Does anybody here genuinely believe El G was clean?

For the sake of argument, I would submit Morceli as the most blatant doper of our time. At an adidas event at the corporate headquarters a few years previous, no one…I mean no one…would talk to him.

Why don’t you do it then. I was not at the track. There are press articles linked in here that discuss his training partners. There’s a book I’ve seen from a journalist who embedded around Moroccan athletes as well. Didn’t say Kada trained Kaouch. If you have all this info stop hiding behind unsubstantiated assertions.

15% chance

The following article is behind a paywall but it states Kada was a training partner of El G.

Kaouch acted as El G's pacemaker twice in finals. He was a Moroccan team mate of El G, who twice sacrificed himself in major finals for El G, and was later busted for doping. Leaving aside whether or not he was a training partner of El G under Kada, do you honestly not consider that in itself is in any way further circumstantial evidence that points to a man who ran 3:26 5 times and was training to break 3:24, being assisted by a widely used endurance drug that there was no testing for at the time?

The Moroccan system at that time was basically the GDR of the 1990s, bankrolled by the King of Morrocco. The difference was that while the GDR was doping to win medals in dozens of sports in order to finish at the top of medal tables, the Moroccan system was focused on one man - El G, and making him the fastest miler in history. His team mates like Kaouch were just accessories to that. It's laughable that El G is widely regarded as the greatest ever miler here, when even his team mates were being doped to act as his pacemakers in major finals. And if EPO testing had been brought in just 12 months earlier, he would not have a single Olympic gold medal.

Again I think he was likely doping. This is based more on how the country was operating at the time with regards to widespread doping as well as his insane performance levels. Maybe that article is definitive maybe it is not. There are articles saying Kaouch trained under Boulami. I think the pacemaking in finals things is more just illustrative about the Moroccan national team’s pull over athletes than doping.

How many more threads on El Guerrouj are you going to start, where you will repeat the same things over and over again?

What's next? A new thread on Kenyan success being a result of doping since the days of "Kenio"?

Seriously dude, be better. I know you can be better. It's a mystery to me why you get stuck with the same old topics.

Peace.

I obviously don't know for sure whether he doped or not but I have always leaned towards not. He always looked so easy at a hot pace. Most of the dopers look like they are working so hard at a hot pace but are able to just keep going; Cacho comes to mind, Ramzi, Makhloufi. Although Kiprop always looked easy to me too, so it's certainly not an exact science. Karsten Warholm falls into that category for me as well. The guy looks like he is at an all-out sprint for 400m. Max power every step. And I think that if Jakob can run nearly that fast then you have to say Jakob is on something too. Hicham looks more talented to me than Jakob. Lagat always looked so great too and Hicham looked even a little easier than Lagat. Just my two cents. I respect the other view as well. Tough to say for sure.

100% Clean. It's terrible how horrible people go out of their way to try and
besmirch someone's character. So much jealousy out there!

Progression isn't the only source of suspicion as others have pointed out. So do you genuinely believe he was clean because he didn't have a crazy progression?

Barry Bonds never tested positive. I guess fans should have let that go too and just put more effort into playing baseball.

The fact that it's 25 year anniversary is this July is probably a better indication of the absurd greatness of that record than your thoughts of "it doesn't feel crazy"

Meh, it’s more fun to argue with random know-it-alls on the internet. Have you ever even been to Rabat or Ifrane?

The book you’re referencing is called, The Kada Way. One of El G’s occasional training mates highlighted in the book (Ezzine) later had his brother busted for EPO (also a Kada athlete).

There’s no hiding here, mate. That camp was as dirty as can be.

It doesn't matter what you believe, only what you can prove

What? Both 3:26 and 3:43.13 are ridiculous second only to Komen’s 3K. No one except Ngeny who ran a 3:43 with El G in ‘99 and fellow Moroccan Morceli who ran 3:44 six years prior in ‘93 has *ever* come even within 3 whole seconds of the mile WR.

3:26 flat is slightly faster than 3:43.13 converted.

Be quiet, Spazz. You are as dirty as can be.

You might just be right!

It's all in the braces. El G had braces towards the end of his career along with Lagat. HGH changes the jaw structure. It's a dead giveaway. Look at the sprinters with pimply faces and braces in their late 20s.

Most of the same coaches (Etanani, Amekdouf, Benyounes?, Nouami, Boukra, Goumri?) as his brother since a junior, all under Kada’s tutelage at the National Institute in Rabat. It’s a national system in Morocco, much like the GDR in the 70’s/80’s. They identify young talent, then bring them up through the system. There is also a laboratory associated with the institute where athletes were tested prior to travel to Europe. This was in the 90’s/00’s. I don’t know if it still exists today, however. I know there was a push to break up the institute after all the positives that were happening. I have not been to Rabat since 2007.