Zane Robertson comes clean - why he choose to cheat!

The only thing lamer than doping is claiming that you only doped once. What a joke.

Great idea, though it would really require athletes and their agents organizing together to bargain collectively for enhanced protections. Athletes alone don't have the power to individually negotiate this. That's how real pro sports operate...

On further review of his attempted cover up and then his explanation, I suspect he's just not very bright.

Saying he got EPO instead of a vaccine and then going to the trouble of (badly) falsifying documents for the cover up.

For his explanation, he tries to go with this is the first time, but the problem then becomes how to explain that he has constantly had epo in his refrigerator for some time--"I didn't buy it, my wife did, I'm not using it, I've just been assiduously keeping it refrigerated."

I can believe a guy like that doesn't understand the science of what is actually going on with epo, so panicked before a race and injected himself.

The man has ruined his career and the image of his brother too whether Jake really doped or not. I have lost all credibility in the twins. This process of moving with the vial reveals some contemplation and therefore I can’t believe for a second he only did this once. Plus he did not implicate his wife at the time. Just reads as a call for attention.

I hope he got paid millions for this podcast because I can’t see anyone paying him a dime in the future. Feel bad for his family. Maybe he should have thought about that first. If the end result is you need a career outside of running anyway he could have done it cleanly and with respect. I can’t imagine anyone who’d want to associate with Zane in the future. It’s very sad.

Your turn, BTC!!

I mean that’d be great and we’d see many more busts…I kinda doubt it.

Friendly, reminder, you are talking about a real person who very well may read this. I've written up that summarizes the key points that he said on the podcast.

letsrun.com

A suicidal Zane Robertson opens up about his doping positive, "Today I just wanted to go and shoot myself in the head."

Robert Johnson

"I think if there's a word for it yes desperation, desperation definitely comes to mind."

Open link

What the New Zealand article fails to mention is that Zane appears to be suicidal. He talked about wanting to end his life 3 or 4 times on the podcast.

If anyone is suicidal, please dial or text 988 in the US. We have the international suicide numbers in the article.

A few comments. He said on the podcast that he didn't feel like he could return to New Zealand. Why not?

Also it appears that he's saying he got the EPO in Ethiopia which is newsworthy to me. Do we have a timeline of when he was living in New Zealand, Ethiopia and Kenya in recent years?

Here is a video version of the podcast:

blog.opencounseling.com

International Suicide Hotlines - OpenCounseling

Mark Pines

Comprehensive list of suicide and emergency hotlines around the world. Includes additional hotlines and links to in-person care.

Open link

How would you leave it in your fridge for months and not notice it? Unless he eats so much food and it got shoved to the back. I don't buy it!

Low intellects are drawn to celebrity scandal and disgrace, rubbernecking at car wrecks.

He states in the podcast he returned to NZ and chewed through his life savings ( get a part time job champ) unsure of his relationship with his parents so can’t comment on that. However he and his brother were very arrogant, negative and dismissive of the Athletics NZ bureaucracy and system throughout their careers and this probably cost them carding and financial aid. Hindsight is a great tool but maybe if they hadn’t been such tools things could have been different.

But Wise Man you place some of these dopers on a pedestal and the only reason they have not crashed with a hard landing off the pedestal is your understandable lack of knowledge of their doping. I could name names but what would be the point.

That means I place 1 position higher at the great manchester run. Jk.

I can understand why he did it. Most top athletes are doping or have doped. You can almost guarantee it.

google.com

Inside the doping hotspot of Ethiopia: dodgy testing and EPO over the counter

https://www.theguardian.com/profile/martha-kelner

Guardian investigation shows how easy it is to obtain doping products, uncovers disorganisation at the Ethiopian anti-doping agency and catches leading athlete admitting to having taken performance-enhancing drugs

Open link

People falsely assume Ethiopia is clean because the federation does a better job of covering up

Tough job ahead of him.

He needs to work intensively on his mental health. Will need to motivated as well as have good experts helping him. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Concomitant with this, he needs to find a productive way to make a living. Easier to start out in your twenties as opposed to your thirties. I don't envy him. Needs to take a rigorous look at his skills and interests and build off of that. Will likely be fits and starts.

I think the good thing is that he can do this out of the public eye. He has done damage to his twin and his twin's spouse, no matter his intentions. That will be a very difficult thing to overcome, a complicated maze of accountability and forgiveness. I know from experience as a twin, although i might add my twin has brought nothing but light and success into my life. You feel that relationship intensely.

I wish him well, and it demonstrates the perils of this very marginal economic sport. Not the drug use, but the susceptibility to depression and stress.

Yea, I agree with this. I don't think it makes someone a doping apologist to listen to a doper's interview. If anything, I hope more dopers come forward and give up their compatriots.

Thank you for your sensitivity, Rojo. We don't want a tragedy.

You use the word "carding" which means you must be Canadian because no one else uses that word in any other country. I think Zane can go back safely to New Zealand because to be honest with you I don't think he's really well known in New Zealand because athletics is hardly a high-profile sport in that country and he would really basically be unknown everywhere he goes except for a very small minority of people who follow track and field. Life is short so he should try to find a new endeavour which will fulfil him for the rest of his life. He made an egregious mistake by crossing the line but I feel sorry for him. Absolutely no need to end his life. There are still people who love and support him and will stand by his side. If he really only did this once then he can redeem himself like giving more information so that we have more knowledge about this issue in the future.

In cycling former dopers are at the head of cycling teams and leading productive lives not only in cycling but in other endeavours as well and they are not castigated nearly to the same extent as in athletics and running specifically so I'm wondering why runners are held to different standards compared with other endurance sports like cycling, cross-country skiing etc.? I'm not saying that dopers in running should get off the hook but I'm scratching my head as to why they're so much vilified and castigated compared with dopers in other sports? Doesn't make logical sense. The one thing I can think of is that in running it's a sport of numbers and exactitude so records that are accomplished have a precise number attached to them which then become nullified for the period that someone apparently doped. Was Zane "clean" for the majority of his career? I think so but of course I can never prove it and nor can anyone else unless he (Zane) comes clean and even then it won't be certain. Zane has to live with his for the rest of his life but hopefully it will fade down with time. I know Zane is a basketball fanatic (Lakers fan) and that it's his main interest in life and he used to play to a high level in high school so possibly he could get into basketball in New Zealand. I remember Zane mentioning that when he went to the Los Angeles marathon he went to see a Lakers game and that he would much rather go and see a basketball match rather than an athletics tournament. Judging by his Instagram posts I think he's also into rap music just like Julien Wanders.