Ddoper wrote:
Look at the number of top Moroccans caught in the last 10 or so years. Way way more than the east Africans. That really puts for me a big asterisk on Moroccan performances when drug testing was crappy. Also, was EPO around when Morceli ran his world records? I'm curious because he was absolutely incredible and Algeria doesn't seem to have the same doping problem as Morocco aside from makhloufi (jama aden).
It's pretty close. Kenya has had ~40 doping positives, the majority for androgens, since 2011:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/36275649Morrocan runners have had about 37 since 2002 with the vast majority for EPO or sanctions for ABP hematological anomalies. They've also had some big names caught, particularly during the EPO-era:
Boulami: 7:53.17 (all-time best!) (EPO)
Mourhit: 7:26.62 (7th all-time),12:49.71 (25th all-time), 26:52.30 (32nd all-time) (EPO)
Gourmi: 12:50.25 (31st all-time), 2:05:30 (94th all-time) (ABP/Hematological anomalies)
Ramzi: 3:29.14 (50th all-time) (CERA)
Laâlou: 3:29.53 (71st all-time) (EPO)
These are 5 runners from one small country posting times in the top 100 all-time lists.
These are only the confirmed positive cases - no idea of how many other top performances have escaped detection.
There have been dozens & dozens of EPO positives & ABP sanctions with Moroccan runners over the last 3 decades including 5 bans/sanctions announced just last year!
Old habits are hard to break. ?