Almaz Ayana speaks!

Scorpion_runner wrote:

Thank you for providing such great information...True knowledge of track and field.

Huh? You do know that all of that information is on Ayana's IAAF page, right? If you go to the "Results" tab, you can see all of her race results by year.

I take it from your response that you didn't do your homework on Ayana before dismissing her.

For all we know, everyone in the Rio final could have been on something. For the Western athletes, the need to micro dose rather than full doping in a non-tested environment comes into play.

In any case, hard-paced 10000s for women are one of the rarest things in athletics. In effect, Rio had a pacer, which was the EPO that Ayana clearly used freely to demolish the field so well. A similar thing is seen in recent women's half-marathon performances, but these feature male pacers as well.

TrackCoach wrote:

I am one of those who usually defends athletes from doping accusations simply because they produced a great performance. I am not saying Ayana is dirty, but you would have to be extremely naive to not be suspicious. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Ayana literally looked like she could have run sub-29 10,000 if she was pushed. It was an otherworldly performance that in this day and age we can't simply applaud. Also, I find it interesting that like Gezbebe from a couple of years ago, the Ethiopian celebration of Ayana's accomplishments was very muted. I suspect there are suspicions about her in Ethiopia.

You are way off base with the contention that the Ethiopian populace doesnt celebrate the achievements of both Dibaba and Ayana.

Obviously you do not speak Amharic or monitor Ethiotube, nor do you read Ethiopian sports journalists articles. - Very difficult if you do not speak or read the language.

When Ayana broke the WR in Rio and destroyed the field the following year in London, Meskel Square and Addis Ababa were united in their support and celebration.

When laura Muir spoke out against Dibaba after the Birmingham indoor worlds earlier this year, there was an outpouring of support for Genzebe from the Ethiopian sports writers and the populace.

Like others you seem to make little allowance for the culture differences of Ethiopians in comparison to "western" citizens. Ethiopians by nature are modest and unassuming people - albeit very laid back also The country is largely opaque to other nations as it has never experienced colonization as all the others in Africa have . Additionally you must also consider the large majority of the population within Ethiopia live rurally and are largely disenfranchised from the main centres. - The business of simply surviving takes most of their time and they have very little time to dedicate towards following international track events.

I can also guarantee that a higher percentage of the general population within Ethiopia have superior knowledge of their top runners than say the general populace of the UK & USA have of theirs.

Shooting from the hip wrote:

Scorpion_runner wrote:

Thank you for providing such great information...True knowledge of track and field.

Huh? You do know that all of that information is on Ayana's IAAF page, right? If you go to the "Results" tab, you can see all of her race results by year.

I take it from your response that you didn't do your homework on Ayana before dismissing her.

LOL! - Yes this! - Funny thing is Scorpion Runner used to celebrate Ayanas performances, but seemed to get his nose out of joint that she has sustained injuries on two subsequent years and not publicized every last detail of them.

Im also a little surprised that the Journalists on the Lets Run payroll have been unable to establish information on her injury situation and whereabouts this season, when I myself have uncovered all this information information with a few clicks of a mouse and a brief Email discussion with her agent.

Sand Dunes wrote:

Anthos wrote:

Americans don't dope. They only eat bad meat!!!

How many have pulled that excuse so far?

Give me a break.

At least we don't use the doorbell excuse.

Interestingly right after this incident Mo became virtually invincible.

I must credit Mr Barrel of Laughs (or Mr High Octane Doping or Mr Doped to the Max) for pointing out the theme song of Mo's life

Thought you'd like it

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Jonathan Gault wrote:

Also Ayana has switched sponsors, from adidas to Nike:

https://twitter.com/Ayana_Almaz/status/1045334956061396992

That's the tricky B test sorted.

Does that mean Salazar will be coaching her soon?

Obviously, you don't know me.

I certainly don't read and/or speak Amharic; however, I do know a few words and phrases. I follow track and field all over the world and read everything I am capable of reading. I am around Ethiopians quite a bit, all of them are big track and field fans and in fact, I have traveled to meets with some of them. Everything you said is correct, except I stand by my statement that Genzebe and Ayana accomplishments have not been celebrated and they are not looked upon as national heroes like many other great Ethiopian athletes. I will also tell you that Ethiopians and Kenyans are suspicious of Genzebe. In fact, the Ethiopian federation has been at odds with her and her previous coach for years and I think he is barred from coaching in Ethiopia. I also heard a rumor that Ayana had stopped competing for some strange reason and went into hiding before her knee injury. The thought was she pregnant, but that was not the case. Ethiopians are confused about Ayana. With all of that said; I won't go so far as to say Genzebe and/or Ayana are dirty, but they deserve suspicion and my reasons go way beyond what I have time to type out.

Subway Surfers wrote:

Does that mean Salazar will be coaching her soon?

Yes please! Bench press and sit ups and box jumps, and she will run 28:17.

Hfcvv wrote:

Ayana wasn’t the only one running a very fast 10k in Rio that day. 18 PB were there and many NR. If Ayana was the only one to run fast that race, you might had an argument, but Cheruiyot ran 1 sec away from the Chinese, was she doped too? Dibaba running a PB- doped too? Huddle running an AR- doped too?

Who knows? Given the sorry state of our sport, and the huge prevalence of drug cheats, none of that would surprise me.

I know drugs are a problem in our sport which is the maim reason I never attempted to go pro; however, to single out and comdemn someone you never met isn't justified.

This is wonderful etherical knowledge, striking down the dopers and their supporters.

EPO flows through Ayana’s blood vessels like water out of a firehouse.

I greatly appreciate your input - you have direct reference to some of her "peers" so offer an informed opinion - something these messageboards most often lack!!

I am aware obviously that Jama Aden is banned from entering Ethiopia and that his association has caused shame and embarrassment to the Ethiopian federation, -and with good reason!

As for Almaz Ayana - I too know someone very close to her, you are correct in your assessment that Ayana confuses followers - but I doubt this confusion has sinister connotations or substance to it. Without betraying any personal confidences, my information on Ayana and her injury is that she sustained the injury shortly after the Delhi Half Marathon in December. She did not want any publicity whatsoever where the injury was concerned as she attempted to firstly work through the problem then heal. This ultimately proved unsuccessful and she was required to undertake a re-evaluation and subsequent operation. Her agent told me directly that she was extremely upset at her compromised situation and wanted to keep it quiet from the athletics world as she worked through the process.

Almaz Ayana is an extremely shy and modest character, - the bright lights and spotlight of fame sit uneasily on her shoulders. Another thing I know as fact is her extreme dedication to her religious beliefs. She spends much of her spare time visiting churches in pursuit of worship. - Obviously her detractors will say this is a front for her doping, but personally I find it difficult to reconcile her religious dedication with blatant PED abuse

My totally amateur personality assessment of Ayana is a shy retiring lone wolf who lives for her training and her running, everything she does is in pursuit of this. She isnt a mixer and does not lend herself to marketability. In a nutshell I can understand why she is an enigma to many. Her husband Soresa Fida is really the only one who knows what goes on on a day by day basis.

But again who knows? Obviously I entertain the possibility she is doped also - I would be a fool not to in this day and age. But I am well researched where Ayana is concerned and by all accounts she is a lovely and caring young woman,

I tend to agree where genzebe is concerned - the case she requires to answer to is much more substantive than the one Ayana does.

One thing I find telling is the giant placard at the athletics stadium in Addis. - The one that says "It Is Possible To Be The Best Without Doping" It features the athletes Ayana, Tirunesh Dibaba, and Kenenisa Bekele. - Genzebe is noticeably absent from the picture!

zcxvzxcv wrote:

If you look at that athletics integrity list of recent suspensions, you see that Russia's doping program involved everyone, that Ukraine and Belarus (whose athletics is headed by a guy caught doping at least three times, though CAS overturned two of them somehow) have terrible doping problems, and that Kenya has the worst known doping program outside of the former Soviet Bloc. Ethiopia remains under the radar because little or no testing goes on in country.

Rubbish. The thing about Kenya is that there is no "program" of any kind and that's just fact. Another armchair expert who will never set foot in Kenya but won't stop him from spewing alternative facts about it. Bizarre how Kenya is the only country everyone on Letsrun pretends to be an expert on. They never do that with Ethiopia, France or Russia. But Kenya? Lets lecture actual Kenyans about their own country. Quintessence of 'whitesplaining'.

casual obsever wrote:

Subway Surfers wrote:

Does that mean Salazar will be coaching her soon?

Yes please! Bench press and sit ups and box jumps, and she will run 28:17.

Ha! You're on fire today but don't forget David McHenry's lunges and cryotherapy.

Subway Surfers wrote:

casual obsever wrote:

Yes please! Bench press and sit ups and box jumps, and she will run 28:17.

Ha! You're on fire today but don't forget David McHenry's lunges and cryotherapy.

It would be fascinating to see the outcome if she did go to NOP (she wouldnt of course) - Hell look at the insane performances of Kejelcha and Hassan since they've been under Salazars tutelage.

oh god,all the runners on your list are doped up out of their skulls ! but then so are all the americans,most of the brits,and a huge chunk of the kenyans,ethiopians,french,and jamaicans.

Hill Run wrote:

Like others you seem to make little allowance for the culture differences of Ethiopians in comparison to "western" citizens. Ethiopians by nature are modest and unassuming people - albeit very laid back also The country is largely opaque to other nations as it has never experienced colonization as all the others in Africa have . Additionally you must also consider the large majority of the population within Ethiopia live rurally and are largely disenfranchised from the main centres. - The business of simply surviving takes most of their time and they have very little time to dedicate towards following international track events.

I can also guarantee that a higher percentage of the general population within Ethiopia have superior knowledge of their top runners than say the general populace of the UK & USA have of theirs.

I’m the furthest you can ever be from a xenophobe, but I honestly wish Kenya would become more like Ethiopia. We’re too open with foreigners and to foreign influences.

VIPAM wrote:

I know drugs are a problem in our sport which is the maim reason I never attempted to go pro; however, to single out and comdemn someone you never met isn't justified.

This made me laugh. We were all going to go pro on letsrun but decided not to because we wouldn't be able to touch Bekele's 12:37 or 26:17.