Doping

[VillaJ100]

Look at Liverpool, how many injury time goals? 

[sne]

Sure there is a perfectly reasonable reason, nothing fishy going on.

Quote

UK Anti-Doping insists it will not release Mo Farah samples for Wada inquiry into athletes trained by Alberto Salazar

UK Anti-Doping is ready to fight any attempt by the World Anti-Doping Agency to seize its stock of Sir Mo Farah’s urine and blood samples during an investigation into athletes trained by his disgraced former coach.

The chief executive of Ukad, Nicole Sapstead, said she would block the release of samples stored for future retesting unless there was “credible evidence” to suggest they contained banned substances.

Before the end of his tenure as Wada president, Sir Craig Reedie announced a probe into those athletes to have worked with Alberto Salazar, which he said would include finding “samples we can retest”.

Ukad refused a request to hand over those it held for Farah during the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s investigation into Salazar, who has lodged an appeal against the four-year ban he was handed in October for doping offences.

Britain’s anti-doping agency said at the time that retesting risked degrading samples which are stored for up to 10 years for testing using new detection methods.

Insisting Ukad was “not going to risk samples that we hold in storage”, Sapstead said on Friday: “If the police come in here and say, ‘I want to rummage around because I have this evidence to suggest that your purse is in this handbag’, please, help yourself. Come and have a look in my handbag.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/athletics/2020/01/17/uk-anti-doping-insists-will-not-release-mo-farah-samples-wada/

[Zatman]

Imagine the uproar if the Russians refused this request. Farah has been tainted for a while and this makes him look extremely guilty 

[Chindie]

Guilty as ****.

[sne]

Not that it will come to it but could a "sir" title be revoked?

[Chindie]

12 minutes ago, sne said:

Not that it will come to it but could a "sir" title be revoked?

Plenty of knighthoods have been revoked for misconduct after the fact. If Farah's victories were found to be irrefutably bent he'd be at risk of losing the title.

[sharkyvilla]

14 minutes ago, sne said:

Not that it will come to it but could a "sir" title be revoked?

Yes it can and probably would be in his case if he was guilty of doping.

[HanoiVillan]

So so suspicious. We should be banned from international athletics until UKAD hand them over.

[Dr_Pangloss]

UKAD are a disgrace and have been covering up doping for years, strongly suspicious that they've done just that for the likes of Anthony Joshua. They're as bent as a 9 bob note.

[sne]

Funny how it's (almost) only Russia who gets called out when it's blatantly obvious that loads more countries have if not state sponsored but at least corporate sponsored doping programs.

China and the US obviously, but the likes of Kenya, the UK, Turkey, Greece, Nigeria, Jamaica, Belarus, Spain and so on are  sketchy as heck

[Chindie]

The Russians almost certainly have/had a state wide regime of doping. It's pretty likely the Chinese do as well.

The Western nations get more sketchy. There's blatantly significant doping going on, it just comes down to how widespread it is and how it's done - is it a lot of individuals staying one step ahead of the authorities, is it effectively the authorities turning a blind eye, etc etc. I'm certain there's significant doping in British cycling (particularly the extreme road cycling fraternity - the tour lot are all tainted imo), and the likes of Farah, with the US there's questions over more or less any of their sprinters, and the same is true of Jamaica. Bolt, unfortunately, looks very lonely when you look at his times and others and take out those caught doping. He may just be the outlier genetic freak, who reached his peak in favourable conditions. Or it might be that plus some enhancement. But again there's been questions over the rise of Jamaican sprinters for years.

In football its going to be rampant. I've very little doubt that more or less every top team has a few guys shooting up some gains, and I'd wager that a number of national sides are definitely at it. Spain have been rumoured for a while, with their sudden dominant generation who not only played a very technically solid brand of football but also were all supremely fit, beyond their peers en masse. There's just too much money and, internationally, too much prestige and propaganda, to overlook trying to get an edge. And with team sports it seems easier to hide and is less 'taboo' perhaps, than the 'purity' of the Olympics.

[sne]

The whole Nike Oregon Project with Alberto Salazar is the capitalism version of state doping.

[VillaJ100]

Andy Murray summed up Farahs endurance. He's a pretty fit guy and was quick for a tennis player. He said as part of his training he does 400m sprints - Murrays record is 59 seconds. 

When farah won the 10,000m in 2012, after running 9600m before, his final lap was 51! seconds

[villakram]

Kenyans popping left and right these days. Sport is a business.

[KentVillan]

On 18/01/2020 at 13:35, sne said:

Funny how it's (almost) only Russia who gets called out when it's blatantly obvious that loads more countries have if not state sponsored but at least corporate sponsored doping programs.

China and the US obviously, but the likes of Kenya, the UK, Turkey, Greece, Nigeria, Jamaica, Belarus, Spain and so on are  sketchy as heck

In more top-down authoritarian countries like Russia and China, a doping programme is almost always “state-led” just because of the political dynamics.

In the west, govts have learned how to use incentives and lax oversight to achieve much the same thing, but with a lot more plausible deniability.

I think it isn’t quite as bad in the west because athletes are less likely to be forced into it. But those who are happy to dope will almost certainly be able to find coaches and doctors who will help them.

Setting ambitious medal targets with huge cash rewards for success, and then not properly resourcing anti-doping is asking for trouble.

And as you say, add in corporate sponsorship and it gets worse.

“Marginal gains”, as they say.

All of this same incentive / enforcement imbalance exists in football, probably to an even greater extent. So there must be lots of top-level pros doing it. I doubt if there are entire clubs that are bent, but it can’t be hard for a multimillionaire footballer to find a dodgy doctor to help him dope and avoid detection.

As for Liverpool, I’m sceptical that doping is at the heart of their success. They have a squad packed full of players who are genetically gifted running machines - Milner, Henderson, Robertson, etc - and have shown that same ability at previous clubs. Klopp rotates the squad well, and adapts his tactics against weaker teams to keep players fresh.

But I wouldn’t be surprised if there are one or two players at every PL club who’ve doped at some point in their career.

[sne]

Another US/NIKE athlete, long jumper Jarrion Lawson freed after appealing to CAS claiming he got the stuff in him after eating tainted meat.

CAS being terrified of being taken to civil court promptly acquit him and thus he is cleared to compete in the summer Olympics later this year.

Boo! Russia and so on. 

[leighavfc]

Can we dope our lot of dopes please.. whatever lance Armstrong was taking will do. Thanks

[sne]

Not the biggest issue in the world while people are dying but still

Quote

The Olympics are postponed for a year - and this has consequences.

SportExpress can now tell about 140 doped suspended athletes who suddenly have the opportunity to compete in Tokyo

 

Last week, the message came from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Due to the corona virus, the Tokyo Olympics will not start on July 24, 2020, but the inauguration will take place on July 23, 2021.

It obviously has a number of consequences.

One of them: Several athletes who would have really missed the Tokyo Olympics due to doping suspension now get the chance to join.

"Yes, it will be," says Åke Andrén-Sandberg, who is chairman of the National Sports Federation's doping commission.

- Wada's regulations are very clear on this point: Doping suspensions are timed and should not take into account how different championships are scheduled.

SportExpressen has taken a closer look at the situation in athletics and found just over 140 activists who will have served their sentence just until next summer. Of course, not everyone will qualify for the Tokyo Olympics - some will probably not even try - but there are several names that are worth highlighting.

The cheater was invited to Sweden

For example, do you remember Robert Fazekas? He won Olympic gold in the discus and struck with the fifth longest throw of all time (71.70) before being shut down for eight years after being exposed to anabolic steroids in his body. Fazekas now gets the chance to make a comeback in Tokyo.

The same goes for Ukrainian Kateryna Tabashnyk, who jumped 1.99 in high jump last year, and Kenyan Boniface Mweresa, who finished fifth in the 400 meters at the 2016 indoor World Cup.

https://www.expressen.se/sport/friidrott/ilskan-borde-vara-avstangd-pa-livstid/

[sne]

You gotta love the ol' US of A  

Considering every single one of their big athletes end up having been using banned substances anyway they might as well go down this route.

It's the illusion of doing something while actually doing f all. Go USA!

Quote

In the United States, 15 sports stars do doping tests on themselves during the corona quarantine.

But this is not something that Sweden will allow.

- An interesting experiment on those who do not dope. But not for those whom you have suspicions of, says Åke Andrén Sandberg.

The chairman of the Sports Federation's doping commission says he does not think the American experiment "feels strenuous and something I say hurray, we should do this".

- There must be many more ways to manipulate such a test than when we have our own testers who come home to the sports, says Andrén Sandberg.

He says he would not feel confident about the self-test if any athlete was suspected of doping.

- However, if we have someone who has submitted many negative tests, such as Charlotte Kalla or our swimming stars, then it would be possible to do this.

As there is a quarantine in the United States, and the US anti-doping organization Usada is therefore unable to send out its testers for unannounced doping tests on athletes, Usada has launched an effort to allow 15 sports stars to conduct doping tests on themselves.

"We have laid the groundwork for this for several months and covid-19 made it quicker for us," Travis Tygart, director of Usada, told The New York Times.

Instead of the tester knocking on the door, the active one is reached by a phone call. The doping test is done through video calls when the active person first shows up his bathroom and then pee in the container, but then with the mobile phone outside the bathroom. The active should then take the temp on the urine, to show that it is fresh. Then the athlete should take a blood test on himself and then close the urine and blood sample while the tester watches through the video call. A courier company then retrieves the samples.

- I am very happy to do this. It feels very comfortable, says swim star Katie Ledecky to The New York Times.

Sprinter Noah Lyles, on the other hand, prefers the usual method he thinks is more reliable.

- I personally would rather have a tester here, he says.

Åke Andrén Sandberg asks what happens if one of these American doping tests turns out to be positive, if anyone can be judged then.

- Then you have gone from all our usual rules, would it really go? It will be exciting to hear what they find in America, but I think there are better ways to simplify things, he says.

- And so I don't think it's really tasty for some people to have blood tests on themselves, at least when it comes to athletes who aren't used to it.

Swedish athletes do not avoid doping tests during the corona pandemic.

- It is not excluded to test now either, but you may do so with more discernment. Our testers can stay at a proper distance from the ones they are testing, says Andrén Sandberg.

https://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/a/qLgdbz/svensk-skepsis-mot-egentagna-dopningstester

Google translate so some interesting wordings in there.

[sne]

On 03/09/2019 at 11:39, sne said:

Another American athlete, Christian Coleman this time. Currently the fastest man in the world on 100 and 200 meters, is free to compete at the WC despite avoiding 3 consecutive doping test.

USADA the US anti doping agency hastily cleared him of any wrong doings after finding a loophole in the rules and moving some dates around so that one of the test falls outside of 12 months.

Instead of 2-4 years suspension he is free to join Justin Gatlin and the other US cheats at the WC.

But boo Russia, they should be banned for life...

 

And he's done it again. Christian Coleman (a NIKE athlete of course)  has avoided yet another unannounced doping test (on Dec 9th) by not reporting to WADA, saying he missed it as he was out shopping for Christmas gifts...

Yet again it tallies up to 3 missed tests in 12 months so surely this time he will get a ban, right?

The last time he was freed and went on to win the gold in Doha ahead of one of the worst cheaters of all time (Tom Jones not included) Justin Gatlin.

Bahrainian 400 m runner Salwa Eid Naser has also just got caught for the same offence, missing 4 tests. Be interesting to see if these 2 get the same treatment.