Was the original comment about Aouita with EPO, or El G doping suspicions? I thought El G was only supposed to give us a sense of the "EPO level" that would have helped a hypothetical Aouita 5-10 years later. What about this succinct answer, coming from one poster in a mostly freaking dumb forum, helps me understand what "El G levels of EPO" is supposed to mean?
Craig McLachlan wrote:
Regarding El G, this was a rather succinct answer given (by 'ISBN') on another thread :
Of all the athletes who never tested positive, EL G is, for me, the most obviously doped athlete in history.
1) he ran at the height of the EPO era when there was no testing at all until 2000, and after that we know the testing was poor and unreliable until after he retired.
2) He was Moroccan and the majority of his peers and training partners were found to have doped. The idea that all Moroccans dope apart from the one who was head and shoulders above all others, is inconceivable.
3) The times he ran ( and fellow dopers like Lagat and Ngeny) were far beyond the historical rate of progression in their events. The times they ran aren't really being approached even today, apart from an athlete who competes for a nation that has had no random testing until this year, whose federation has been proven to be corrupt and whose agent/ coach has recently been arrested for possession and distribution of PEDs.
4) EL G ran fast times, close to WR times, not once or twice during a 2 or 3 year peak period, but on a regular, fort nightly basis, throughout a season, for many seasons. His rate of recovery has never been seen before or since. It was super human.
5) Never ran competitively over 800m and had a very slow pb, 1:47, despite clearly being able to run much faster. Perhaps, like Lagat, he wasn't capable of running the 1:43 that he should have been able to, and didn't want the world to see that discrepancy between what a 3:26 athlete should run 800 and what he actually could have. OTT endurance with inferior 400/800 speed.
6) braces worn late in career.
7) showing total lack of fatigue at end of WR runs.
He was as guilty as hell!