I didn't start with these assumptions, but you ended with them. I didn't ask why Africans ran so well, but why non-Africans ran so poorly, in an era when "the first ever potent endurance PED became available". After all Spain tried -- I assumed we should be able to see that. You think it's because all non-African nations in "5 continents" were not corrupt enough to produce at least 5 high quality success stories over 28 years? Including countries like Russia, China, and Spain? Let's look again at non-Africans in the men's 10000m. In 1990, the average of the top-5 was 27:14.77, obviously the result of uncontrolled steroids in the 1980s, as we just learned. But no matter, because EPO is the first potent endurance drug, not steroids, according to "sane, rational, and unblinkered people". 27:14.77 is the average of a Mexican, two Portuguese, one Italian, with one Ethiopian the worst of the top-5. The record was 27:08.23, by Arturo Barrios in 1989, with top-5 Addis Abebe running 27:17.82. By 2000, with no EPO test yet available, only Antonio Pinto (27:12.47) and Fabian Roncero (27:14.44) ran faster than that. A decade later, with easy to beat EPO tests, by 2010, there was no change. Let's take a second to reflect. "5 continents" is a really large population. And two decades is a really long time. And EPO is a "potent endurance PED". And the tests were easy to beat, pre-ABP. And we have only 2 candidates, who could not break the 1989 World Record. Then, post-ABP, when EPO cheating was the hardest, Solinsky (26:59.60), Cam Levins (27:07.51), and Rupp (26:44.36) take "5 continents" to next level. Was Rupp taking EPO? I thought he was taking thyroid medicine and testosterone. That's a grand total of 5 non-Africans able to run faster in 28 years, with 3 of them post-ABP. The best Spaniard, in 1998, was the worst of the bunch, placing 5th out of 5 non-Africans. How do "sane, rational, and unblinkered people" map these observations to all of the EPO milestones that helped and hindered performance? The 5000m is similar, with no Spaniards in the group of 8 non-Africans. The marathon is similar with one Spaniard, in a group of 12, who did not break the 1988 world record. Forget Africa for a moment. All this talk about "the first ever potent endurance PED" would be way more compelling, if Spain, one of the best examples of EPO abuse, performed well within the group of "5 continents", and athletes from "5 continents" performed well compared to the 1980s predecessors.
Coevett wrote:
I don't think even you know what you're talking about now or what your argument here is. Everything is indeed complex if you start with an absurd assumption that you are apparently unable to even consider to be false (because to do so would be 'racist') - that Third World Africans with endemic corruption and little or no testing and massive financial incentives to cheat in order to escape poverty are no more likely to take a 'universal drug' than others.
Do you even deny that Moroccans are more likely to cheat? Despite the raft of failed tests and ridiculous career progressions etc.?
To most sane, rational, and unblinkered people, the fact that African performances rocketed and dominated distance running exactly at the same time that the first ever potent endurance PED became available does have a blindingly obvious explanation.