Coevett wrote:
El G in his prime transported in a time machine to Monaco today, would fail the post-race sample.
I like El G, he's obviously an affable and pleasant guy, and shows more respect for the likes of Bannister than most posters here do, but it defies logic to believe that he wasn't doped to the max in his prime.
I agree with those two paragraphs 100%. He's always seemed like an affable guy so I'm not surprised at his comments about Bannister and devotion to the history of the sport. But I didn't pay much attention at all to that era because I was convinced it wasn't clean. I had read somewhere all the reasons why the testers were particularly far behind during that era. The reality has changed but some posters still cling to the blanket.
When I first discovered this forum I was shocked that El Guerrouj was held in such high regard. I still am. But much of it is desperation to repel Jakob. Once Jakob does break those records, El Guerroj will be discarded and redefined around here.