The quote of the day from the front page on November 14th
http://www.letsrun.com/news/2013/11/14/
and the full report from the IAAF homepage
http://www.iaaf.org/news/iaaf-news/iaaf-2013-world-conference-on-doping-in-sport
certainly came across as being a very positive position for the IAAF to take, and deservedly so given their record with the biological passports and retroactive testing etc. Profiling is definitely a powerful measure for the future. And a drug suspension for serious offences should be paid in full.
But I wonder where the IAAF stands on TUEs - as I understand it an athlete doesn't need to disclose (at least publicly) what this exemption is for (or even necessarily what specifically they are taking?) And plenty others have come on here talking about TUEs (rumoured?) for Rupp and Farah - have I missed an reliable sources for this information here? Fam's opinion was also publicized here, and rightfully so. But it seems kind of counterproductive (to be diplomatic) for the IAAF to talk about a tough stance against drugs and yet allow a loophole that can potentially be exploited. As far as I've seen, there has been no definitive position from the IAAF on this.
Sure this is a complicated issue. I understand the rationale for using thyroid hormone - the argument that training leads to unnaturally low levels, and treatment is necessary to protect the health of the athlete. And these supplements are not banned (is this because of the TUE, or are they not on the lists of banned substances?) But if thyroid hormone aids recovery, then you have question of whether this supplement is an unfair advantage, going beyond what the athlete is naturally capable of. This is quite apart from the ethical question of who exactly is determining that an athlete's TH levels are "low" or can adversely affect their health. This is what Fam was getting at. And then there is the speculation that TH can also be used in conjunction with EPO or HGH - this is something that other posters have articulated well, and there was one post which talked about a study showing some kind of interaction (I'm not even sure of exactly how - I wish I could find this post again because it was pretty specific with the details.)
It's interesting how AlSal maintains that their success is due only to hard work. AlSal himself has admitted that his training led to a burnout. But he has refined his system to develop a long-term perspective that he might have lacked, and has also maintained his fanatic obsession with the small details. We have seen this obsession at work - from ice vests to altitude tents - and who's to say what else he has found to tweak with. Has anyone really asked questions about the TUEs his athletes have, or when and how these were granted. From his public character and persona, I guess that he will dig for any and all chances to gain even the smallest improvements, and that may well include looking for loopholes that go at least into grey areas of performance enhancement. Of course, finding scientific evidence is the problem, whether it is on the medical side (on the effects of low TH for athletes, or even what would constitute "low" TH)or from the science of performance enhancement (as to how it may assist with recovery with or without other PEDs.)
The fact that Seb Coe has recently written an article (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/10453653/Alberto-Salazar-Mo-Farah-could-get-a-career-ending-injury-if-he-runs-the-London-Marathon-and-Glasgow.html) where he willingly echoes AlSal's mantra of hard work(and where he almost gleefully pokes at UK Athletics, a jibe from the past) is a bit surprising. I really wonder why there isn't more skepticism and public debate on the issue of TUEs, and comparisons made to other kinds of doping infractions, and given his firm stance against doping in the sport I would have thought that he would be one to raise those questions. I wonder what permutations the definition of a level playing field has undergone to reach this point - it seems that TUEs are artificial constructions at best(in terms of sports), and while it is easy to point out irregularities in poor, far-away countries, there's little stomach for looking closer to home.