It seems some top US sprinters have this problem. Gabby T, Freddie K, Coleman, others. Guess what? It's because they're all saucing. I guess they calculate it's a better play to miss your third test and hope they buy your excuse to get off unscathed than to probably test positive.
kerley would have been on the watch list for some time, with probably a number of 'issues".
we 'll see how it plays out, but it's speculated that the whereabouts violations were so vulgar/bogus, they had to act.
If you’re going to pop a sprinter, Fred’s a good one bc he’s already been banned from a number of meets for his other issues. So you look like you’re doing something about clean sport when in fact you’re doing very little.
If you’re going to pop a sprinter, Fred’s a good one bc he’s already been banned from a number of meets for his other issues. So you look like you’re doing something about clean sport when in fact you’re doing very little.
If he said he was going to be at his hotel for X hours and then got unexpectedly arrested during that time period, the tester would just assume he was dodging the test when he couldn't find him.
If they let it slide in this case, I wonder if we'll have future athletes use misdemeanor arrests to squeeze out a few extra days before their next test. If the alternative was being banned for months/years from their only income for dodging a likely positive test, I could see it be worthwhile tradeoff to go create a public disturbance and spend a few nights in jail.
I can think of other excuses why an athlete might unavailable for a test. Zane Robertson could have said he was in the hospital. Remember that one? Supposedly for a Covid vaccine but mistakenlie (not typo) given EPO. A lot of iron(y). :)
He needs to call gabby Thomas asap and go with her playbook to deal with this. After some time he can be America's darling doing today show interviews and being on the cover of magazines. He will be fine!
The LRC line of saying oh he's having a bad year doesn't do this justice imo. Woman abuser + now doper. Name it. Feels poetic to see this one. I hate whereabouts. No good reason to miss 3 tests & his lawyers are already crafting the narrative to find something procedurally off with any of the missed tests. We know why athletes miss tests. I think whereabouts & TUEs, for that matter, should be made public. I almost think 3 missed tests should result in a harsher punishment than getting caught with a banned substance. Testers know they can be beat so they're not catching dirty athletes when they do test. Avoidance is admittance imo.
Kerley is one of the very few athletes who I think would actually have a whereabouts violation moreso because he thinks he's bigger than the system than due to intentionally hiding any PEDs. Doesn't mean he's not using them, but I would actually believe that he just didn't care enough to document his location and show up.
I totally agree with this.
With a lot of athletes I don't think this would be the case (Katir is the first name that jumps into my head) - but with Kerleys life/career/persona has taken on this bizarre turn in the last 24 months it seems.
When you start thinking you are even above the law - like when the police had to taze him because he simply couldn't just listen to their requests and believed he was the only civilian entitled to just cruise into a crime scene and drive his car out, it kind of feels like the same irreverence and arrogance you have towards being available for drug testing.
And as you said, it doesn't mean he's not using them. I have a hard time believing that a guy who was a 400m runner (albeit a very good one) in college, decides to pivot to the 100m and runs 9.76 and becomes the world champion - especially in this event, but given this guys mental stability and an apparent total lack of a support structure around him, it wouldn't also be shocking if this was just him not caring or bothering with this obligation.