Why did Steve Ovett decline so quickly?

666666 wrote:

Coevett wrote:

Are you saying that the Brits were doping in the 80's with roids and blood transfusions but nobody else? And in the 90s when EPO became available, the Brits were just about the only country to decline, so for some bizarre reason, British athletes doped themselves silly in the 80's, but were a lot more ethical in the 90's and wouldn't touch EPO (except the odd individual like you)??

I was friends with the brother of a former Scottish cycling semi-pro (pro during racing season only, was his explanation for the term "semi-pro"). My friend's brother said that everyone was "on it", otherwise they were just not able to compete with the rest.

And he was surely not competing against Africans.

What an imbecile. Friends of a brother of a Scottish pro cyclist.

You're probably American and you mean you once read on a forum somebody claiming to be the brother of a cyclist saying 'everybody was on it'.

You think dodgy British cyclists in a sport that has been professional since the 19th century mean every British runner since Bannister has doped.

Meanwhile, in the land of Lance Armstrong and Al Sal and hundreds of cover ups since Carl Lewis, you scream racist if anyone suspects Galen Rupp or Brazier of being doped.

Ovett wasn't even interested in world records until he was pressured by promoters to respond to Coe's efforts. He was ranked in the top ten in the UK as a junior for every event from the 200m to the high jump, at a time when roids simply weren't available to teens like they always have been in the USA.

Beevie wrote:

Don't listen to that garbage. Lung cancer? Anti-social basement dweller?

The truth is Ovett was older than he claimed. When he was 20 he discovered his gift for running but feared he was too late, that he would not get development training funds if he was too old. So, with the help of his mom he and his younger brother switched identities. It worked out both ways as his younger brother left school, which he hated, and joined the Royal Air Force. So when "Steve" was declining, he was actually in his late 30s. And his real name is Reg.

For real?

Lol at Coevett what a rascal

Here's the difference friend. In the US no one gives a damn about distance running, Centro can walk around with his gold medal on his neck and no one would care while in the UK Farah and Radcliffe two of the biggest most obvious dopers in distance running history are and were revered in your country. Who's more likely to be protected? Which organization declined to reveal the data of their investigation? Britain's no? While over here we had Marion Jones on trial for not providing drug samples as a high school athlete. Yes the US is trash at prosecuting sprinters but we have largely not had a major issue with doping in distance running as it is clear the US kind of sucks at it (as does Britain but look at how protected your best are).

Coevett wrote:

666666 wrote:

I was friends with the brother of a former Scottish cycling semi-pro (pro during racing season only, was his explanation for the term "semi-pro"). My friend's brother said that everyone was "on it", otherwise they were just not able to compete with the rest.

And he was surely not competing against Africans.

What an imbecile. Friends of a brother of a Scottish pro cyclist.

You're probably American and you mean you once read on a forum somebody claiming to be the brother of a cyclist saying 'everybody was on it'.

Imbecile, I am not American and I did have a Scottish friend whose brother was a semi-pro cyclist. Those were his words, "everyone is on it".

And stick your stupid insults up yours, you ignorant racist.

Ovett was spent force in '86. Don't forget African boycott of the Games. Paul KIpkoech or Ngugi would burn Ovett in '86 with couple of surges and he would probably dnf. Commonwealth Games are highly overrated and should not be considered as major championship. Same or worse than African Champs or Panamerican Games.

I was stationed in Germany in 1986 and went to the European games with my club (TGV Wuerzburg) . Overt looked sickly in the 5,000 and dropped out He later came back to the track to cheer on Hutchins and Buckner, Buckner winning and Hutchins second, ahead of one of the Italians. The Italians were booed in every race and when they showed the marathon on the big screen. This was a meet with Bordin, Mei, AntipoI,and Cova. Highly suspected of doping amongst the crowd

The 1986 European meet is the best I have been to in 45 years as a fan

That's correct. I knew the British team physio of the era, and long before it was public knowledge, he'd told me that because of the damage in Los Angeles, Ovett could no longer do the intensity of training necessary for the 1500m, at least not a world-class. It's not something I would ever have communicated until it became public knowledge.

I remember reading that he could never do such intense speed work after the railing accident either. There is a video of him on YouTube taking part in a 4 x 400m relay the week before his 3:30 mile WR in 83. Some c-level British 400m guy totally leaves him in the dust.

No he wasn't. He was past his best and susceptible to respiratory problems, especially in heat, which did him in both at Stuttgart and then in Rome 87.

Both Buckner and Hutchings were solid top 5 ranked guys and even Aouita never destroyed them like Ovett did that day. Even in 87 he ran Aouita close and beat the eventual silver and bronze medalists in a 5000m shortly before Rome. He also beat Abdi Bile in 86 over 1500m.

lmb wrote:

I was stationed in Germany in 1986 and went to the European games with my club (TGV Wuerzburg) . Overt looked sickly in the 5,000 and dropped out He later came back to the track to cheer on Hutchins and Buckner, Buckner winning and Hutchins second, ahead of one of the Italians. The Italians were booed in every race and when they showed the marathon on the big screen. This was a meet with Bordin, Mei, AntipoI,and Cova. Highly suspected of doping amongst the crowd

The 1986 European meet is the best I have been to in 45 years as a fan

Yeah, who don't know Overt, Hutchins and Antipol.

The Italians were not booed in every race, they were not booed at all.

Ngugi who was suspended by anti-doping when it was almost impossible for an East African to get caught, and Kipkoech who died of a mystery illness at only 32.

Jack Buckner was ranked two in the world in 86, and Tim Hutchings at 4. Ovett in his Commonwealth form would easily have won the Europeans a few weeks later if he hadn't gotten ill again.

He beat Hutchings again twice in 87 before the World Championships (Hutchings finished 7th there), as well as both Castro brothers who finished 2nd and 8th.

Ovett was ill in the 87 final, 32 and impaired by major leg surgery (81) and major respiratory problems in LA, yet guess who he still managed to beat in the final?

John Ngugi.

Yifter sure didn't fade early because of his hair line.

Ovett in the long BBC documentary from the era did really hurt his knee on a metal gate along a sidewalk and didn't ever fully recover. He did most of his running in neighborhoods really not suited for a fast runner, but decent hills. According to Ovett in the documentary, he went out and got absolutely blasted celebrating his 800m win and was for that reason not at full strength for the 1500m.

Interesting topic. Ovett was my favorite from that era, still probably my favorite MD runner of all time.

Why did he drop off so quickly? Well I am not sure it was "so quickly" but I can see how it looked that way. Look, middle distance running in that era was really in it's acceleration phase worldwide. North and East Africa went from supplying a few high end talents to providing a ton of elite talents and the depth was ramping up in Europe thanks to the interest created, ironically, by the likes of Ovett and Coe from 8-10 years earlier. Irrespective of how serious you believe the church rail/respiratory illnesses were, they were absolutely pauses/setbacks to a career that was already pretty long (not everyone has Nick Willis/John Walker longevity). I think in those circumstances the mental side of it is so important because physically those setbacks saw him surpassed/leapfrogged by a wave of athletes from 86 onwards and it was just his mental tenacity and "memory" that kept him somewhat relevant. I think Ovett just mentally gave it away from 86 onwards and his heart was never really in it and was just running on fumes. When this happens it's easy to just fade away pretty quickly no matter how good you once were.

As for drugs which is a classic LR default, well in all seriousness it's impossible to know. A lot of stuff was legal back then that isn't now - blood doping in particular. How involved were the elite Brits of the 80's in that? Can't say and have no proof but you would have to be completely starstruck and non-objective to not entertain there was a possibility some of that was happening. I mean in an era when doping was ramping up if you have 3 milers who ran 3.46, 3.47 and 3.48 collectively, the odds that at least one of them had tried something are pretty good.

Coevett wrote:

Ngugi who was suspended by anti-doping when it was almost impossible for an East African to get caught.

How many years until you stop posting this lie?

gfhbg wrote:

Coevett wrote:

Ngugi who was suspended by anti-doping when it was almost impossible for an East African to get caught.

How many years until you stop posting this lie?

He will never stop with all of his lies.

zxcvxzcv wrote:

Yifter sure didn't fade early because of his hair line.

Ovett in the long BBC documentary from the era did really hurt his knee on a metal gate along a sidewalk and didn't ever fully recover. He did most of his running in neighborhoods really not suited for a fast runner, but decent hills. According to Ovett in the documentary, he went out and got absolutely blasted celebrating his 800m win and was for that reason not at full strength for the 1500m.

The fricking Olympics and Ovett doesn't have the discipline to give himself the best chance to do something truly memorable and win double Gold?

Not the stuff of a real champion.

letsdrum wrote:

lmb wrote:

I was stationed in Germany in 1986 and went to the European games with my club (TGV Wuerzburg) . Overt looked sickly in the 5,000 and dropped out He later came back to the track to cheer on Hutchins and Buckner, Buckner winning and Hutchins second, ahead of one of the Italians. The Italians were booed in every race and when they showed the marathon on the big screen. This was a meet with Bordin, Mei, AntipoI,and Cova. Highly suspected of doping amongst the crowd

The 1986 European meet is the best I have been to in 45 years as a fan

Yeah, who don't know Overt, Hutchins and Antipol.

The Italians were not booed in every race, they were not booed at all.

Were you there like lmb, or just talking out of your @ss because you don’t want it to be true?

hewillnotdothis wrote:

gfhbg wrote:

How many years until you stop posting this lie?

He will never stop with all of his lies.

Are you ashamed to post as Spade Detector now?

He was the first Kenyan to be suspended, first of over 100. Imagine if Ovett had refused to give a urine sample and was banned for four years as a consequence. If somebody pointed it out here, I wouldn't then call them a liar, even under a fake name. That's because I'm not a paid doping apologist troll like Spade Detector/Obsevski.