Fagan comes clean on his positive EPO test

not likely wrote:

learnyourself:

you are assuming that he wasn't micro dosing to avoid getting caught. Which if had read around is probably what he was doing. His loading phase more than likely happened a long time ago. Microdosing is the way to go these days.

you can only microdose once you have elevated the crit to the desired level. micro-dosing doesnt give you enough dosage to elevate the crit. once you have an elevated crit, you can use less product to maintain around that level. but you cannot elevate without an initial loading phase.

I'm surprised how many people are defending the guy.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=121356888340&v=wall

A cheat is a cheat.

I think I will change the front page headline and call him a drug cheat.

Having said that I hope he gets his personal life in order. If you feel there is no other option but to cheat then you've got a lot of issues and if suicide was an option then he needs a lot of help.

The first step is probably confessing your sins. I'm personally suspicious of his story that he got busted the very first day he took EPO. It would be the craziest of circumstances. If its true then he's got all the other cheats who don't come clean to blame for my skepticism.

If anyone knows more of this and wants to remain anonymous feel free to email me weldonjohnson at letsrun.com

I think I will change the front page headline and call him a drug cheat.

Lets the real writers be the journalists. Just do your job and post the article without the snotty all-too-familiar letsrun taunt attached to it.

NOT HEARING IT wrote:

I would like to believe this well put together story given the irony of being tested on the very same day that he took EPO for the first time.

That he only used EPO once is a bunch of CRAP.

Well then he was probably lying about taking EPO and he probably didn't take it at all.

Of course, taking EPO is more important than training, eating right, living well, least according to the headlines on LETSRUN. If you want to be noticed for drugs, Letrun will put you on the front page in all caps.

What I think is that people should be giving credit where credit is due, and letting go of the vindictive nonsense.

Comes clean?

I think it's closer to the truth to say that he's a cheat who, when caught, tried to make himself appear to be some kind of victim.

That is right you can only microdose once you have elevated your crit to the desired level.

So you believe he had never taken epo before? I don't, I think he got caught being stupid and is trying to cover it up.

Very similar to the recent cycling story were a cyclist got caught and actually told the truth about it. He said he didn't drink a pint of water before bed so in the morning when the testers came he got caught.

Maybe going off his antidepressants made him more likely to make a stupid error with is doping.

Hey Wejo, I agree with you. He is indeed a cheat, and as sad as this story is, it seems calibrated to elicit the maximum amount of sympathy from the running community. There is no way he used it only once. Even in that interview, the way he casually talks about "missing" a previous drug test in 07 and then how for his most recent test he could have just not answered the door.As other people have said, it is bizarre that there is sympathy for Fagan, the actual confirmed cheat, while some people have been (almost) basely accusing and vilifying Abdi as a cheat himself and for "stealing" a spot from a "real American".

yeah I bet Martin only took it once. Depression? Sleeping Problems? Martin get a real job and then worry about crap like that.

A cheat is a cheat,

However that doesn't stop me feeling sorry for the person who has reached that decision. The article states Fagan was on medication for depression, a serious mental illness. The decisions taken by a person suffering from this illness are not the same as the decisions taken by a healthy individual.

Depression and mental health is a serious issue amongst professional sport, especially in individual sports where people can be left alone for long periods of time with little support. If an athlete keeps an illness secret from their coach or support team then there is not much that can be done, however all sports should provide support to individuals, and be aware that these individual may be at greater risks of taking decisions that they may not when they are well. By supporting these individuals it may be possible to prevent athletes going down this road.

Fagan has come out and admitted guilt, and the manor on which he cheated seams extremely amateur

I see this as different to Marion Jones who denied and denied she ever took drugs, Or Konstantinos Kenteris who faked a motor bike crash to attempt to avoid a crash.

fakeJournalist wrote:

Lets the real writers be the journalists. Just do your job and post the article without the snotty all-too-familiar letsrun taunt attached to it.

Drug cheat is a descriptive term in my book.

I think the article by O'Riordan is completly biased.

It is an absolute disgrace as he is clearly friends with Fagan (the doper). He had a totally different view on Lombard and this really shows what a shoddy journalist he is.

How can he have such a different view on thei doper. what a hypocrite.

Futhermore Vinny Mulvey is going all over the internet to protect the doper. He acted the exact opposite with Lombard. Another Hypocrite.

Aboslute disgrace!!

Crocodile tears after being caught

Most of could only wish to have his talent, then he still needs to cheat

The reason that I (and I assume many others) see Fagan as different to Lombard is that he never produced a performance that I didn't expect whereas Lombard took incredible (literally) chunks off his PB.

I'm incredibly disappointed that this has happened. As a runner and an Irishman I'm angry with Fagan for what he has done to the sport. As a human being I hope that he finds a way to move on with his life. Given where he has ended up I don't think that he should be looking to athletics for his future, for his own sake or for the sake of the sport.

sssss wrote:

He is indeed a cheat, and as sad as this story is, it seems calibrated to elicit the maximum amount of sympathy from the running community. There is no way he used it only once.

The irony. You believe his admission, but say he is lying about only taking it once. Doesn't this make you, and those like you, interpretive liars?

I have historically felt drug takers were making mistakes, but have not felt sorry for them. Now I feel sorry for having had that attitude, helped along by this thread.

I have wondered, why am I constantly saying drugs don't matter in regard to performances cause they don't, yet on the opposite side of the fence of the drug accusers. That ends up putting me out in the field by myself, not on the side of anyone.

However, the drug users indeed are the victims. They are the ones who suffer as result. They suffer with their health, sometimes death, with lessor performances, with the fear, social stigma, sometimes exclusion from the sport. There are no others who suffer, except those close to them.

Those who are focus on winning, rather than the human condition, I feel sorry for you, for you are sad people.

Drug users suffer from drugs, sure, but they also frequently displace clean athletes, taint the sport in the eyes of fans, and raise a cloud of doubt every time someone posts an outstanding time.

However, the penalty for drug use is very mild - there are no fines, no jail time, no suspended sentences. The very most required is a cessation of competing for a period of time.

If someone was found guilty of robbing a bank and given the penalty that they could not enter a bank for two years, one would hardly think it severe.

Mr. Fagan should have given up competitive running a while ago from the sounds of things. Competitive running was not helping him in life, in fact, it was dragging him down. So the penalty of a two year ban is quite mild, and much better for his general well being than the needle strewn path he was embarking on.

I can't feel sorry for someone who's clearly continuing to lie. How can I believe any of his story when he so obviously continues to lie (caught after his very first injection? Which he bought from a "site in Europe"? BS).

J.R., EPO is proven to work. You can look the facts up yourself - it does in fact improve performance.

Nonsense. If you're healthy and someone else uses drugs, does that make you sick? No, because drugs are not contagious. What is contagious is the stupid mentality about drugs, that they somehow make you a superhero, able to leap tall buildings with a single bound, to see through concrete block walls and to be invisible.

There should be no penalties for taking drugs. The drug ads and hypocrisy are what perpetuates their use. What I'd like to see is a ban on drug advertising, on tv, the internet and anywhere else.

You lost me.

I don't know anything about him, so am not going to judge where he is in his life, or what is best for him.

At the end of the day regardless of who the culprit is or their personal circumstances this is just a "sport". Allthough Martin is a World Class athlete, what has he ever won. Nothing I would say. So I can not see how he has cheated anybody out of anything of significance?

I now look on the sport of distance running as a bit of a joke and I genuinely feel sorry for these guys out bursting their balls. The return for the input is so fractional. I can not get my head around it.

Take a 2:15 marathon guy. Probably has to train twice a day to get to that level, watch what they eat, dont even think about having a social life, probably not be able to work and earn any money worth talking about. Where is the return?

I have more respect for recreational runners who enjoy their lives than athletes who go their whole career and the biggest race they win is a national championship and live a meager existance.

I sincerely hope for his own sake Martin Fagan never runs competitively again and starts enjoying his life. Its the wake up call alot of "athletes" need to give themselves, Its just a pity he resorted to what he did rather than assessing whats more important in life.

Life is short ! ! Enjoy it while its here ! ! Just my humble opinion ! !