astro wrote:
No. The OP brought her name into it. Well then excuse me for pointing out unpleasant realities. European sports have a very lax attitude on the subject. European cycling fans were not upset that Armstrong doped, just that he doped better than their heroes. They still think Pantani, Indurain, Contador, etc were clean. I enjoy bashing Kenya (it deserves it), but who are we kidding? I see a pro European based distance runner and I can cynically assume the rest of the story. Italy is one of the worst doping offenders in the whole world. Anyone want to argue that Battocletti is clean given her miraculous Olympic year progression and the fact that her coach was busted for doping in 1999? Anyone going to pretend that Koko ran sub-15 in 2017 on pure talent because German sports are so pristine? Or that British distance runners are beyond scrutiny when GB athletics decided to emulate Spain from the 1990s and you have the Team Sky debacle? Or heck that Jakob can beat the East Africans naturally when they are doped to the gills to begin with?
Look pro US distance runners dope. Sometimes blatantly like Houlihan. That is the reality of the sport. But the doping incentive system for US distance runners tends to be put off by the NCAA safe harbor for a few years. With US sprinting where high school/college sprinters can run world class times earlier and Olympic glory is already within reach, the pressures start earlier and you get college doping scandals like Ross. Once a distance runner starts running professionally, the pressure and incentives start. If European distance runners are professionalizing earlier, then the game starts earlier. Just commonsense. Anyway that is just a general comment. Downvote, upvote. Don't care.
it's hilarious how defensive astro gets whenever athletes show they may be able to beat tuohy. he becomes detached from reality. actually he was never attached to reality to begin with.
The NCAA is no safe harbor in the sense you say - it is the opposite. it allows them to face strong competition and gain experience in an environment where there is essentially NO drug testing. doping in the NCAA is 100x more prevalent than you think it is.
isn't it suspicious that tuohy had stagnated for a few years, got knee surgery, missed NCAAs in the 2021 outdoor season then suddenly and miraculously began running fast times again?