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Olympic medallist Bella Sims is the latest US teenage swimmer to test positive for problem diuretic - Town Square #15
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Town Square

Olympic medallist Bella Sims is the latest US teenage swimmer to test positive for problem diuretic - Town Square #15

The swimmer, who trains at the University of Florida under the Team USA Olympic coach, consumed a regulated contaminated medication which has been reported to the US Food and Drug Administration.

Edmund Willison
Apr 29, 2025
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Olympic medallist Bella Sims is the latest US teenage swimmer to test positive for problem diuretic - Town Square #15
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Bella Sims (right) with the University of Florida swim team head coach Anthony Nesty, who led Team USA at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Source: Instagram

I publish Long Read investigations on doping in sport and Every Monday and Thursday, I send a newsletter to your inbox with the URLs to all the major doping stories in the press over the past seven days.


The International Testing Agency (ITA) has reported the contaminated medication which caused the Team USA swimmer Bella Sims to fail a doping test, through ‘no fault’ of her own, to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Honest Sport has been told.

The FDA is a federal agency which is responsible for protecting public health through the regulation of pharmaceuticals in America. The ITA says that it will publicly announce the results of any consequent investigation.

Sims, an Olympic silver medallist, is based at the University of Florida under the Men’s and Women’s Swimming team head coach Anthony Nesty, which is also home to the swimming superstars Katie Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel. Nesty was the head coach of Team USA at Paris 2024, where American swimmers finished top of the medals table with 28 Olympic medals, including 8 golds.

According to the ITA, which runs World Aquatics anti-doping programme, Sims tested positive for the banned diuretic hydrochlorothiazide during an out-of-competition test on 29th September 2024.

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