A Legend Passes and We Barely Knew Anything About Him

Frank Litsky of NY Times Remembers Mal Whitfield: One of America’s Greatest 800m Runners – 2 Time Olympic Champ AND a Tuskegee Airman Whitfield’s life (2 Olympic golds 1948 and 1952 while serving in the military, being a Tuskegee Airman in a segregated military, and spreading track and field throughout the globe) was pretty amazing. Plus, after he retired from track he advised a ton of athletes including Kip Keino of Kenya and Mamo Wolde. He died this week at 91. *LA Times Obit
On the boards: Mal Whitfield – USA 800m Legend – RIP

Doping: There Will Be No Russia In Portland; Marta Dominguez Finally Banned

• IOC President Proposes Overhaul of WADA to Let Court of Arbitration of Sport Handle Sanctions Sounds like a good idea.
• Two Russians Kristina Ugarova and Tatyana Myazina Say They Didn’t Dope Despite Being Named in WADA Report Ugarova is a 2:00/4:00 runner and Myazina has run 2:03.
• Russia Will Miss 2016 Portland World Indoor Champs As IAAF Inspection Won’t Be Done In TimeThe IAAF inspection team won’t report back to the IAAF until late March at the earliest.
• Notorious Spanish Drug Cheat Marta Dominguez Stripped Of Her 2009 World Steeple Title; Banned For 3 Years Dominguez was caught by the biological passport in 2013, but the Spanish athletics federation (of which she was the vice-president) cleared her in 2014. CAS has now reversed that decision with all her results since 2009 annulled.
  *MB:Jenny Simpson – 2009 WC steeplechase medalist
• Science Of The Sport Q&A With Jamaican Anti-Doping Whistleblower Renee Anne Shirley On The Recent Drug Scandals“The problem I have found is that whistleblowers like me are not welcomed/wanted in the system. It has been tough to continue to speak out.”
• Rita Jeptoo’s Coach, Claudio Berardelli, Is Still Trying To Convince Her To Come Clean With Who Supplied Her With EPO
• Disturbing:Paralympics Want To Crack Down On Wheelchair Athletes Who Do “Scrotum-Squeezing” Apparently they sit on their scrotums or clamp off catheters to fill their bladders to get a boost in adrenaline and performance.

Interesting Distance News

• Well Done, LRC Sleuths:Serial Cheater At Marine Corps Marathon Gets A Lifetime Ban Thanks To LetsRun Message Board PostersGregory Price, who finished 2nd in the 60-64 age-group with 3:17:47, has apparently cheated at the Marine Corps Marathon 13 times since 1998.
  *MB:Serial Cheater at Marine Corps Marathon
  *MB:Good job Letsrun! You helped take down a cheater!
• Every College Kid’s Dream: Recent Beer Mile WR Setter Lewis Kent Lands Sponsorship Deal With Brooks Kent: “It’s pretty surreal. I’ve always liked to run and drink beer, but I never thought I would be considered world class for doing both.”
  *Video:Canadian Lewis Kent Runs New Beer Mile WR Of 4:51.9
• 2016 US Olympic Marathon Trials Course Unveiled
  *Meb Says The Course Is Flat And Fast He thinks it will be faster than the 2012 Houston course.
• RIP:US’s Two Time-Olympic 800 Champ Mal Whitfield Dies At The Age Of 91 Whitfield became the first US serviceman to win an Olympic gold medal while on active duty as he won the 800, anchored the USA 4 x 400m team to gold and took 400m bronze in 1948. *USATF Article

More On The Russian Doping Scandal

• Russian Anti-Doping Agency Ruled Non-Compliant And Suspended By WADA Five other countries were also ruled non-compliant, but not suspended and some other countries received warnings.
• Interesting Read:Former Head Of Interpol Drug Department, Günter Younger, Talks About Russia’s Blatant Indifference To Cheating “When I’m investigating criminals, usually they disguise their paths but we heard from athletes saying, ‘I don’t care as nothing will happen as usual.'”
• Dick Pound Says Fixing Doping Problems Should Be “Child’s Play” For Russia “With coaches, you say: ‘Folks, the old Soviet system is over, we’re not going to do that anymore and if that is your method of coaching don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.'”
• Russian Task Force Formed To Wipe Out Doping “Infection” Quotes from task force head Gennady Alyoshin are in stark contrast to the combative statements from sports minister Vitaly Mutko.
• Edwin Moses Wants Russia Banned From Rio

NXN Is In Two Weeks

• Northville Team Barred From Going To NXN Nationals By Michigan High School Athletics Association Following Outdated Rules Parents and other supporters are putting a lot of pressure on MHSAA to change its mind. They are the first Michigan team to ever qualify.
  *DyeStat Article*Milesplit*Tweets From Dathan Ritzenhein And Hansons-Brooks
• NXN Regional Races Shake Up Rankings But Fayetteville-Manlius Girls Remains On Top
• Hopkins Boys Take Top Spot As NXN Field Fills Out

More Doping Updates

• Recommended Read:The Telegraph‘s Paul Hayward Explains Why Russia Has Essentially Been “Let Off The Hook By A Dirty Backroom Deal”“‘Compliance’ is a vital word here, because it suggests a willingness not to commit future transgressions. Those already on the charge sheet will be washed away by future obedience. Thus have the Kremlin, the IAAF and IOC conspired to turn the normal rules of crime and punishment on their head. … curious way to administer justice. It amounts to hugging the perpetrator, wiping the slab clean of a state doping programme and fooling the public that future ‘compliance’ eliminates current non-compliance.”
• Good News: Russian Marathoner Who Competed And Won A Marathon In Japan Will Be DQedViktor Ugarov will receive no prize money and the IAAF is writing to the Russian Federation seeking disciplinary proceedings against him.
  *Ugarov Could Get 4-Year Ban
• Doping Doesn’t Just Hurt The Sport, It Crushes The Dreams Of Clean Athletes Quotes from several athletes who were hurt by doping, including Sonia O’Sullivan, three-time Olympian Jonathan Brown and Canada’s Malindi Elmore.
• AP Exclusive:“A Soviet Sprinter Who Said No To Steroids” In 1967, teenage sprinter Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili wanted to take steroids, but his mother was “horrified” and wouldn’t let him. Russia needs more parents like her.
• IAAF Confirms It Has Been Investigating Allegations On Kenyan Doping Cover-Up And Corruption Since March
• Anti-Doping Expert Rune Andersen: There’s No Way To Put A Timeline On How Long Russian Investigation Might Take Andersen is the head of the IAAF inspection committee which will be in charge of reinstating Russia.
• Russian Officials Set Goal Of Being Unbanned By February 14th That is the day of their annual Russian Winter indoor meet.
• Athletics Illustrated:“Has The IAAF Completely Failed The Sport Of Athletics?”Chris Kelsall takes a long look at the last three IAAF presidents and the questionable ethics surrounding the whole organization.
• Russian Paralympic Silver Medalist Sprinter Alexander Zverev Banned For Failed Drug Test He tested positive for Cannabinoids, which is banned in competition.
• Institute Of National Anti-Doping Organisations (iNADO) Says Russia Should Be Banned From Rio 2016
• Olivier Niggli Will Replace David Howman As Next Director General Of WADA Howman is stepping down next June.

Kenyan Doping / Scandal Updates

• Dick Pound Says That It Is “Pretty Clear That There Is A Lot Of PEDs Being Used In Kenya” He said it should worry every athlete competing in distance events.
• AK Denies Doping Cover-Up; Claims Whistleblower Is A Rogue Coach A lot of crazy accusations on both sides. AK also issued an apology to Wilson Kipsang for publishing that he missed an out-of-competition test last year.
• Mystery Over Eight Unidentified Adverse Analytical Findings From September’s All-Africa Games The anti-doping program at the Games was a mess with workers even staging a strike. The positive tests include three track athletes.
• The Guardian:“Clouds Gather As Kenya Fears Sunshine Days Are Over For Its Athletics”
• Kip Keino Wants Lifetime Bans For All Kenyan Drug Cheats
• AK Vice President David Okeyo Denies Embezzlement Charges

LetsRun.com Investigates

LRCUVA Has Reassigned Banned Doper Martin Maric To Intramural And Recreational Sports - He Won't Coach Throws At UVA This Year