This week's sign of the Apocalypse: Mary Cain's role model is Mary Decker

Dick Brown coached her wrote:

You' re wrong. Slaney was Dick Browns first doping project...in 1983. She finally got caught in 1996. Its all in that doping documentary.

For arguments sake lets ignore her drug bust. Slaney was a self centered Diva. She was very demanding and her behavior on and off the track was atrocious. She was as far as you can possibly get from being a role model.

/end of thread

I can't believe you are such an idiot.

We're talking about a 17 year old girl who worships stuffed animals.

Mary Decker to her is like Prefontaine, an old time runner who made it to the Olympics.

OF course she sees unicorns and rainbow outcomes, of course she sees Mary's negative experiences not happening to her.

NO FREAKING RUNNER AT AGE 17 SEES THAT -- THEY ALL SEE IDEALISM, OPTIMISM, THE BEST OUTCOMES.

You're a moron.

How about you let a 17 year old girl, be a 17 year old girl.

You know, like her idol could change next week.

Ask any high school boy who his role model is and the answer will be Steve Prefontaine.... Are you going to rag on them for having a role model that was drunk driving and killed himself...

Come on man your hating on new American talent... What's your next post going to be... Where has all the young talent for American running gone?....the answer... hiding from people like you who put them down

Plus you learn from history, she will learn from her heroes mistakes and not dope.... But in 10 years from now if she does get caught you can be the first to say I told you so

Come on, Rojo. First of all, she said Mary Decker was her role model in 8th grade. I know that wasn't all that long ago, but you're acting like Mary Cain still has a poster of Decker on her wall. Second, there are admirable qualities that Decker exemplified that Cain could aspire to apart from her brush with doping authorities. Finally, you seem to have some kind of obsession with presenting yourself as the only one who will tell the "real story" about Decker and her doping. It was a long time ago, and no one but you seems to really care any more. To assume that Cain was specifically referring to Decker's doping when she said she looked up to her is stupid. I really don't know why you're trying to stir up yet more controversy around Salazar and NOP- there are enough people on the boards who are already convinced that all of the NOP athletes are doped to the gills anyway.

Just last week I was watching the Denver Broncos play. Von Miller sacked the QB and did this ridiculous dance as the crowd went crazy. This was weeks after he was not only caught cheating, but caught trying to cheat the drug test. 17 years ago Mary Decker failed a drug test, 15 years ago that test was overturned. Rojo fumes about it like is happened yesterday. Amazing how unforgiving track fans are compared to football fans. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Decker was cleared by USATF and the IAAF. Latter the IAAF did reinstate the ban.

She is in the USATF Hall of Fame.

Yeah......good call kid

she got the gpa higher then baxter

You're criticizing the words of a high school girl.

Just stop and think about that for a second.

Just because she said she looked up to Mary Decker doesn't mean she wants to be exactly like her.

Even after how awful of a human Lance Armstrong has proved to be I still enjoy watching the stages from his seven tour "wins" and get some inspiration/motivation from them. That doesn't mean I'm going to juice myself to the gills and sue everyone that questions my integrity.

Mary Cain is 17 years old, rojo.

Lots of young people have considered Pretontaine to be their hero, and that guy was a drunk-driver.

You label Mary Slaney as a doper as if it is a fact.

She had one test that had an abnormal testosterone ratio which she disputed.

This particular test is no lo her used. She fought it for years and there is no evidence on what she specifically took.

You can say that she probably did something or that you suspect it.

But stating it as a fact is a bit too much.

Especially as the founder of a wide read publication on running.

It's OK for us anonymous bozos to spout off hateful finger pointing but you have to be better than that. You have responsibility.

J.R. wrote:

Mary Decker was a very fine runner, who had an outstanding career.

douglas burke wrote:

yeah which was all made possible by cheating, using performance enhancers.

How's that working for you?

I can't believe no one is talking about this.Does Mary Cain not know that Mary Decker, who at one time was coached by Al Sal himself, was busted for doping?When asked by Joe Battaglia, "Who are your running role models?" she answered in part:

Mary Cain said:

I would say another person I always looked up to was Mary Decker. My mom was actually the first person who kind of put that connection in my mind. In eighth grade I used to wear the pig-tails trying to channel Mary through that.

How can that be her response? I understand it in the sense that they are both former teen prodigies, (Here in Baltimore, the star bball player Manny Machado says Arod was his idol as they were both teen stars from Miami), but hopefully someone can teach her a little about the history of the sport.

Your model should not be a former teen prodigy who acted horribly in 1984 (from what I was told I was 11 at the time) when tripped and then resorted to doping at a minimum at the end of her career?

That's just not right.

I'm glad she turned pro today because if she was still an amateur I'd feel a little bit bad about criticizing an amateur but probably would have done it anyway.

All I can say is that's an incredibly disappointing response and Battaglia should have asked a follow up question that at least asked about Decker's doping so Cain can learn from it.

Full interview here:

Lol Tojo wrote:

Rojo's new favorite past time. Bashing teenage girls if they decide not run in college. Because how can anyone have a normal life be successful without running XC and Track at major school.

No wonder these girls avoid the message board like the plague. Full of small minds who live so far inside the box that they think outside the box is just plain evil.

I don't know what you are talking about. I've been saying all summer long, "Mary Cain should go pro. Why hasn't she gone pro?"

I understand why it's natural for her to say "Mary Decker" It's just like Manny Maachado and ARod. When you are young, you don't know about doping and what not. I get that.

But it's the adults responsibilities to teach her about this. Doping is the #1 threat to the sport and the sport can't survive with it- read Seb Coe's article today.

I'm sorry if you think we should bow down to everyone in the sport. That's a role that everyone else in the industry does but we do not.

Given the fact that Cain is 17, I've reworded the initial criticism very slightly to give it a softer tone but don't back away from me being disappointed she's saying this.

Go back and read it now. The substance of what I said was 100% on the money.

Clearly, the Decker positive is a) either not known by Cain or b) explained away as a technicality/not a big deal.

Both a and b are unacceptable in my opinion - not from Cain but from the adults advising her.

Coe article is here:http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/24951664

Coe says:

"If you said to me 'is this a war we can afford to lose?' The answer is that it isn't."

"We must never get into a position where people think athletics is a bit like American professional wrestling, where the crowds turn up knowing that what they are watching is fake and frankly not caring."

As much as I'm excited for Mary Cain, I don't think we should be afraid to keep the dialogue open about unethical/behavior, nor should we support those who openly engage in it.

douglas burke wrote:

DedicatedRunner wrote:

Mary Decker held American records from the 800 through the 10k. No other female American dominated the way she did.

She was no doper when the she accomplished them. That occurred in the late 90's when in her late 30's she was trying to hang on to competing at the highest level.

you dont know that, a friend of my mothers 16 year old son just died on overdose of steroids, because he wanted to look more buff and make his high school football team.

she probably cheated from junior high school, there are thousands of teens using steroids.

You don't really believe that crap do you Doug? Mary was a phenom at 14 - just because some people in the football/bodybuilding culture do it, doesn't mean others do as well. In the same era (1972), Glenda Reiser (a Canadian a few years older) at 17 ran 2.03/4.06. It was an era where some people trained hard, and talented girls ran fast. Glenda never got any better (quit and went to Med school), Mary D struggled with compartment syndrome before developing later.

I have seen talented kids from my neighbourhood become NCAA medalists, National record-holders and Olympic finalists. In my 25 years of coaching I have yet to be convinced that any were doping - not that some people aren't, rather that it isn't necessary for the talented either (I get where Canova is coming from, unlike many on this board). I coached a kid in HS who has recently run 1.45 for 800m (went to worlds), and I told him he was lazy in HS, - just plain talented. Another local kid, who did almost nothing in HS, has gone on to run a 2h10 marathon. There are those people around, some develop and some don't. What pisses me is jealous people who simply don't understand that this is the reality. There are a boat-load of talented people in the US who are either destroyed by the US HS and Collegiate programs (over-trained), or worse - held back by incompetent coaching during HS and even College. look at Wejo, talk about an example of someone who had poor coaching that held him back until JK developed him. If that guy could run 28.06, then lots of others could as well - why they don't is the million dollar question.

This is an era of some very good HS girls in the US - Cain, Baxter, Efraimson, Cranny. Ajee Wilson is still an age-group Junior. Maybe none will become Senior record-holders or medalists at major meets - but I don't assume that any, and certainly not all, have resorted to PED's to get to their current levels. I don't believe that Marion Jones did as a youth either - I believe that she went to the "dark" side later. Mary D may have done the same (AW and Slaney), and sad if she did, as it wasn't necessary - she had the talent to be great without it, certainly until her later years (30's) anyway.

Very clear from the article that Cain is talking about the pig-tailed Mary Decker.

You are one of those people who views the world in black and white, I know your type.

Decker and Lewis both tested positive in Helsinki 1983.......their sponsor showed up with a briefcase of cash soon thereafter...................many people know about this and are too scared to say anything.............do some research and find some pictures of Mary from that summer...........she looked a bit different than in 1984..........................

She's not the next coming of the Messiah. She might be the next coming of Mary Decker, maybe not. But she's not obligated to save the world or the tattered state of US track and field. I think her first major public statement was both coherent and honest. I'd rather see her develop that approach than some guarded and politically correct world view. There is a lot to admire in Mary Slaney's fighting spirit while also acknowledging her share of human frailty (something she has in common with all of the rest of us).