WADA isn't perfect, but they've stepped up their game in the last 5 years.
Seems like this is a popular answer, but then why aren't times getting slower? If Africans were all doping and now aren't you would expect Africans to have gotten slower recently and non-Africans to have stayed the same. Instead, everyone is getting faster, and non-Africans are making the largest gains. It can't all be the shoes; those have been out for years now.
WADA isn't perfect, but they've stepped up their game in the last 5 years.
Seems like this is a popular answer, but then why aren't times getting slower? If Africans were all doping and now aren't you would expect Africans to have gotten slower recently and non-Africans to have stayed the same. Instead, everyone is getting faster, and non-Africans are making the largest gains. It can't all be the shoes; those have been out for years now.
The non-Africans are catching up, with improved training methods etc. and somewhat better testing, but a lot more meeds to be dine. The Africans don’t seem to be running faster.
Morocco’s former international Mustapha Hadji has blasted the decision to place Achraf Hakimi sixth in the 2025 Ballon d’Or, calling it “a scandal” and
Seems like this is a popular answer, but then why aren't times getting slower? If Africans were all doping and now aren't you would expect Africans to have gotten slower recently and non-Africans to have stayed the same. Instead, everyone is getting faster, and non-Africans are making the largest gains. It can't all be the shoes; those have been out for years now.
The non-Africans are catching up, with improved training methods etc. and somewhat better testing, but a lot more meeds to be dine. The Africans don’t seem to be running faster.
Ok, it's possible. But we had an actual slow-down 15 years ago when the biological passport was introduced. Now we don't have a slow-down, more likely the opposite, and the going theory is that training methods have improved across the board and simultaneously there is a doping crack-down in Africa.
Again, it's possible. Life is not always the simplest explanation. But when we have a substantial improvement in race times from certain countries with no obvious reason, well you know what the usual Letsrun reaction is.
It is entirely possible that the Weatern countries like the US have become so much more savvy at beating the drug testing that this is the result. And if you downvote this, it actually proves my point.
It is entirely possible that the Weatern countries like the US have become so much more savvy at beating the drug testing that this is the result. And if you downvote this, it actually proves my point.
Well of course the downvoting is irrelevant, it doesn’t prove my point, but the Americans are so desperate for relevance that they have no shame in having drug cheats represent them, like Houlihan, and then they point the finger at others. You can see that on average Americans have no character, and will lie and cheat ruthlessly. I am an American, but the truth is important.
The E. Africans have shifted a lot of their top distance runners to the roads as the prize money and appearance fees are better. And they are sending them straight to race marathons without making them establish themselves on the track.
Also, the E. African managers, agents, coaches, etc. are fairly corrupt and have done a terrible job of selecting their teams for WCs and Olympics.
But above all else, the West has finally caught up. The E. Africans broke a lot of records and had a lot of runners rattling off times that were better than US and EU records. That meant that US and EU runners had to knock down a lot of records just to start to be competitive again. From Rupp to Ingebrigtsen, those records have been shattered and that removed a big psychological barrier. Now, top kids in HS are setting their sights on sub 14 5k and no longer think that is an impossible barrier. I also think that the consolidation of high schools into huge 2500 to 4500 students also had raised the level of distance running. My son carpools with a kid who is on XC at his school. The coach said that 20 years ago, anyone who could break 18 would make varsity and sub 16 would usually make state. The school has almost doubled in size since then. Now, all the varsity boys run 16:XX and you have to break 15 to make state. It makes a big difference when a kid is coming up and they see the top kids running sub 15s. They believe that they can do the same or better.
EPO had been around for way longer. In the Fleche Wallonne of 1994, team Gewiss-Ballan completely dominated after a 70+km break with 3 riders. The team doctor even famously said "using EPO isn't any more dangerous than drinking 10 litres of orange juice" in an interview the day after this performance.
Bjarne Riis, the 1996 Tour winner, was nicknamed 'Mr. 60%' because of his hematocrit which was boosted to 60% by his extreme EPO-usage. It is rumoured he had to be woken up every 2 hours at night to move around because his blood was so thick he would die if his heart rate was low for too long.
And it is rumoured EPO had been around since the early 90's or late 80's even.
This post was edited 34 seconds after it was posted.
EPO had been around for way longer. In the Fleche Wallonne of 1994, team Gewiss-Ballan completely dominated after a 70+km break with 3 riders. The team doctor even famously said "using EPO isn't any more dangerous than drinking 10 litres of orange juice" in an interview the day after this performance.
Bjarne Riis, the 1996 Tour winner, was nicknamed 'Mr. 60%' because of his hematocrit which was boosted to 60% by his extreme EPO-usage. It is rumoured he had to be woken up every 2 hours at night to move around because his blood was so thick he would die if his heart rate was low for too long.
And it is rumoured EPO had been around since the early 90's or late 80's even.
So the western were EPO users a decade before and even with that they weren't bright in Middle distances?
Rojo, you aren't really searching for an answer, are you? This is just one of your cheeky "Im a bwad boy" threads your professional journalist ass seems to not be able to restrain yourself from starting.
The much more entruiging question is why white westerners are suddenly able to run 3:27 and 12:45. Why are we seeing patterns like we saw during the last western spurt that started in Oregon in 2010-2011, when NOP discovered "better training" and then Bowerman just down the street discovered it too. Then US went from having 2 sub 13s in its history to a half dozen in a year. This time it started in Norway, with one guy, then, wouldn't you know it, there were 2 Norwegians with same coach winning global medals. Then neighbor Sweden gets a 12 45 guy, then France, and The Netherlands gets a world beater at 1500. Then England, then the US. Then all Europe and the US is benefitting from the "better testing" . And have you checked out cycling? It just so happens they are benefiting from better drug testing as well. Every climb record is getting demolished. Every average speed of every tour is getting faster than the year before. Why are westerners suddenly the most gifted endurance athletes that can do things only the, according to Letsrun, the greatest Africans of the EPO era have been able to do?
I think western countries have developed better training techniques that offset superior distance running genetics of the east Africans. Are East Africans using bicarb?
They’re using EPO. Just more carefully per their crooked coaches and managers.
