Marion Jones fails drug test

mobile9 wrote:

It's illegal to publicize a positive A test before a confirming B test.

I doubt its illegal, just against USATF policy. In other countries they prevent athletes from competiting when the "A" sample is positive. The athlete must wait until the results of the "B" sample are known before he might compete again. The US should follow the lead of the rest of the world on this. And the US is looking like doping central with Landis, Gatlin and Jones all testing positive.

Who will be next in T&F. You need look no further than the few sprinters being coached by Trevor Graham who haven't (yet) tested positive. Any athlete now staying with coach Graham has to be doping and also knows he/she can't run competitively without the dope they are getting thru Graham's network.

tellmemore wrote:

What does EPO do for sprinters?

You know, I'm not sure it really even matters if it does anything or not. The way these world class sprinters think, if something is a banned performance-enhancing drug, they'll inject some of it in their butts.

Graham is done. They need to find a new coach.

Jaycee Are wrote:

Anyway I'm happy that Craig Masback has the onions to bust Gatlin and Jones. Bud Selig, not so much testicular fortitude.

Masback didn't bust anyone. If Craig had his way neither of those tests would have been made public.

WADA is the one to be creditied here.

pfunk wrote:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/18/AR2006081800926.html

Is EPO an STD? Considering the positive tests of the males she's kept company, maybe that would be a decent defense.

For the record, this is sarcasm. I know EPO can't be sexually transmitted. I am laughing at how crazy the toothpaste/massage therapist/beer & sex defenses are getting.

Tower of Power wrote:

Jaycee Are wrote:

Anyway I'm happy that Craig Masback has the onions to bust Gatlin and Jones. Bud Selig, not so much testicular fortitude.

Masback didn't bust anyone. If Craig had his way neither of those tests would have been made public.

WADA is the one to be creditied here.

Nothing to do with WADA, the testing was done by USADA, it was Craig's decision to get USATF totally out of the testing loop by hanging over all testing to USADA. None of the major Pro sports in the USA do that because they want to retain control over the test results. That Jones and Gatlin could be busted in this way is a direct consequence of Craig's decision, credit where credit is due.

Not suprised wrote:

mobile9 wrote:

It's illegal to publicize a positive A test before a confirming B test.

I doubt its illegal, just against USATF policy. In other countries they prevent athletes from competiting when the "A" sample is positive. The athlete must wait until the results of the "B" sample are known before he might compete again. The US should follow the lead of the rest of the world on this.

The US has a very different court system than those "other countries" and due process is a major cornerstone of US legal system. I don't know the law well enough to say whether it's actually illegal to publicize an A test before the confirming B test but I'm pretty sure that to do so is to give the athlete firm ground for a law suit should any sanction be taken against them.

What ever. Marion Jones is a drug cheat!

Not suprised wrote:

mobile9 wrote:

It's illegal to publicize a positive A test before a confirming B test.

I doubt its illegal, just against USATF policy. In other countries they prevent athletes from competiting when the "A" sample is positive. The athlete must wait until the results of the "B" sample are known before he might compete again. The US should follow the lead of the rest of the world on this. And the US is looking like doping central with Landis, Gatlin and Jones all testing positive.

It probably is illegal under USA law, restraint of trade etc., what you are asking for is 'provisional suspensions' as permitted under WADA code (but not required). In order to do that you'd have to set up a hearing before such a suspension can be imposed (WADA rules).

Skuj I hear ya. The days for me are gone where I set the VCR or stay up late at night or get up early in the morning to catch a world class track meet. I know feel similar to all the runners I knew that would run a road race and I would ask them who won and they couldn't tell me or couldn't care.

This sport is never going to gain an inch in public regard. For one, its boring to watch compared to the major sports. But it used to always have that appeal to those who were interested in seeing pure and basic human athletic achievement. Without that aspect, its just a bunch of doped athletes running fast.

The first track WR I ever watched on television was Seb Coe breaking John Walkers record at Oslo in 1979. I wasn't yet a runner but to me that was an important human historical moment. Same thing when Moorcroft ran 13:00. Unbelievable stuff and yet today a wr gets set and I don't care or even blink an eye because of the probability of drugs.

This could have been handled a lot better years ago by going after doctors and pharmacists that have access to the stuff and hitting them with fines, just like any other illicit drug dealer, but I know its more complicated than that.

There are a number of reasons why trakc less popular today than in years passed.

But drugs are a small factor in this. Most top track athletes are clean; certainly with respect to those in other pro sports. Should other pro sports adopt WADA standards, the Marion/Gatlin headaches will seem minor compared to the shocks other sports will have to endure.

Really, it's too bad what Graham and his ilk have done to track -- but the silver lining is that these past few weeks show that no one in athletics is above the law.

What would finish me with T&F for good would be if Bekele came up positive.

Except for me.

Yeah.

Kay I'm drunk now. Get this - Landis, Gatlin, Jones - all in the same effing month - is this the D-Day for our sport? If not I sure as fook hope D-Day is appraoching real fast 'cause how the fook can it get worse than this. Whadyathink most kids/teens are sayiong about this crazy facked up sport of ours this month?

Masback SHOULD resign imho. Sometimes you are just in the wrong place at the wrong time - wrong guy for the times.

I should be applauding 9.77 today and the brilliant running of KennyB as usual, but instead i just feel like peuking. I want to go to music forums instead of letsrun such is my state of mind. I want to facking read bannister's book again, real soon, to remind me of the days when it was pure, simple and fun. I'll retire to bedlham...........

Marion never tested positive before so as a fan of T&F I supported her in spite of tremendous evidence she was a cheater. I'm happy when a cheater is caught but I see no need to celebrate. Sure, if you've been saying all along she was a cheat go ahead and celebrate, you earned it. You're vindicated. But Marion will survive and she will probable go on to make quite a few dollars writing a book and doing interviews. Then she will be forgotten, replaced be the next big scandal. The real losers today are the fans of the sport and the clean athlete who have sacrifice so much and resisted the temptations. A sport fighting for respectability took a devastating body blow today.

mobile9 wrote:

Graham is done. They need to find a new coach.

Coach? Coach????? That's a joke. A coach has to ensure the athletes are getting the maximum amount of regular stress they can tolerate without breaking down and must learn how to tailor the routine on the fly to meet the fluctuating responses of the athletes. When you add drugs to the equation, any incipient breakdown is solved with a cream, a pill or an injection instead of an adjustment in the routine. Fluctuations in response are all but eliminated. Do you have any idea how many drugs these clowns are on? Did you know as far back as 1984, a medal winning Olympic runner was taking up to 27 different drugs simultaneously?

It's a farce. The human element is all but gone from the sport. If you can't do 10 400s all out four times a week without getting stale, there are dozens of drugs for that problem. You can get right back out there the next day and do 25 full sprint 100s. If you have a strained calf from that, in goes another needle. "But that drug might make my tendons brittle," you say? No problem. There are drugs to counteract the side effects of those drugs. And so on. Sure, you'll die at 38 (uh, or some "random" young age, hee-hee), but you'll win, win, win for several glorious years!

With enough drugs, muscular characteristics become so altered that you might as well be putting ostriches out there. Since "people" are now made nearly indestructible through use of drugs, gee, why not just line up some automobiles and race them? So if a guy can get an ostrich to sprint in a straight line or design and do maintenance work on a race car, but couldn't balance the workload of a normal human without resorting to drugs to cover his mistakes for him, can you honestly call him "coach"? Hell no. These troglodytes dole out drugs to mask their lack of coaching ability.

stig o'tracy wrote:

[quote]mobile9 wrote:

Sure, you'll die at 38 (uh, or some "random" young age, hee-hee), but you'll win, win, win for several glorious years!

I assume you meant Flo Jo. Kim Gallagher (2-time Olympic medalist, women's 800) also died at 38 or thereabouts. Does anyone even remember her? and was there speculation when she died?

Kim Gallagher? Stomach cancer.

Nike didn't resign her when her contract ran out last year.