El Guerrouj believed he could run 3:24...

You have to understand that El G was everything to track and field at the time. He was the reason the Golden League was so important. Stadiums filled to see him run. The sport had no interest in seeing positive tests come to light, and given the lack of testing anyway, he was good to go. They had him wear his ribbon and decry doping and all was good.

I remember watching him run and he was practically flawless, made 1:51 at 800 of 1500 look like a jog. His ability to fly all over the world, rarely having a bad race and easily running sub 3:30 points to heavy EPO use. The federation was in on it, and everybody was doing it. Those were the unspoken rules of the game but dont think that El G wouldn't have beaten those guys with or without chemical aid. I suspect they introduced hgh into the regimen later, as his skeletal structure seemed to change slightly (more pronounced brow, jaw, teeth) but this could just as easily be attributed to continued aging and training adaptation.

Morocco took its most promising athletes and put them through intensive, scientific training from early on. Their compound was something altogether daunting but highly effective. El G had a team of doctors checking him at all times and a training group specifically designed to sacrifice themselves for him. He was a preternatural talent, a workhorse, and a carefully orchestrated product of science. Watching him click off 55 second laps like clockwork still gives me chills. He certainly had a 3:25 mid in him, 3:24--I don't know.

A fascinating athlete to say the least!

I wonder if there's anything to the rumor that he nearly died after a race, his blood was so thick.

he had well documented problems with his teeth leading up to sydney

guerrouj was the perfect combination of new potent ped cocktails and lack of testing

Everything is possible through Allah.

coach x wrote:

he had well documented problems with his teeth leading up to sydney

guerrouj was the perfect combination of new potent ped cocktails and lack of testing

Keep in mind that he's from Morocco, not Long Island. I don't think we should take dental health as a sign of PED use ever, let alone in 3rd world athletes.

The accusations in this post are so dumb and illogical.

If everyone was doing it at that time then Bernard Lagat was doing it to then correct? Please give me all the idiotic reasons why he was right on El G's tail all those years without being on drugs.

azdfgdfg wrote:

If everyone was doing it at that time then Bernard Lagat was doing it to then correct? Please give me all the idiotic reasons why he was right on El G's tail all those years without being on drugs.

This post is also idiotic. Where do you guys keep coming from?

azdfgdfg wrote:

If everyone was doing it at that time then Bernard Lagat was doing it to then correct? Please give me all the idiotic reasons why he was right on El G's tail all those years without being on drugs.

without casting aspersions, one thing that seems to hold true is that unlike the Ethiopians and the Kenyans, the North African athletes seem to either be insanely good: El G, Morceli, KK (?), Makhloufi (in this latter case, insanely good in one Olympic race) - or not really competitive for medals at all. This could perhaps be explained by the economics of the sport.

intell wrote:

The accusations in this post are so dumb and illogical.

Why?

You do realize that EPO was undetectable until 2001 right? And then after 2001 you could microdose it and avoid positives.

Oh, and Bernard Lagat was clean? You fools disgust me.

TLW wrote:

intell wrote:

The accusations in this post are so dumb and illogical.

Why?

You do realize that EPO was undetectable until 2001 right? And then after 2001 you could microdose it and avoid positives.

It's always funny to see people say things like "uh, that's so dumb," but add nothing to support their argument. Empty words don't do anything.

We can only assume they're butthurt and don't know how to refute what's been said, so they result to petty insults.

Eocl wrote:

Oh, and Bernard Lagat was clean? You fools disgust me.

Do you need a Lagat disclaimer on every thread about doping? This thread is about El G.

I have a very hard time imagining the guy was clean, largely because so many of his contemporaries from Morocco were dopers. Organized national system + secrecy + positives in that system as testing improved => Doping

Guerrouj did suffer an episode with blood thickness. same reason they use to have morceli carefully warm up and cool down so it wouldnt get sludged in his veins. honestly surprised all those guys are healthy today

cbenson4 wrote:

It's always funny to see people say things like "uh, that's so dumb," but add nothing to support their argument. Empty words don't do anything.

We can only assume they're butthurt and don't know how to refute what's been said, so they result to petty insults.

Another dumb post. Why can you only assume that? Is someone forcing you to assume that and no other possibilities? No. You could easily choose to actually think about what I said and figure out what is wrong with your thinking, but you choose to only assume "I'm butthurt and don't know how to refute what's been said".

My argument doesn't require that I add further information. I told you there was something dumb and illogical there. Find it. You doing need everything spoonfed to you, do you?

intell wrote:

You doing need everything spoonfed to you, do you?

Don't*** not doing

intell wrote:

cbenson4 wrote:

It's always funny to see people say things like "uh, that's so dumb," but add nothing to support their argument. Empty words don't do anything.

We can only assume they're butthurt and don't know how to refute what's been said, so they result to petty insults.

Another dumb post. Why can you only assume that? Is someone forcing you to assume that and no other possibilities? No. You could easily choose to actually think about what I said and figure out what is wrong with your thinking, but you choose to only assume "I'm butthurt and don't know how to refute what's been said".

My argument doesn't require that I add further information. I told you there was something dumb and illogical there. Find it. You doing need everything spoonfed to you, do you?

General arguing tip: if you can't make your point yourself, but instead say something like "find it", you don't have a point.

GrillTalk wrote:

General arguing tip: if you can't make your point yourself, but instead say something like "find it", you don't have a point.

Another dumb post. Where do you all keep coming from???

That's not a tip. Nor is it correct.

I did make a point myself. Did I elaborate? No, but I made a point and I made it myself. There's nothing wrong with saying "find it". Just because I'm not elaborating doesn't mean that I don't have a point.

The only thing truly apparent from this is that you all lack the ability to figure out what is dumb about that post on your own. Can you do nothing yourselves?