and Petar Klovar from competing.
WADA comments on benzodiazepines in freediving
As many freedivers on social media expressed disbelief that WADA does not currently ban benzodiazepines, I reached out to WADA directly to ask if it had ever considered adding benzodiazepines to its Prohibited List.
A representative for WADA responded that a substance may be considered for inclusion in WADA’s Prohibited List if it meets two of the following three criteria:
- It has the potential to enhance or enhances sport performance.
- It represents an actual or potential health risk to the athletes.
- It violates the spirit of sport.
The WADA representative went on to state that “currently, there is no indication that benzodiazepines fulfill two of the three criteria. It is important to note that the List is not static but evolves based on new scientific evidence; therefore, WADA maintains dialogue with athletes, administrators, scientific experts and other stakeholders and closely follows the literature in this area to obtain new evidence and information as it becomes available.”
What Happens Next?
I asked one of the Croatians about the future of their case following the guilty verdict handed down by the CMAS Disciplinary Committee for a CMAS Code of Ethics violation. He said, “We’re not appealing because there’s nothing to appeal anymore. We accepted the suspension and the fine because we don’t have the money to process it further; it was the only way to end the process.”
“It was clear that it wouldn’t make sense anyway since they changed the accusation to an ethical violation, which is impossible to defend; they made it in a way that it’s quite impossible to do anything. Any facts were completely irrelevant anymore, but also going into any further details about it could endanger us to face another process. Basically, we’re not allowed to say what exactly happened.“
“We’re also quite disappointed with official support provided for the athletes on these occasions. It seems that it is very hard to get the right information at the right time. Some of the crucial information we did not know or were wrongly informed. In the end, it’s sad that in these cases, the athletes don’t really have the right tools or information to bring justice to light. Sports law seems to be a niche with a lot of background politics involved.”
He ended with a grim observation: “Learning about many other similar cases, it created a bitter feeling that politics comes first, bureaucracy second, financial part third, and then maybe even justice in the end.”
Brief Summary
During Vertical Blue 2023, event organizer William Trubridge and two Royal Bahamas police officers searched the luggage of athletes Vitomir Maricic, Petar Klovar, Sanda Delija, Pepe Salcedo, and competition commentator Eliette Rutledge.
Trubridge took photos of alleged drug blisters found in Maricic’s, Klovar’s, and Delija’s bags, said to contain benzodiazepines, sildenafil, and furosemide. While Vertical Blue’s Instagram post stated “four known PEDs” were found in the luggage, only furosemide is currently banned by WADA, while benzodiazepines are banned according to the VB Doping Control Policy and Procedures document.
Trubridge later confirmed that advisors decided to ban sildenafil under the point “any prescription-only substance that enhances performance in apnea/freediving and for which the athlete does not have a current prescription” after the drug was allegedly found in the athletes’ luggage. After the search, Maricic and Klovar underwent an official doping control, and Vertical Blue shared the results of the luggage search in an Instagram post and posted a YouTube video containing secretly recorded audio of the Croatian athletes.
In the controversy that followed, Maricic and Klovar said they were innocent and that their lawyers were taking action. Their official doping control, which was conducted on the day of the search, showed no banned substances in their systems. An interview with Trubridge highlighted some inconsistencies in subjects such as when he officially dropped out of the competition, the availability and transparency of the rules to athletes before the competition, and how substances were chosen to be considered performance-enhancing.
Actions taken by the public included freedivers starting a petition to CMAS and AIDA International urging them to ban sildenafil and benzodiazepines and suspend Maricic and Klovar. Another petition aimed at WADA wanted these substances banned but didn’t name specific athletes. When asked for comment about benzodiazepines, WADA stated that benzodiazepines don’t meet the criteria for being banned.
CMAS and AIDA International began their own investigations. CMAS first publicly suspended Maricic and Klovar through a Presidential Order, then privately lifted the suspension without an official announcement. After a disciplinary hearing, CMAS suspended the pair of athletes for six months for breaching the CMAS Code of Ethics, stating that their possession of the substances was capable of “altering the outcome of a competition” and “causing harm to the health of freedivers.” CMAS also banned sildenafil and benzodiazepines and said it would stop working with AIDA, calling itself “the ‘home’ to freedivers.”
AIDA International asked Clean Game, an independent anti-doping organization, to review its methods, stating that it would follow scientific rules for deciding what’s banned. Soon after, AIDA International launched an AIDA Antidoping page. AIDA’s new Anti-Doping Manager also expressed that AIDA International would try to study the use or misuse of benzodiazepines in freediving with an anti-doping laboratory.
After the CMAS Disciplinary Committee found them guilty of violating the Code of Ethics, one of the Croatian athletes told me they won’t appeal due to financial costs and the difficulty of fighting an ethics charge. He expressed frustration with the lack of support and information given to athletes in these situations, highlighting how hard it is to navigate sports rules. He suggested that politics and bureaucracy often matter more than fairness in such cases, showing the complex problems athletes face in doping issues and raising questions about how sports organizations handle these matters.
Final Thoughts
The controversy surrounding the Vertical Blue 2023 luggage search has raised many questions in the freediving community about anti-doping processes, athlete rights, and banned substances. While the major freediving organizations, CMAS and AIDA International, have taken some action, there are still many unresolved issues.
In my next article, I examine the case of US freediver Tory George and his own experience with doping control, a story that has largely remained in the background of this controversy.
The third article takes a closer scientific look at the alleged performance-enhancing drugs that were found during the Vertical Blue luggage search – Vertical Blue-banned benzodiazepines, WADA-banned diuretic furosemide, and sildenafil (Viagra).
The fourth and final article further investigates the luggage search and doping control while examining the ethics of the entire process.
There are still many lingering questions surrounding the circumstances and handling of the Vertical Blue 2023 luggage search itself that deserve further discussion, such as:
- What are the standards and proper protocols for conducting luggage searches and collecting evidence in an anti-doping program? Were they followed in this case?
- Should an event organizer who is also initially listed as a competitor be the one conducting searches of fellow athletes? What are the conflicts of interest?
- Were the athletes given proper due process and the ability to fully understand the allegations against them from the start?
- On what grounds can private competitions put additional substances on a banned list beyond what is prohibited by WADA? How should this be communicated to athletes?
- How should anti-doping processes and organizations better involve athletes and the freediving community to build transparency and trust?
What makes the situation even more complicated is the complex web of conflicts and interests. The individuals involved often hold multiple roles in the freediving world – athletes, educators, competition organizers, judges, board members of national/international federations, and more.
The freediving community continues to wait for answers as this year’s competition season is in full swing. However, what remains certain is that freedivers must keep their emotions in check, carefully separate fact from fiction, and prioritize having respectful conversations with each other to protect and maintain the true essence of the sport.
