Michelle de Bruin said yesterday she wanted to be up there again representing her country, to see the flag flying and to be in Sydney for the Olympics.
Answering questions on RTE's Liveline with Joe Duffy, Ms de Bruin said she was fighting for her good name.
Mr Duffy said some people were saying it was tragic, bad and unfair, but in one sense she did not benefit from winning the gold medals anyway because the stories were already in the media.
"Well, again, it's very difficult to speculate on benefits or losses in terms of sponsors or financial things, and I normally leave that to my solicitor to deal with. The only thing that concerns me is my reputation and my swimming career and that's really what I'm fighting for."
Mr Duffy put it to her that surely it was not in the interests of FINA to conspire against one of the most well-known swimmers in the world. "Why not?" she replied.
Mr Duffy said because their interest was surely swimming.
"Is it?" she asked.
Asked what she thought, she said: "Well I'm not really sure now. They have rules but they don't always go by their own rules."