MJ's 19.32 Legit or on Drugs

Anyone calling themselves "Bumstick" has problems. Ask anyone from the British Isles, never mind the other posters on this board, hahahaha.

MJ? Must have been doped. Most top sprinters have been since the mid 80's. Look at their muscle development. Like the guy said earlier, drug free bodybuilders can't get that development or maintain it. Until they use drugs and "claim" to be drug free. These guys are all juiced.

I remember that MJ story from way back when. I still have the tapes from '92. He didn't look like he'd been sick. But he did look like a guy who had come off the juice. His muscles were ordinary. Too bad we don't have any sprinters here to comment. All we get are naive goofs who believe whatever the telly spouts, like this twit.

Legit people.

390 meters wrote:

The track was short.

I'll believe the track was short before believing Johnson was on the juice.

I am also tired of hearing all this specualtion about pro athletes being on steroids. I'm saying they weren't but there has been no proof and like other threads have said he passed his drug tests and his record still stands. I was at a ballgame the other night and there was this guy going on and on about Giambi, Sheffield, Bonds, Sosa, and the list gose on and on and how these guys are all juiced up on the roids. Again I'm saying they were not or are not but I am just sick of all these people making acusations on how all these athletes are using illeagal drugs. And now your all sick of me bitching.

Bumstick wrote:

stay on topic wrote:...He's just trying to keep you from the fact that MJ was doped to his bulging eyeballs.

"Fact?" Uh, now there is easily the most abused word on this board.

Put some proof up here, sweetie--take your time.

I'll wait.

Hello?

Ohhhh, you meant an unsubstantiated fact--which is called an oxymoron, doltie dearest.

Uhhh, I think an oxymoron is the joining of two opposites - perhaps you meant non sequitur - your post would fit under this description.

please tell me you're not serious about conspiracies, particularly when mentioning the federal reserve....

because their own people have been involved in so many?

WTF, have you been watching too many x-files DVD's & oliver stone's JFK?

I am a legit sprinter, I am going to the trials, and it amazes me to see how many non-sprinters and non-400m participants like to jump on the Pro-MJ Bandwagon. Until you train at an Olympic Level for the 200/400, you might not want to put your 2.5 cents in this matter. I jumped in this conversation because I have raced him several times and have physically seen him do things during races that no clean athlete can do (and I've witnessed other athletes in other events doing those same things). It's just the fact that he ran fast that makes me believe he was juiced up; it's the manner at which he ran fast. I've been in races with him when he ran sub 21 seconds for his first 200m of the 4, slowed down in the second curve and then "picked it up" on the homestretch (10.7,10.2,12.3,11.8=44.0 and some change). And the only reason he picked it up was because Jerome Young was pressing him out of the second curve and he wanted to qualify first in his heat during the trials.

As for the '92 story, I heard the same thing from numerous sources (yes it does qualify as hear say, but the sources that mentioned it had no reason to lie). The USOC and USATF offered CJ Hunter the same deal before they busted him. The only reason they busted him was because he was stupid enough not to clean up his act.

But I do have some facts for you:

Alvin Harrison is being investigated for using illegal substances during the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney. He was running doped up 44 lows and still couldn't beat MJ.

Jerome Young was busted for using illegal substances in 1999. He was running doped up 44 lows and still couldn't beat MJ.

And these guys were pretty good before they started using. Now you're gonna sit there and try to tell me that MJ was clean? Please!! I'm not hating because he did something that I can't, I'm hating because he did something that I won't. And that cheat the sport of track and field.

You beat me to it. We'll have to talk away from this board. I'm not racing anymore. I wasn't a sprinter, I was in a middle distance event. The MJ story is true. Some of the things MJ did in meets had officials roll their eyes. There was a lot of pressure from US officials to keep MJ on the team. They had to agree to keep him of the stuff. It was embarrassing. None of the sprinters wanted to say anything because almost everyone out there was on gear. They caught MJ with a random surprise test. He actually was close to getting violent with the test people, saying he wasn't warned and other silly things.

Harrisons have been dirty for years. I was surprised to one of them running at Home Depot. They are a couple of Balco boys, so I wonder how they are let run in any meets at all. Probably in the same position as Marion. There are lots of naive people. The gentlemen who posted earlier is correct. Track and Field News and other media outlets knew about the MJ problem in 1992, and knew about other stories like this but sat on them because it involved sprinters. "//", you should enlighten some of these people about the real personalities of most of these sprinters. Most of them are what we could politely describe as jerks.

dmb wrote:

Uhhh, I think an oxymoron is the joining of two opposites - perhaps you meant non sequitur - your post would fit under this description.

Sophomoric. Utterly sophomoric. First year of college, or last year of HS? Please enlighten us.

I would say look at MJ's physique through the years. The changes in musculature and muscle tone rivals that of bodybuilders. Very strange for an athlete. A 'natural' athlete.

"Jerks"? That's the understatement of the year. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of sprinters out there that are also really cool. I don't understand why the ones that are "the fastest" tend to be the "Jerks"? Could it be the drugs? Could it be the money? Could it be the pressure to perform well? I don't know. I have a bunch of MJ "Jerk" stories to share if you're interested. We can chat off-line. I'm leaving for the Trials this week so either catch me there or wait 'til I return.

Good luck.

Yes, there are some cool sprinters. I think it's the ass kissing by the Networks and shoe companies that turn them into asses. The gossip should be interesting ; ). I'm sure MJ will be there to give his hypocritical views (some of them) for the TV audience. He was a real bastard in 92 after he was caught. Grumpy as hell forever after.

dmb wrote:

please tell me you're not serious about conspiracies, particularly when mentioning the federal reserve....

because their own people have been involved in so many?

WTF, have you been watching too many x-files DVD's & oliver stone's JFK?

I don't know about the X-Files, but the FED is the result of a conspiracy by bankers. Go read up on it. It's not even a branch of the US government. It's a private company! The whole thing is set up to keep the interest piling higher, and going into the pockets of the folks in charge.

Aliens? I'll wait until they fire a couple of laser blasts at DC before believing those stories.

Oooh, bitter, sorry I hurt your feelings.

Say what you want about MJ, I actually don't really care. The point is (as I see it) that there are a lot of people who don't like MJ and his times are so staggering that they believe he must be dirty - but as other posters have pointed out this is a dangerous trap to fall into.

I think a careful analysis of the facts would show that MJ was far better 'primed' to run the times he did many other people who have made quantum leaps in performance. He was so consistent for so long that I really think it is unlikely that he was dirty. On the other hand, if he was dirty, he was exceptionally luck to only have failed one drug test that so many people seem to know about.

On an unrelated note, I heard a rumor in the late eighties that Carl Lewis failed a drug test right after or before Seoul. A lot of other people I knew heard the same rumor. Was this because we all talked to the same people? I never took the fact that we all heard the same rumor as some indicator of its veracity.

So unless you have some evidence from reliable sources - say a sworn affadavit or reputable journalistic accounts, then I really think all you MJ haters should just go stew in your bitter juices until you can come back with proof. Not some nonsense about his physique or conspiracy theorizing, but actual facts. Well, that's just my 2.5 cents...

BTW, MJ sucks as a commentator.

I don't really think of it as a conspiracy, but if that's how you see it, ok. I don't see why it's a problem that it is not a 'branch of government.' There is oversight...

All I know is there are a lot less people stuffing money into mattresses since the fed came around.

I found this on espn.com:

\" Two weeks before the Olympics opened in Barcelona, after a warmup meet in the Spanish city of Salamanca, Johnson and his agent were on their way to dinner at a Burger King. At the last second, they changed their mind when they saw El Candil, the Spanish restaurant they had enjoyed the previous night.

So they returned, and dined on a mixture of grilled and smoked meats again. Only this time, both men came down with food poisoning. Even after the sickness passed, Johnson found the weight loss had sapped his strength. Considered a sure thing at the Olympics, he was eliminated in the semifinals as 11 runners beat his pedestrian 20.78.\"

Here is a pic of him from his 1992 200m semifinal:

http://www.esmas.com/fotogalerias/images/galeria/deportes/johnson/Johnson_02.jpg

Here is a pic of him 3 yrs later at the 1995 World Champs:

http://www.esmas.com/fotogalerias/images/galeria/deportes/johnson/Johnson_07.jpg

That is an incredible change in physique... can you change so drastically by lifting weights and doing pushups?

The story should read: \"after not being allowed to take steroids for a short period of time prior to the 1992 Olympics, Johnson found the weight loss and loss of muscle mass sapped his strength.\"

Let me guess you are someone that believes that Slaney and Salazar were clean as well? Many of us know better, but fans are fans.

No way I thought Slaney was clean. I never heard anything about Salazar.

I'm not really a fan of MJ. I just think that it is too easy to call everyone dirty. I do think there should be some standard of proof...

Oh, and hell yes, I believe the other MJ is dirty. If Michael Johnson had taken up with a crowd like BALCO, then sure, I'd think he was dirty.

I apologize. I grouped you with all the other fans that believe that the sport has only recently turned dirty. For the record Alberto used more than a crack whore.

Quite honestly, either results (MJ clean, MJ not clean) would not suprise me. I've maintained he was clean because even his 19.32 did not seem "impossible" because of who he was. Sure, it was a fluke, an unrepeatable 8.90m jump but for MJ it happened because he was a 10.0 runner who trained for the 400m.

The conspiracy story is compelling, but I've talked with sprint coaches at the highest level, whom I know very well and trust, and they remain unconvinced that MJ was nothing more than the right athlete who did the right training.

And by the way, you can be a world class sprinter and be clean. I know atleast two sprinters, both of whom has been ranked #1 in the world during their careers, that I KNOW are 100% clean runners. Certainly drugs may assist, but the idea that they are necessary is false.

In my opinion the track in Atlanta was illegally hard, hence it being ripped up to put the baseball stadium in beofre IAAF could measure the track to confirm its quthenticity for world records. For that reason alone, the record should not stand. I am also cure to run that fast he was juiced to the gills.

One other point or question, rather.

Could it be that Salazar bolld doped during his era, and though frowned upon at the time, it was not actually illegal? Interested in your opinion.