Hellebuyck is racing and stealing prize money

What he did (take EPO for undetermined periods of time) was clearly wrong, but the condemnation he is receiving seems way overboard.

Going by this 'logic' you could argue that all the pro football, baseball, and basketball players who are 'juiced' (on something or other) should also have to 'pay back' those who are not on the stuff.

When Richard Virenque,the Tour de France uphill specialist, who first of all denied EPO use, and then admitted his fault, came back to racing - he was welcomed back with open arms, and the French people loved him when he came back.

We are all fallible, and Eddy no less so.

No - his good deeds do not cancel out what he did, but I personally know that Eddy helped hundreds of runners, many up and coming, when they stayed with him in Albuquerque. He helped them with accommodation and even gave 'freebies' to some guys who did not have the funds. I know this from the mouth of Abdelghani Zouad, a personal friend, and runner who got down to good times (13:56/29:00/63:00) after training with Eddy. For years, Abdelghani had reached a plateau of around 31-32" for 10km, and then when he started training with Eddy and Benoit Zwierchlewski - the French 2:06 marathon record holder - his improvement was substantial - and it was all done 'clean.' The French Federation takes these things very seriously and Zouad always came up clean on all the tests, including his 4th place in the French road 10km in Aix en Provence where he ran 29:04 on a hot day (worth 28:30 in cool conditions).

Eddy was the man instrumental in the progress of Zouad and countless other athletes - again, without resorting to illegal products.

At the High school level, where he taught, Eddy also had the ability to take on very ordinary physical specimens and turn them into All State distance runners.

I can only feel frustration that Eddy had to go the drug route, because he really did not need to do so, and the legacy he would have left, had he not gone on the stuff would have made him one of the top distance running gurus in the U.S., in the same league as Salazar, Daniels and company.

Ghost in Saudi,

www.kfupm.edu.sa

, apply today.

That twat was one of my heroes when I was started running. He won the 'Tour of Tameside'several times. When I eventually ran the Tour, he beat Steve Brace into 2nd. My best ever run being 4 mins behind him on the last race over 9 miles

I've still got a photo of him at home being presented with the trophy by Ron Hill. I wonder what Ron thinks of him now!

http://petemagill.blogspot.com/2009/07/runnings-most-notorious-cheaters-bakers.html

The stupid thing was there was no EPO in 87 when he won the Tour, a series of 6 races in a week over 52 miles. So did he really need to cheat?

Not even a mention of it here:

http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/letter=h/country=usa/athcode=1133/index.html

I presume the derisory slap on the wrist ban the IAAF hand out has expired

I see Eddy's training group almost every morning when I drive to work, and to see him training with these jr high kids is pretty darned amazing. He's probably got a group of 30-40 kids out there at o'dark early for a training run. The fact that he's got so many young kids interested in the sport of running should be commended. Sure he made a mistake. We all have, some more serious then others.

But he also served his time for the crime, and I highly doubt that he's juicing himself up with thousands of dollars of EPO or whatever the drug of today is so that he can go win a 100 bux. That's just plain stupid to think so. Here's what you should do. Man up.....Train harder, and maybe give him a run for his money. Until you beat him, STFU and go run another 800m sprint......you obviously need it.

This is why there needs to be specific legal rules that state that if you test positive for banned substance, you have to pay back XXX amount of percentage back...

Do any races have such rules in place?

Man UP?

Do you have a brain? Eddy never admitted guilt of any wrong doing. What does that tell you about him as a person? He stole money from runners just like Madoff did to his clients. I could care less about the money. And you think having a former convicted drug cheat coach kids sets a good example? You are fu**ked up in the way you justify Eddy's actions. The right thing to do is for Eddy to publicly admit his guilt and never take a penny in prize money to make up for all the people he stole from. But that would take class and moral character which Eddy hasn't got.

Ghost-

Benoit Zwierchlewski, while a cool dude, nonetheless was busted for drugs as well. So your friend Abdelghani went from a 31 minute 10k runner to 29 flat by training with two convicted drug cheats? Therefore the drug cheats are good people? Seriously? At least I now know I could've run 29 flat on EPO.

i thought this thread was about the annoying survivor conservative chick on da VIEW.

and whoopi, you are the ugliest man I've seen.

I will ask again. Kidstallyn, would you want a guy who injected performance enhancing drugs into his body in order to steal money from other runners coaching your own kids? It's a simple question.

Me. Personally. Not a chance in hell. Do you think that he is now not a dishonest person?

He has never admitted guilt.

Ghost,

Are you the guy who was trying to sell his "illegal" altitude tent a few years ago?

Benoit Z. was never convicted of any wrong doing.Just go to "Federation Francaise Athletisme" and you will see that Benoit had been framed but was absolved of any involvement in illegal products.

Abdelghani mostly trained on his own. When Benoit Z. was in Albuquerque, Benoit mostly did his own thing, because he was never big on track repetitions, and did better with long continuous fast runs, and progressive runs, like Carlos Lopes. He (Benoit Z.) did not like doing the short stuff.

Zouad got much better, on the other hand, because of track training, without which he would never have attained the 13:56/29:00/63:00 which saw him as one of the better runners in the South East of France in the late 90's. Interesting, also, at the time, there was Ahmed Saleh, Djibouti marathon runner, and ending his career as a runner in the Nice area.

If you saw the housing project where Abdelghani grew up in St Maximin, 50km from Marseilles, you could understand why he sought to get out from there. Crime, drugs (but not EPO!), assaults on people, etc...made it a very dangerous area to live, and a large majority of French arabs (beurs) ended up with criminal records for drug trafficking, breaking and entering, and assaults on the person.

Running was merely a way out of the ghetto for Zouad, and he achieved his aim, because he was recruited by the French elite 'chasseurs alpins' army elite training corps, as a professional runner, thereby gaining assurances for his financial future and that of his future family, for which maghreb people are so attached, as men are not real men until they marry and produce many children in the Islam culture, Mashallah.

My point about all this is that the person instrumental in the future success of Abdelghani, was none other than vilified Eddy Hellebuyck. Let us at least recognize that he possessed a laudable side.

Ghost in Saudi,

www.kfupm.edu.sa

, apply today.

Kid Stallyn, not only did Eddy "steal" thousands of dollars in race winnings from open and masters runners, but he also deprived someone a spot on the 2001 World Champs team (Edmonton 2001)....something many would consider more valuable than a few thousand dollars. He was already 40 by 2001.

And what about his lucrative equipment/$$$ deal with Saucony?

Kid, how say u now?

Ghost, why do you defend every single drug cheat, be it Boulami, Khalid Skah, Ramzi, Eddy, LHG, and especially Cathal Lombard....why is that?

1.16:05 5k followed by a 16:20 5k for a 49 year old is impressive.

2.eddie did not steal anyones spot at Edmonton, they are running a marathon for free there.

Eddie I hope to see you out there on the roads and congrats on three-peating with your high school cross team at state.

I never defended Boulami, Ramzi and LHG.

Khalid Skah - he was never convicted of any illegal drug use. Again, rumours, rumours, mostly by bi-peds who have poor turnover.

Cathal Lombard was a different case, and we will not go back to that.

Ghost in Saudi,

www.kfupm.edu.sa

, apply today.

When Richard Virenque,the Tour de France uphill specialist, who first of all denied EPO use, and then admitted his fault, came back to racing - he was welcomed back with open arms, and the French people loved him when he came back.'

Just because they forgive Virenque doesn't mean we have to forgive Eddy

Actually I could forgive him as a person, but not as an athlete. How many athletes do we need to forgive, because it’s never going to stop when the bans are so short

If he was a solicitor, doctor or teacher he would likely be struck off for life. He is not being imprisoned for life so talk of forgiveness is ridiculous

Take a sprinter coming up now he's got the talent to go 10.3 a good runner with no money no prospects and maybe nothing to fall back on. So have nothing or try and break 10.0 and get in the money. What's the worst that can happen? Get busted have 2 years off and then come back maybe on the new gear. It's a no brainier for someone without scruples -and there are plenty of people like that around.

The ban should be increased to 4 years as a minimum. Enough to really affect their career or if older when they should no better, finish it

I hope Eddy does comes over to race in the UK again because I'd like to have a word with him

Not a kidder wrote:

congrats on three-peating with your high school cross team at state.

What did he put in their pre-workout water bottle? Does he coach them to cut the course? I don't actually think he does this, but once a cheater, always a cheater, and in all areas of life. I guess I wouldn't be "shocked" if I found out the above were true.

2.eddie did not steal anyones spot at Edmonton, they are running a marathon for free there. (QUOTE)

They run the marathon for free at the Olympics too....what's your point?

You don't think a Hansons runner was deprived of the chance to run for the USA at the 2001 World Champs????