Are there Cases where Top Runners have been falsely accused of doping ?

Educate yourself.

Barefoot Count wrote:

Um, ever heard of Lagat?

He was let off for political reasons. Take a close look at the case and look at what the IAAF told he and his coach if they didn’t shut up regarding an apology: the full details would be revealed

Lagat was a cheat.

I don't understand the OP's question.

Is he asking about someone who was simply accused or someone who actually was tested positive.

Of course there are plenty of top runners that have been informally accused. Heck, a few months ago I accused Joan Benoit of doping when she ran for Athletics West. In this day and age its almost an insult if a top runner hasn't been accused.

Formal accusations in T&F don't really exist. Because if a runner does test positive, then they are disqualified. No trial or anything. The test basically was the trial. After that the runner is basically a professional convict. From there it is just a question of winning the appeal.

Brazilian Guy wrote:

Asbel Kiprop claims this is what happened to him, that the testers messed with his samples.

May be a lie, but it makes me think sometimes... What if the guy was clean and someone set him up?

You know, wouldn't be an absurd thing for someone to try to screw hit him, as he was at the very top of his game.

Or maybe he was just a cheater. Who will ever know?

It's just a little scary to think, that the testers have an athletes career in there hands. There should be better doping regulations on this sport, but that another subject.

There are many question marks about Kiprop's doping case.He will return in February 2022.

It's rumored that he now is coached by a magic coach.

Divoc 91 wrote:

Barefoot Count wrote:

Um, ever heard of Lagat?

He was let off for political reasons. Take a close look at the case and look at what the IAAF told he and his coach if they didn’t shut up regarding an apology: the full details would be revealed

Lagat was a cheat.

I used to do gel electrophoresis analyses in an immunology research lab. Anyone who is not a total idiot can look at the results of Lagat's A sample test and see that whoever interpreted it as exogenous EPO was either not paying attention or was visually impaired. It was just plain bad lab work by the tester.

Well the OP asked about "falsely accused". Of course there is no evidence that that ever happened.

casual obsever wrote:

Well the OP asked about "falsely accused". Of course there is no evidence that that ever happened.

They are all "falsely" accused. None ever admits to doping. The dog ate their homework.

None of you, it appears can address my point.

It's possible that Lagat's sample was indeed degraded or whatever through careless transportation and storage.

I have no idea based on the science alone, and I assume nobody else here does.

What I am asking is - of the thousands and thousands of blood tests conducted on athletes from sprinters to shot putters to distance runners over the last 20 years, what are the odds that out of the handful it happens to, one is the second fastest 1500m runner in history, on the eve of the world athletics championships (when he's very rapidly gone from also-ran shape back to 3:26 shape)?

Literally millions to one?

It seems either Lagat did take EPO and the first sample showed it and there was influence likely from the USA to clear him, or there had been deliberate contamination of the A sample in order to remove Lagat from the championships.

However, according to the 'science', the A sample positive was caused by poor storage and transport, not sabotage.

trollin' along wrote:

Coevett wrote:

Same thing happened to Marion Jones the exact same year.

A sample tested positive, but B sample negative.

Jones wasn't falsely accused; she was guilty beyond any doubt. Even plead guilty. She was one of the dirtiest American sprinters ever in my opinion. Even during the times when she tested clean she seemed to always be involved with people who were busted for drug use or distribution. Tim Mongomery, CJ Hunter, Victor Conte, Steve Riddick, etc.

In 2006 she had an "A" sample positive for EPO but the "B" sample came back negative and she was cleared at that time. However, after her doping confession, her coach admitted that EPO was one of substances used in her drug cocktail. So, there's definitely something wrong with these B samples coming up clean - false negatives seem to the case.

But of course Jones tried to convince us the she was being falsely accused of doping; "I have never, ever used performance enhancing drugs:"

Then here later confession: ?

You see people (like rekrunner for example) who don't understand the sport and it's strong ties to doping would have bought her initial denial of doping and defended her to no end. People who don't understand the prevalence of doping at the highest level of the sport would have defended her against the EPO use because the "B" sample came back negative.

You're not going to run as fast as she did and win 5 gold medals at one Olympics clean...period.

Let's tell it like it really is wrote:

You see people (like rekrunner for example) who don't understand the sport and it's strong ties to doping would have bought her initial denial of doping and defended her to no end. People who don't understand the prevalence of doping at the highest level of the sport would have defended her against the EPO use because the "B" sample came back negative.

You're not going to run as fast as she did and win 5 gold medals at one Olympics clean...period.

I think Marion Jones ran fast because she took steroids.

Since EPO has a small detection window in urine, it's not inconsistent that she took EPO, yet her A-sample was truly a false positive not corroborated by the B-sample.

One of the worst cases (in terms of mishandling and injustice) that springs to mind is Diane Modahl.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Modahl

Not running: Paul Edwards.

Coevett wrote:

So basically, there have been two world class 1500m runners who have falsely tested for EPO, and it just so happens they were the only two runners in history to run 3:26 after 2000 when EPO testing was first introduced - Lagat and Kiprop.

And both Kenyan.

Hmmm....

And in 2001, two athletes out of the hundreds or thousands tested came up with an A sample positive and a B sample negative - Marion Jones, sprinting insane times and subsequently revealed to be one of the dirtiest cheats in history, and Bernie Lagat, the fastest 1500 man ever other than full throttle El G.

Hmmm...

Considering the number of Kenyans among world class 1500m runners, it is not surprising to find two Kenyans in that list.

Considering that the early EPO tests were prone to errors, and considering that A-sample positives are generally not announced until after B-sample confirmation, it is not surprising that we haven't heard more cases.

We have seen evidence recently (see above the cases of Tysse, Sommer, Karus, and Colvert) that WADA labs are still making mistakes interpreting EPO positives in urine.

Hmmmm...

rekrunner wrote:

Let's tell it like it really is wrote:

You see people (like rekrunner for example) who don't understand the sport and it's strong ties to doping would have bought her initial denial of doping and defended her to no end. People who don't understand the prevalence of doping at the highest level of the sport would have defended her against the EPO use because the "B" sample came back negative.

You're not going to run as fast as she did and win 5 gold medals at one Olympics clean...period.

I think Marion Jones ran fast because she took steroids.

Since EPO has a small detection window in urine, it's not inconsistent that she took EPO, yet her A-sample was truly a false positive not corroborated by the B-sample.

That's not correct - there's sufficient evidence that EPO was part of her souped-up drug cocktail. If you have evidence that an athlete used EPO, and you have an "A" positive/"B" negative situation - that would indicate a false negative with the "B" sample...or...the "B" sample was tampered with.

Remember the EPO positive came before her confession and she had passed all of her numerous past doping controls with flying colors. The only reason this case broke open was because her ex-husband, C.J. Hunter, came forward and snitched on her. Without that, and with all of her previous doping controls clean, and the EPO "B" sample negative, she would be on top of the world now and many posters here, including you, would be defending her against any doping allegations!

Here's what Hunter said on the EPO:

"Hunter gave a 2 1/2-hour interview to IRS agents in early June in Raleigh, N.C., and later appeared before the grand jury probing BALCO."

"Citing investigators' memos, the Chronicle said Hunter told federal authorities that Jones used banned substances before, during and after the Sydney Games."

"Hunter stated that he saw Jones inject herself with EPO," IRS agent Erwin Rogers wrote in one of the memos quoted by the Chronicle. "Jones would inject herself in the front waist line area slightly underneath the skin. ... Initially, Hunter injected Jones because Jones did not want to inject herself in this location."

And Victor Conte on the EPO:

"Conte, founder of the California-based Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, which is facing federal charges for distributing steroids and other illegal performance-enhancing drugs to athletes, says he supplied Jones with a variety of illegal drugs from August 2000 through September 2001. He claims to have supplied her with a substance called "the clear," EPO, human growth hormone, and insulin. (The clear is thought to be the anabolic steroid tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG. EPO, an acronym for erythropoietin, is a red blood cell-boosting hormone experts say can increase endurance by 10 percent to 15 percent.)"

In addition, Jones ran a leg in 4×400 in Sydney.  The aerobic/anaerobic energy system contribution to the 400-m event is calculated as 41/59% (male) and 45/55% (female). She would definitely benefit from 02-vector doping.

I doubt that athletes are falsely accused because of testing mistake or incompetence; I would suggest they escape sanction because of that said incompetence.

Coevett wrote:

The Bernard A sample positive is at least as damning as the collective circumstantial evidence pointing at Mo, yet Lagat gets a near complete pass here because he adopted American citizenship.

According to the full report at that time, Lagat's A-sample was not damning at all, as upon closer re-inspection, it did not match the reference samples for EPO either.

Likewise, the collective circumstantial evidence against Slow Mo, is at most as damning.

But you are gravely mistaken and woefully uninformed to suggest that Lagat got a free pass here. His name has popped up regularly in these forums since the 2003 A-sample false positive as a Kenyan doper.

Let's tell it like it really is wrote:

rekrunner wrote:

I think Marion Jones ran fast because she took steroids.

Since EPO has a small detection window in urine, it's not inconsistent that she took EPO, yet her A-sample was truly a false positive not corroborated by the B-sample.

That's not correct - there's sufficient evidence that EPO was part of her souped-up drug cocktail. If you have evidence that an athlete used EPO, and you have an "A" positive/"B" negative situation - that would indicate a false negative with the "B" sample...or...the "B" sample was tampered with.

The question is not whether she took EPO, but whether it was present in the urine sample.

Given the short detection window in urine, that's a real possibility.

And given the errors in the early tests, it remains a real possibiilty.

The other question is whether EPO would make sprinters faster.

Alex Schwazer's (the walker) second ban right before London is still being fought in the italian courts. He claims his sample was manipulated by WADA.

If that is your takeaway then you still didn’t read (or didn’t understand) the report.

I'm not saying that Lagat was a drug cheat but peoples on letsrun give Lagat "the benefit of the doubt" and they almost all still consider him clean just because he's American. If it was El Guerrouj, ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE on letsrun would consider it as a proof he was doping. Yet there's even less evidence that El Guerrouj was on drugs than Lagat.