Wild when you're going to be your most careful close to big races.
It depends. You of course have your long term "investment" drugs like EPO, growth hormone etc that as you said, the closer you get to racing (and potentially being tested in comp) you'd actually be stupid to continue using because they don't really help you on a specific day/time period.
Still a lot of stimulants out there though that can make you superman/woman on a given day though. Ephedrines, amphetamines - all can make a huge difference.
I have recently thinking about athletes for maybe Kenya and Ethiopia (just guesses, people on this thread know more than I do) that run great get marks and try to qualify for teams but at the more tightly tested Championships run poorly.
Is this happening at all? Was they some guy that made a mid distance team but ran poorly? Also possible cases where someone runs great times gets recruited to the US and then can't match the performances at NCAA?
So Kenya once again showing that they are not complicit in a state run doping program?
Clearly there is a doping problem in Kenya, but also clearly it is not organised at state/governmental level (who are utterly incompetent rather than complicit)
I have a friend who's a passably decent Kenyan runner and sports journalist. Doping there isn't organized like it was in Russia but he tells me loads of government and influential people are involved in athletes' doping and making money from it.
Then how complicit do you think the "help" is in Ethiopia?
I have a friend who's a passably decent Kenyan runner and sports journalist. Doping there isn't organized like it was in Russia but he tells me loads of government and influential people are involved in athletes' doping and making money from it.
Then how complicit do you think the "help" is in Ethiopia?
I don't know any Ethiopians so have no real opinion. Why do you ask?
I have recently thinking about athletes for maybe Kenya and Ethiopia (just guesses, people on this thread know more than I do) that run great get marks and try to qualify for teams but at the more tightly tested Championships run poorly.
You’re stretching the truth. Tim Cheruiyot and Komen made the finals at Paris, which isn’t really flaming out nowadays considering how deep the event is and the names missing out (Mills, Nader, Habz, Hoare, Reynold). Komen also didn’t even finish top 3 at the Kenyan Trials which showed he had some flaws as a racer. In the final, he ran stubbornly on the outside of lane 1 despite Jakobs crazy-fast race, and paid dearly for it. Tim was on the back of a truncated buildup and I think simply didn’t have the strength to close well on the third round after running aggressively. He closed the season well.
The Ethiopians are easier to pinpoint in the 5,000. Yihune was definitely spent by Paris, and Mehary finished where you’d expect him. I think in 10,000 it was more poor tactics and incredible fields for that stopped Barega and Kejelcha
Hagos said he had COVID and also mistimed his kick horribly.
I think this has been the general consensus for a while - a certainly a lot of stories I have heard coming out of Kenya don't point to their doping issues being a state run conspiracy a-la Russia, Spain in the 90's and the Eastern Bloc of the 80's.
I do think the reality is somewhere in between though. As in even though doping isn't sponsored or condoned, I'm just not sure there is much impetus to stop it.
The Kenyan government didn't need to be as pro-active as Russia, Spain, or the GDR, because the financial incentives for mass doping were/are already sufficient. But as you imply, there isn't a great deal of difference between turning a blind eye to EPO being openly sold without prescription in every pharmacy in Iten, for example, and instructing coaches to dope athletes. Now, of course, Kenya is 'trying' to stop doping, but only with a gun effectively pointed at their head. Kenya has probably benefited more than Spain and Russia from doping and the sporting success it brings, in terms of raising its profile on the world stage, and increased tourism and investment that comes as a result.
This is why Kenya should have been banned from international competition a long time ago...
The Kenyan government didn't need to be as pro-active as Russia, Spain, or the GDR, because the financial incentives for mass doping were/are already sufficient. But as you imply, there isn't a great deal of difference between turning a blind eye to EPO being openly sold without prescription in every pharmacy in Iten, for example, and instructing coaches to dope athletes. Now, of course, Kenya is 'trying' to stop doping, but only with a gun effectively pointed at their head. Kenya has probably benefited more than Spain and Russia from doping and the sporting success it brings, in terms of raising its profile on the world stage, and increased tourism and investment that comes as a result.
This is why Kenya should have been banned from international competition a long time ago...
Imagine what a shocker it'd be when they started testing America seriously... Noah Lyle's and team wouldn't survive
It's only in Africa where doping is perceived to take place but not in the west where the likes of Eryon knighton can mask doping intakes through sophisticated means.
I have to say, I am impressed, there are definitely honest people over there, trying to do the right thing. At least it would seem so
Kenya is the only country that is serious about testing.
The more Kenya tests, the more they are accused of mass doping. If I were Kenya I would stop testing altogether until other countries get their act together.