Epic fail: Abeba aregawi tested positive for doping

agip wrote:

And then when a couple of american distance runners test positive, I'll probably stop even watching meets on TV.

Do you watch any other sports or go to any other sporting events?

If you want to be consistent, then the answer should be a resounding no, because the PED usage in almost all other those sports is likely at at least as high as T&F.

Stating the obvious wrote:

Reminded me during the whole Ben Johnson thing when a Toronto radio commentator observed how Canadian he was when he won the medal and how Jamaican he was when he had to give it back.

I was in Toronto with a room full of Canadian's when he won it and there isn't a truer statement...

Haha, here in Australia Alan Bond was a hero for winning the Americas Cup, he was "Our Bondy" when he got jailed for shonky business practices he became "English born Alan Bond".

Tyrone ReXXXing wrote:

agip wrote:

And then when a couple of american distance runners test positive, I'll probably stop even watching meets on TV.

Do you watch any other sports or go to any other sporting events?

If you want to be consistent, then the answer should be a resounding no, because the PED usage in almost all other those sports is likely at at least as high as T&F.

What about the most popular sport in the world, football? (real football that is).

Joplas wrote:

Its impossible to take this sport seriously anymore. Thats why I visit letsrun and not other serious forums

Really? - so now that they actually start catching more people and there is at least the semblance of a drug testing program you can't take the sport seriously.

I guess it would be much better to go back to the 80's and 90's (and even to some extent the early 00's) where there was little or no enforcement and hardly anyone got caught so we could pretend it was a mostly clean sport.

epic fail wrote:

Abeba aregawi tested positive for doping. Good recruitment by sweden

Another sacrificial lamb to protect the megastars?

Tyrone ReXXXing wrote:

agip wrote:

And then when a couple of american distance runners test positive, I'll probably stop even watching meets on TV.

Do you watch any other sports or go to any other sporting events?

If you want to be consistent, then the answer should be a resounding no, because the PED usage in almost all other those sports is likely at at least as high as T&F.

I only watch running/track and field.

In the past I've cared about formula one but that is beyond boring right now.

agip wrote:

You know who wrote:

Once again, I told you so.

Everyone at the top--EVERYONE--is using, or did use when they were at their best, be it distance or sprints.

it must be a little disturbing to have such firm views with zero proof.

what else do you know with no evidence?

No evidence?

(1) The Russians, banned from the Olympics

(2) The Kenyans, soon to be banned from the Olympics.

(3) Nike, caught redhanded by ARD bribing Kenyan athletic officials

(4) 40 Kenyans testing positive in the last 3 years, more than all Jamaicans have ever tested positive or more than all American sprinters have ever tested positive....and they're about to be banned for not testing!

(5) Jama Aden, a known doping coach with doping athletes

(6) Salazar and Rupp

(7) The former president of the IAAF arrested for taking bribes to cover up doping by distance runners.

(8) The present president of the IAAF and his underling under a cloud of suspicion

(9) For every North American sprinter testing positive in the last few years, 100 distance runners with suspicious blood profiles

(10) USADA head Travis Tygart aghast that WADA did not find IAAF noncompliant for taking bribes to cover up doping by distance runners.

I could go on....

I don't want to accuse 18 minute runners on here as being a part of this. But, quite frankly, competitive distance running is the biggest pile of trash I have ever seen. Distance running is now being compared with the tdf and the IAAF is being compared with FIFA, and not in a positive way.

What I see on here is a bunch of distance runners, including the people running this site, totally in denial for not facing up to how corrupt their sport really is. I still see people promoting Kenyans/Ethiopians as some kind of Gods, despite all the evidence. There ARE no distance genes. We now know how they got that way, and the truth isn't pretty.

ok let's see...the claim is EVERYONE at the top is on PEDs.

ok

so really - if EVERYONE is on drugs, then maybe a third of olympic, wc and world marathon majors medalists should have been caught, no? Maybe a quarter?

Hmm...let's see....nope, no, no, doesn't pan out. I don't see anything like that.

So if you want to believe that all 150 or so medalists from the OG and WC and marathon majors events are on drugs...well that's a stretch that has no evidence to back it up.

You can believe it, but there is no evidence.

Meldonium is the substance she tested positive for. Meldonium was allowed until 2016.

Aregawi has only tested positive for the "A" sample. Martial Saugy in Lausanne will soon receive first a brown envelope then a "B" sample for testing. Aregawi can sleep well on a pile of cash, just like Lagat and Paula.

The problem is, the more these positive tests come out, the more belief there will be that all the top performances are tainted. They will all be painted with the same PED brush to the point that perception will become reality for so many people. I also have huge doubts about our sport to the point that I'm sure in a few years (assuming this continues) I will no longer follow it or support it. You can holler "show me the proof!" all you want but once the general public has enough of these PED cheaters, all top performers will be viewed as such. It's not fair but that's what's going to happen and no evidence will be needed for everyone who will be viewed with suspicion. It's already happening with the athletes - just a matter of time before Joe and Jane Public have the same viewpoint.

burnout wrote:

Another sacrificial lamb to protect the megastars?

She IS a megastar!

BS wrote:

Joplas wrote:

Its impossible to take this sport seriously anymore. Thats why I visit letsrun and not other serious forums

Really? - so now that they actually start catching more people and there is at least the semblance of a drug testing program you can't take the sport seriously.

I guess it would be much better to go back to the 80's and 90's (and even to some extent the early 00's) where there was little or no enforcement and hardly anyone got caught so we could pretend it was a mostly clean sport.

I think you are missing the point. At least for me, the problem with all the drug test positives, in all sports, is that it forces you to wake up and realize that athletes are basically corrupt. Not all of them, but enough of them to skew the results to the point that you no longer have any idea who's clean and who isn't. Athletes try to cheat, and sometimes they get caught. When you think about something like the blood passport program, some will say, this is the way forward - much more likely to keep athletes in line than post-competition tests that are easily fooled; but to me, the blood passport program is an admission: look, we know many of you are going to cheat, if left to your own devices. So we really need to keep a very close watch on you.

And yes, I understand, it's not just athletes who cheat - humans in general will cheat whenever there is a benefit to be gained. It's the selfish instinct, and is present all throughout nature. But that, to some of us, is supposed to be what sets sports apart. The world of sports is like a little mini-world in which we suspend the usual cut-throat human ways for a while and engage another side of our spirits. We battle each other in games for the sheer joy and thrill of it. That's why we have expressions like "he/she is a good SPORT"; they showed good SPORTSmanship; a SPORTSman's agreement, etc. Because sports is supposed to be where we show our better sides.

So it's hard to take elite sports seriously any more when you know most of the top competitors are pumped full of a variety of hormones, steroids, blood-boosting agents, are huffing xenon gas, hiding motors in their bicycles, etc, all in a desperate effort to beat their opponents through whatever means are available. Call me naive, but that scene is the opposite of what made sports appealing to me in the first place.

I just rewatched 2013 women's 1500 world championship final...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD1AnHAhDr4

Aregawi looks like she's still aerobic. Down the back stretch everyone is already kicking and she has so much left. Across the line there's no strain. Jenny Simpson deserved to win that race. Pisses me off...

Aregawi looked a lot like Ramzi/Makloufi/Bekele/Jeptoo with the ease in which she won the race.

BS wrote:

Joplas wrote:

Its impossible to take this sport seriously anymore. Thats why I visit letsrun and not other serious forums

Really? - so now that they actually start catching more people and there is at least the semblance of a drug testing program you can't take the sport seriously.

I guess it would be much better to go back to the 80's and 90's (and even to some extent the early 00's) where there was little or no enforcement and hardly anyone got caught so we could pretend it was a mostly clean sport.

The problem is that Aregawi seems a minor scapegoat who was outed for suspicious reasons. There are other bigger fish who are obviously doping.

Also the doping penalties are a joke. The fact that dopers get to keep records, results and prize money is a joke.

I would ban dopers for a minimum of 5 years and perhaps for life. I would rescind all their lifetime results. And I would make each runner sign a waiver saying that should they be busted, they would forego all their prize money.

And to combat systemic doping, I would ban Russia from Rio and all competitions for 2 years.

Swedish anti-doping agency was informed by IAAF about two weeks ago. Meldonium has been banned from the beginning of 2016 (it was included in the monitoring program in 2015).

no kidding. I wrote on this or a different thread the same thing you are writing. that I can't really follow the sport anymore other than a dozen or so handpicked athletes I have faith in. It just rubs me wrong when the EVERYONE claim is made. I jusst don't believe that is possible. Mary Cain? Molly Huddle? enfield? Ritz? Jenny S? I think the EVERYONE claim is as silly as saying there are just a few bad apples.

doesn't matter - doesn't work on Africans.

I think the hardest part for me is that I feel robbed of the emotional payoff of truly transcendent performances. I watch someone break a world record and I'm instantly skeptical rather than elated.

Is it possible to watch a breakout performance and just enjoy it? It's not for me anymore.