Drugs in other sports and the media.

dish_dash

Rick Chasey wrote:

TheBigBean wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

I offered up a hypothesis that eventually one of the ‘tentpoles’ who holds the sport up will be caught up in it and it’ll all come out Armstrong style. Did not go down well.

Let's be honest. If you were watching Flanders and someone who hardly watched the sport came up to you and started chatting doping, would it go down well?

I watch quite a bit of athletics, so I'm hardly a n00b, and like I said, they brought it up; i'm not that much of a social moron!

Still a sociopath though, non?

RichN95.

I've never really been one to point fingers, but a white person winning a world level men's sprint event raises my eyebrows. I've seen that once before in the last 30 years - a dodgy Greek bloke

pinno

Maybe he's pretty fly (for a white guy).

cruff

RichN95 wrote:

I've never really been one to point fingers, but a white person winning a world level men's sprint event raises my eyebrows. I've seen that once before in the last 30 years - a dodgy Greek bloke

And before that, a dodgy Scottish bloke...

blazing_saddles

RichN95 wrote:

I've never really been one to point fingers, but a white person winning a world level men's sprint event raises my eyebrows. I've seen that once before in the last 30 years - a dodgy Greek bloke

Yes.
Luckily, he was running for a country with a spotlessly clean doping record, though.

rick_chasey

RichN95 wrote:

I've never really been one to point fingers, but a white person winning a world level men's sprint event raises my eyebrows. I've seen that once before in the last 30 years - a dodgy Greek bloke

Different for women is it?

RichN95.

Rick Chasey wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

I've never really been one to point fingers, but a white person winning a world level men's sprint event raises my eyebrows. I've seen that once before in the last 30 years - a dodgy Greek bloke

Different for women is it?

I think so, yes.

rick_chasey

Richmond Racer 2

Have to back up the Chasey on this one

timothyw

Apparently his Junior PB in the 200m (19.93) is second only to Usain Bolt's, so in that context not so fishy.

What is undeniable is how fishy performances in the previous few major championships now look, given the absence of Jamaicans in the 200m finals and the slower times across the board in events (obviously partly explained by the rubbish weather, although conditions were pretty lousy in Rio for many of the athletics events last year too).

I'll be interested to see how the Jamaican sprint relay teams perform - all seems to have come crashing down to earth at the moment!

rick_chasey

TimothyW wrote:

Apparently his Junior PB in the 200m (19.93) is second only to Usain Bolt's, so in that context not so fishy.

What is undeniable is how fishy performances in the previous few major championships now look, given the absence of Jamaicans in the 200m finals and the slower times across the board in events (obviously partly explained by the rubbish weather, although conditions were pretty lousy in Rio for many of the athletics events last year too).

I'll be interested to see how the Jamaican sprint relay teams perform - all seems to have come crashing down to earth at the moment!

He's less well known because he had to sit 4 years out to change nationality.

And yes, weather is a much bigger factor than whatever is coursing through your veins.

dinyull

Missed the comment on BBC last night, but why wouldn't Azerbaijan allow him to run in 2012?

*EDIT scrap that - he changed nationality in 2011 blocking him from competing as per above.

awavey

stagehopper wrote:

TheStone wrote:

KingstonGraham wrote:

I saw expensive pies, expensive fish and chips, expensive sausage rolls, hot dogs, nachos, chips. Was glad I took a sarnie.

expensive beers?

£5.50 for a 400ml bottle of Heineken - better off getting a beer from Cow in Westfield (£4.60 a pint)

Tap East, never bother with the Cow let all the shoppers go there though arguably places like the Crate/Plough are nearer to the stadium, but not sure Id wander round that area much after dark.

its £6+ at the O2, so £5.50 seems reasonablish for 400ml in London/sporting stadia, sure it was between £5-£6 at the velodrome world championships for a pint, albeit 400ml isnt a legal measure unless they are selling it in bottles.

rick_chasey

Some punchy lines in this: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/ ... SApp_Other

Football’s corruption, like the Great Wall of China, can be seen from space. But at least as the season starts we can be confident that on the field there will be fair cheating all round. At these [athletics] championships officials and pundits have been thanking God for the absence of world records as a sign that perhaps the sport is becoming a little less doped up. It is a sort of motif for a planet on which progress has been abolished.

r0bh

Rick Chasey wrote:

Some punchy lines in this: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/ ... SApp_Other

Really? I thought it was a load of tripe.

RichN95.

r0bh wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Some punchy lines in this: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/ ... SApp_Other

Really? I thought it was a load of tripe.

I don't really know what his point was. Cricket writer goes to athletics in the rain and he doesn't enjoy it. And he didn't like the Olympics either. So what.

stagehopper

awavey wrote:

stagehopper wrote:

TheStone wrote:

KingstonGraham wrote:

I saw expensive pies, expensive fish and chips, expensive sausage rolls, hot dogs, nachos, chips. Was glad I took a sarnie.

expensive beers?

£5.50 for a 400ml bottle of Heineken - better off getting a beer from Cow in Westfield (£4.60 a pint)

Tap East, never bother with the Cow let all the shoppers go there though arguably places like the Crate/Plough are nearer to the stadium, but not sure Id wander round that area much after dark.

its £6+ at the O2, so £5.50 seems reasonablish for 400ml in London/sporting stadia, sure it was between £5-£6 at the velodrome world championships for a pint, albeit 400ml isnt a legal measure unless they are selling it in bottles.

Luckily found Tap East yesterday so spent a very fine late afternoon there before last night's athletics. For anyone interested it's by the exit of Stratford International and has own microbrewery with their ales costing around £4 a pint. A veritable bargain.

rick_chasey

RichN95 wrote:

r0bh wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Some punchy lines in this: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/ ... SApp_Other

Really? I thought it was a load of tripe.

I don't really know what his point was. Cricket writer goes to athletics in the rain and he doesn't enjoy it. And he didn't like the Olympics either. So what.

....you know this is an Internet forum, right?

RichN95.

Rick Chasey wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

r0bh wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Some punchy lines in this: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/ ... SApp_Other

Really? I thought it was a load of tripe.

I don't really know what his point was. Cricket writer goes to athletics in the rain and he doesn't enjoy it. And he didn't like the Olympics either. So what.

....you know this is an Internet forum, right?

Yes. And your point is?

rick_chasey

You give your opinions on stuff. So what?

dinyull

The BBC, again.

With how they handled Gatlin last week, you'd think they'd shy away from coaches that are currently under investigation.

Nope. Brendan Foster saying he'd spoken to Salazar in the leadup to Mo's 5k final. Who apparently said something along the lines of he'd run over people to win..........

No mention of any controversy at all, apart from BR's friend Dan Roan on the news mentioning his links to Salazar and Aden.

rick_chasey

Yeah, Cram & Foster have big blind spots.

Johnson however, on point as ever.

dinyull

Actually, he made another bizarre statement whilst signing off. Praising Kenyan and Ethiopian athlete's because he's enjoyed watching them run over the years.

Johnson was really good about Mo criticising the press. Said something along the lines of passing tests isn't enough these days AND if you associate yourself with people under suspicion you invite questions.

rick_chasey

Dinyull wrote:

Actually, he made another bizarre statement whilst signing off. Praising Kenyan and Ethiopian athlete's because he's enjoyed watching them run over the years.

Johnson was really good about Mo criticising the press. Said something along the lines of passing tests isn't enough these days AND if you associate yourself with people under suspicion you invite questions.

Yes.

He also said however, that although the questions are legitimate and an athlete should expect them, journalists ought not to go as far as point the finger until they have better evidence.

He's of the "dig into them as much as you want, but don't accuse someone of being a doper unless you're bloody sure" which seems a reasonable approach to take.

Richmond Racer 2

I'm not saying Foster has a huge blind spot, but Tim Peake tweeted his regular sightings of it

rick_chasey

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

I'm not saying Foster has a huge blind spot, but Tim Peake tweeted his regular sightings of it

He's more consistent and less preachy than Cram though, who can get a bit hysterical. I can live with "I just bloody enjoy watching people run really fast".

Richmond Racer 2

Rick Chasey wrote:

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

I'm not saying Foster has a huge blind spot, but Tim Peake tweeted his regular sightings of it

He's more consistent and less preachy than Cram though, who can get a bit hysterical. I can live with "I just bloody enjoy watching people run really fast".

When they're calling a race home, one of them has to inject a bit of excitement into the commentary. And it aint gonna be Our Bren

rick_chasey

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

I'm not saying Foster has a huge blind spot, but Tim Peake tweeted his regular sightings of it

He's more consistent and less preachy than Cram though, who can get a bit hysterical. I can live with "I just bloody enjoy watching people run really fast".

When they're calling a race home, one of them has to inject a bit of excitement into the commentary. And it aint gonna be Our Bren

Sure. Look, you know me, I'm comfortable with commentators leaving the doping chat by the door unless it directly impacts what i'm watching on the screen.

It's more the "Bolt is the saviour we need" chat when he beat Gatlin and the inconsistency Cram shows towards Gatlin vs other previously banned athletes. DIdn't I once hear Cram say when Bolt won another gold ahead of Catlin"he may even have saved our sport", which just invites a lot of unnecessary grief.

Richmond Racer 2

yeah, that was all completely OTT

rick_chasey

The problem is, in the hysteria Cram shows to people like Bolt, I hear a concealed recognition that he knows the sports in a dark place but he can't bring himself to be honest, so instead he projects it onto a tentpole figure like Bolt in a desperate attempt to find a liferaft; you know we've seen this all before in '99.

Maybe I'm too cynical. There are lessons to be learned though, on all sides, press, regulators, testers, athletes and I kinda feel they're not. It's just the coverage side is a little more obvious...