Martin Fagan positive for EPO.

Lostrules wrote:

I never understood why people act like such a-holes when someone tests positive. You act like he murdered children. He made a mistake and having known Fagan for a long time this does not change my opinion of him as a person. He is and remains a great guy.

But please post up how he's a terrible person you pack of f**king tools.

He made the worst crime one can do in this context. In the bigger picture, looking outside of running he still got plenty of oppourtunites. He can still do great things OUTSIDE of this sport.

But in terms of running he's done. Don't come back and do a Eddy H, don't pollute our sport.

Sprintgeezer wrote:

If he did it either intentionally or through willful blindness, Fagan is not a "good guy"--he is an a-hole POS, regardless of whether or not he is your personal friend.

And you can say this because you've never done anything you knew was wrong? He messed up pretty badly here, and will be punished but to judge someone as a whole without ever having met him is not fair. I guess it's easy to throw stones anonymously on a message board.

ruleslost wrote:

He made the worst crime one can do in this context. In the bigger picture, looking outside of running he still got plenty of oppourtunites. He can still do great things OUTSIDE of this sport.

But in terms of running he's done. Don't come back and do a Eddy H, don't pollute our sport.

Don't pollute our sport? What is wrong with you? What about every drug user that comes back from being caught in any sport? What he did is not a crime. He broke a rule. He has to live with it personally and professionally. The punishment of breaking the rule is a suspension. If he still has the desire to come back after his suspension it is his right. Even with making a mistake like this Martin has more to offer this sport than most. Get off your high horse you silly goose.

Lostrules wrote:

What he did is not a crime.

How is misuse of a controlled substance, fraud and theft not a crime?

The only mistake he did was to get caught. If he didn't do the mistake he would still be running with epo in his blood stream.

Fagan cheated and he know he did. He was taking PEDS to perform better, there is no mistake made. He knew what he did and he was going to do it till he got caught. It was well planned, no doping by accident.

No he got nothing more to offer this sport more than a goodbye. All drug cheats should do the same. Find another life outside of this sport. He could still run but not competing. There are tons of other things he could do with his life.

Right. Many runners that know him like Martin Fagan. He's a nice person and generous to others. That's why this is hard to stomach. If he was always acting like a jerk, I'd be happy to see him go down. But this is sad.

Which drug cheat is not a nice person? They hurt a lot of people with their actions. I feel more sorry for his friends that trusted him, they are the real victims. Not him.

Yes I know it wrote:

I did not know that Viagra would increae your hematocrit level. I guess that is why cyclists use it.

cyclists (actually many endurance athletes) use it because it increases performance at altitude

haha yo (cut da check) wrote:

knower of things wrote:

I have spoken to numerous experts in WADA and they all said the false positives were not possible for the EPO test. they test it more than once. only legal reasons and a delay in the test of the B make it possible for the B sample to come clean. Look at Marion Jones. her A tested positive, and then she went through the legal process and the B eventually got tested, and she got off. Only later on because of the Balco scandal she was finally caught. not because of her positive test....

OK just wondering because

I believe Bernard Lagat tested positive on an A sample back in 2003 but was negative for the B sample....this was almost 10 years ago though

But the difference is that the A sample had been badly mishandled, left in a car over either an extra day or a weekend in hot conditions. the B sample was properly refrigerated. This case has been adequately aired and reviewed, including by a key anti-doping guy who said the A testing positive was a mistake. You can search for the 20(+)-page discussion of the case; it is somewhere on the net.

IAN O'RIORDAN, Athletics Correspondent

IF YOU believe the hardest decision an athlete will make is to take drugs, you might have some belief in Martin Fagan. Right now he knows he’s already lost that, probably all sympathy too, but he does want to offer some clarity on why he’s tested positive for erythropoietin – EPO – one of the most conventional and readily detected methods of enhancing performance.

Editor's Note: This post has been edited. Please do not post full articles on the forums. There are 2 excellent Irish Times articles on this. The one above is the longer one. It focuses more on details. How Martin says he was lying to coach Keith Kelly and agent Ray Flynn how his workouts were going and then ordered EPO on the internet and injected himself at his friend's bathroom in Tucson. He appears to be claiming he was drug tested the very same day he ever first took EPO. The 2nd article in the Irish Times is a bit shorter but very good

and focuses more on Fagan's mental state and how Fagan claims depression and thoughts of suicide led him to EPO.

As for the 1st article it does not identify whose bathroom where he injected himself but Fagan had been training with Abdi Abdirahman in Tuscon. For Abdi's reaction to finding out Martin tested positive click

In this case it may be true, who knows, but isn't it funny that so many drug cheats when caught say "oh it was the first time, I've never done it before".

At least he is not wasting time with asking for B sample or claiming it is someone elses blood, etc etc.

"I was just about surviving, financially. I know in every sport there are the haves and have-nots, but I was below the poverty line. My only hope was to qualify for London."

Disgrace to people who actually are poor. He got a college education and contacts enough to find himself a part time job. If he really was below the poverty line he would take that cleaning job or at work at McDonalds. But instead he chose the pills.

"He admits too he was caught, with an uncanny sense of coincidence, by an out-of-competition test in December, 24 hours after his first and only injection."

lol

Wow, go screw yourself you low life.

In skimming the article you missed this part, bro:"He’d moved to the high-altitude training base in Flagstaff, Arizona, in 2007, but because of visa issues wasn’t able to work to supplement whatever small grant aid or sponsorship was out there"It's a lot harder to make a text say what you want when you've read the whole thing, isn't it?Read more: http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4401727&page=5#ixzz1ja56BaY9Buy your shoes from LetsRun and save 20% everday http://www.letsrun.com/save

epo pills wrote:

"I was just about surviving, financially. I know in every sport there are the haves and have-nots, but I was below the poverty line. My only hope was to qualify for London."

Disgrace to people who actually are poor. He got a college education and contacts enough to find himself a part time job. If he really was below the poverty line he would take that cleaning job or at work at McDonalds. But instead he chose the pills.

No you are wrong. People who are below the poverty line they don't stay in a situation where they can't support themselves. Then he should have moved back home but instead he chose the more convenient route.

Maybe because he stole money from people. I'm surprised that it was going on for a few years, people in Flagstaff knew about it, and that they didn't get USADA to catch him earlier.

Martin's entertaining, but a piece of sh#t person. Total loser in my book. You sound like just as big a tool as him. IMO

I was so poor, I couldn't buy any new tattoos.

Cry me a river

Just finished reading the articles. Actually really believable. Antidepressants and sleeping pills make hard training and racing impossible. Even with the help of EPO. I hope he gets himself sorted out with professional help and is able to find work at home in Ireland. (no easy task!). Two years isn't a long time. The talent is there. One step at a time. I am happy that the thread could be called "Martin Fagan positive for EPO" and not "Martin Fagan found dead".