Thank you, I didn't know this.
once you hang em up for good, you shouldn't be subject to any of the rules it makes no sense to penalize someone who took hundreds of tests while he was active in the sport because he doesn't wanna piss in a cup early in the morning. if he is now known as "drug cheat" chris lukezic i really have lost faith in the governing body of the sport. this is absolute poppycock
How do we know he hanged it up for good? Because he twittered it?
How many final concerts has Cher or Bowie done?
The point is it doesn't matter what you say in the press, there are procedures to follow when hanging it up for good. He didn't follow this apparently. So, if you want to keep your good name, then pee in a cup.
he contacted the governing body by email and announced his retirement to thousands not only via twitter but presumably letsrun/runnersworld/t&f news. the USDA never contacted him back about filling out paperwork, then randomly out of the blue some dude knocks on his door and asks him to calmly drop his pants and pee in this cup he's holding. what don't people understand about that being flawed. what a stupid f***ing thing, now this guy who gave so much of his own life to the sport and raced and was tested hundreds and hundreds of times overs a decade has a asterisk next to his name as a drug cheat. great way to ensure that former athletes continue to stay involved in the sport
As far as the need and asterisk because he wouldn't take a drug test on 4/20... In what way does the day have any indication that he would have actually been smoking pot- the testers showed up at his house at 6:45 AM Come on guys quit it with the innuendo.
I didnt know about "weed day" thanks for the info.
Stating the obvious wrote:
How do we know he hanged it up for good? Because he twittered it?
How many final concerts has Cher or Bowie done?
The point is it doesn't matter what you say in the press, there are procedures to follow when hanging it up for good. He didn't follow this apparently. So, if you want to keep your good name, then pee in a cup.
This post is a good one.
I agree with the above poster in that there have to be rules that people follow but I also feel for Chris and think this is basically a hilarious/tragic situation all at once. I mean he made his retirement 100% public so it's not like he was trying to hide anything. Plus the date of the test was 4/20.
I think that if he did contact USATF, then they also are at fault if they didn't let him know of the paperwork that he needs to fill out.
Also there is a reason why you hand over a huge percentage of your income to your agent. They should let you know what you need to do as well.
But I have no idea who let who know what.
but it's not hilarious at all. you work hard, submit to everything the sport wants you to and eventually decide you've had enough. and now you're a cheat, and will be seen as such for years to come. whenever referenced in an article, it will read "former banned/doper chris lukezic". that's not funny at all, and does not seem fair considering the circumstances, and the fact that according to him he did in fact let the governing body know he did not plan to return to the track. cher/sonny is not a good example. being a performer is not being an athlete, i'm not sure how you thought that would be a different way to put it.
A couple of things I don't understand... For those of you who aren't familiar with the protocol that goes along with being in the out of competition testing pool, each quarter, those athletes in the pool must complete a whereabouts form detailing their daily schedule, provided an hour a day when they are available for testing (although the testing can happen any time, the athlete can only receive a missed test violation for missing a test in that hour), and also any competitions in the upcoming quarter. This is due by the start of the quarter and is submitted online.
If you do not fill this out, you being receiving emails about a month out to the tune of "fill out your form!" Not having the form submitted in time is an infraction in and of itself. Therefor I believe one of two things must have happened, or should have happened:
1) Chris submitted his quarterly form, and he should not have been surprised to be tested. He would have submitted the form by April 1. In this case, I absolutely agree with the punishment.
2) Chris hasn't submitted a quarterly form since he retired in October (?) of '09, meaning he had failed to complete at least 2 quarterly updates. In this case, he should ALREADY have been "punished" for failing to complete the form. If I were him and no one had complained that I hadn't submitted a quarterly form, I might assume I was out of the testing pool. People get put in and taken out of the pool each quarter.
Additionally, I believe that technically the rule is if you miss two tests in 18(?) months it is a 2 year suspension. Apparently opening the door and refusing the test is more egregious violation, resulting immediately in a suspension. That's pretty dumb. If Chris was trying to hide something for whatever reason, he simply could have not opened the door and been in less trouble. It's clear to me that by opening the door he was making a stand against this invasion of privacy.
Amen.
who gives a f*** if the kid wants to toke on 4/20. the real issue is that wada is wasting money processing formal retirement documentation, sending agents to harass runners who retired and havent made A standards in years, and actually test for non-performance-enhancing recreational drugs
how WADA, how about you catch the next rashid ramzi, dwain chambers, marion jones, etc before they steal the glory from honest athletes?
if this situation says anything, it's that wada's budget is WAYYY to big for the results
paywhatyougetfor wrote:
how WADA, how about you catch the next rashid ramzi, dwain chambers, marion jones, etc before they steal the glory from honest athletes?
But this is the point: they don't want people like Rashid Ramzi to disappear into the mountains of Morocco for a year, away from in-competition testing, then emerge out of nowhere and win worlds in their first race of the year. These things happen all the time. Remember Svetlana Masterkova in 1996, who had disappeared for several years before emerging to win double gold? That's why they have random out-of-competition testing. So now you're suggesting that WADA has a responsibility to keep track of all the blog postings and minor news reports on every athlete in its 200 member countries?! Now THAT would be a waste of time/money. It's the responsibility of the athlete to let them know if they no longer wish to be eligible for international competition.
Chris doesn't have anything to do about what day they decide to show up and test him. So the 4/20 assumptions should be thrown out the door.
From his blog he stated that he notified USATF via the press and also through writing that he was officially retiring from the sport forever. And yes, he did say forever. I'm not sure what more they need to retire him if they ask for a written document and they get one.
If it took me almost a year to process the information that people hammer in to me, I'd be dead.