Mo Trafeh Tunes Up for Trials With 1:01:39 Half in China

Does Trafeh even have a sponsor? Because I just visited his website and he is essentially begging for money.

http://www.motrafeh.com/motrafeh/Support.html

. Simply based on economics, I find it difficult to believe that he is doping when he is begging for $$$.

Anybody know what it costs to do a bit of EPO?

I haven't taken sides yet. But here are the reasons Mo arouses suspicion in some peoples' eyes:

1) He trains chiefly in and with Moroccans, who have been known to be EPO dopers. I don't know if he's actually associated with any known cheats or coaches of cheats, though.

2) He has had a pretty meteoric rise without the kind of support that those who make big breakthroughs usually have (training support, a sponsored training group, a well known coach)

3) He runs many of his races in faraway locations or in smaller, unknown races which might not test for drugs (though he's sure to be tested at the US championships)

4) He is not very open with the track media and is not friends with very many other elite Americans. Some people think he is "sketchy."

crazy person wrote:

Does Trafeh even have a sponsor? Because I just visited his website and he is essentially begging for money.

http://www.motrafeh.com/motrafeh/Support.html

. Simply based on economics, I find it difficult to believe that he is doping when he is begging for $$$.

I can't help but think sponsors may be a little leery of someone with so much suspicion constantly around them.

adfasdf wrote:

I haven't taken sides yet. But here are the reasons Mo arouses suspicion in some peoples' eyes:

1) He trains chiefly in and with Moroccans, who have been known to be EPO dopers. I don't know if he's actually associated with any known cheats or coaches of cheats, though.

2) He has had a pretty meteoric rise without the kind of support that those who make big breakthroughs usually have (training support, a sponsored training group, a well known coach)

3) He runs many of his races in faraway locations or in smaller, unknown races which might not test for drugs (though he's sure to be tested at the US championships)

4) He is not very open with the track media and is not friends with very many other elite Americans. Some people think he is "sketchy."

You could have written some of this about Mark Nenow 25 years ago, and perhaps Mo and Nenow were the types who had to coach themselves (even if Nenow got some advice for a bit).

1) All races and nationalities use drugs. People train overseas and there is nothing strange about that.

2) Running fast is simple. One foot in front of another. Do you know how many utterly poor Kenyans have quickly risen to the top without any support?

3) IF IT'S NOT IN THE GOOD 'OLE US OF A THEY ARE CHEATING. Seriously, there is a world outside of the USA. Mo has won many races here in the United States too. He has won national championships in the USA.

4) Wow this is incredible. Are you in high school? Some people say he's sketchy? Ryan Hall is sketchy to me because of all the god talk - does that mean I should accuse him of EPO use?

adfasdf wrote:

I haven't taken sides yet. But here are the reasons Mo arouses suspicion in some peoples' eyes:

1) He trains chiefly in and with Moroccans, who have been known to be EPO dopers. I don't know if he's actually associated with any known cheats or coaches of cheats, though.

2) He has had a pretty meteoric rise without the kind of support that those who make big breakthroughs usually have (training support, a sponsored training group, a well known coach)

3) He runs many of his races in faraway locations or in smaller, unknown races which might not test for drugs (though he's sure to be tested at the US championships)

4) He is not very open with the track media and is not friends with very many other elite Americans. Some people think he is "sketchy."

Good points, but what would you say about Kawauchi? I don't think anyone would seriously contend that he is suspicious, but going through your points:

1) Doesn't apply

2) Definitely true

3) Definitely true

4) Very open with the track media, but is not friends with very many other elite Japanese from what I've read.

So he scores a 2.5 on your 4-point scale. Does that make him sketchy?

His sponsorship has nothing to do with being sketchy.

It's because sponsorship for our sport is sucks.

We had an Olympic marathoner working at HOME DEPOT in 2008.

Meb also worked at Home Depot for a period than GOT DROPPED BY NIKE. A SILVER MEDALIST AND NYC WINNER LOST SPONSORSHIP.

Newsflash - sponsorship has and will continue to suck for our sport. Mo isn't some anomaly. Runners have had trouble getting sponsored.

TLW wrote:

We had an Olympic marathoner working at HOME DEPOT in 2008.

By his own choice. He didn't need to work.

So Brian Sell was slinging bags of mulch as a form of cross training?

Sponsorship for MOST long distance runners is so financially rewarding that they don't need to work part time or struggle with initially finding a sponsor.

Meb also worked for Home Depot. Do you think he didn't need to do that?

The point is: Successful runners have struggled to find and hold onto sponsorship. If you disagree with that you need a reality check.

sometimes ignorant wrote:

So Mo is coaching other elites, training in Morocco, and racing in China? Nice. That doesn't sound strange at all.

It's not like he joined OTC and suddenly dropped a lot of time, did he?

Mo Farah joined OTC and dropped his 10k PR by almost a minute and won a world championship after getting rocked in every other championship final.

That's cool though, he has a nice sounding British accent and is sponsored by Nike which puts him in the clear. He also isn't from Morocco which is the only place in the world where athletes use EPO.

EPO is an incredibly common drug, sold in just about every nation, and available without a prescription at your local gym. There is little reason to go to another country to dope when you could just do so here. Very few people get caught doping with EPO - usually just people striking out on their own. If anything it'd be easier to do here, where you'd have a full medical staff monitoring your levels and ensuring that you will never test positive.

Trafeh is a talented athlete who has improved after college, but not beyond what seems possible given his high school times.

Mo Farah> Mo Trafeh

I don't know about all the drug accusations but why would you want to root for someone who is not an American born citizen and does not even live in the United States full time.

TLW wrote:

1) All races and nationalities use drugs. People train overseas and there is nothing strange about that.

2) Running fast is simple. One foot in front of another. Do you know how many utterly poor Kenyans have quickly risen to the top without any support?

3) IF IT'S NOT IN THE GOOD 'OLE US OF A THEY ARE CHEATING. Seriously, there is a world outside of the USA. Mo has won many races here in the United States too. He has won national championships in the USA.

4) Wow this is incredible. Are you in high school? Some people say he's sketchy? Ryan Hall is sketchy to me because of all the god talk - does that mean I should accuse him of EPO use?

You should definitely accuse Ryan Hall of drug use. He is extremely sketchy with all that God talk.

hahaha, too funny. ritz- yheah sure, he came out of nowhere. dumb@$$. Hall, 13:15 and 2:06. yeah, he came out of nowhere too. what a doofus. you talk about trafeh like he ran 29FLAT in high school. call a spade a spade. more like close to 30min, so don't act like he's running 29min, show the whole time so it's more accurate. why don't ppl trust trafeh? b/c he went from being on a club level nike team, to getting dropped by them and only running 14change, 30flat, and 1:05-1:06....and all of a sudden winning national championship races by 5min, then running 60min one week later- then disappearing for a few months, then coming back for another us champs, etc.worst of all, trafeh STILL isn't on the usada OOC (out of competition) pool. truly a shame as it allows him to be untested except in races where he knows well in advance that he'll face a test. a real shame that usatf hasn't just used "discretionary" powers to put him on the list. perhaps we can pull a hellebuyck on him at the trials.

TLW wrote:

How do you know he cheats? What is surprising about his performances that raise red flags? You do know that Mo ran a 29 minute 10k in high school right? His performances are not really shocking given his background.

Why not claim Hall and Ritz are cheats? Hall's 59 minute half out of nowhere? Ritz running 12:56 out of nowhere?

hahaha, too funny. ritz- yheah sure, he came out of nowhere. dumb@$$. Hall, 13:15 and 2:06. yeah, he came out of nowhere too. what a doofus. you talk about trafeh like he ran 29FLAT in high school. call a spade a spade. more like close to 30min, so don't act like he's running 29min, show the whole time so it's more accurate. why don't ppl trust trafeh? b/c he went from being on a club level nike team, to getting dropped by them and only running 14change, 30flat, and 1:05-1:06....and all of a sudden winning national championship races by 5min, then running 60min one week later- then disappearing for a few months, then coming back for another us champs, etc.worst of all, trafeh STILL isn't on the usada OOC (out of competition) pool. truly a shame as it allows him to be untested except in races where he knows well in advance that he'll face a test. a real shame that usatf hasn't just used "discretionary" powers to put him on the list. perhaps we can pull a hellebuyck on him at the trials.

TLW wrote:

How do you know he cheats? What is surprising about his performances that raise red flags? You do know that Mo ran a 29 minute 10k in high school right? His performances are not really shocking given his background.

Why not claim Hall and Ritz are cheats? Hall's 59 minute half out of nowhere? Ritz running 12:56 out of nowhere?

ok message board, i clicked "post" one time! what's the deal? sorry for double post. I blame the 1%.....