Hassan Mead, Minnesota legend. Pity his career had to end this way.
Don't you have any sympathy for the clean runners he cheated? Not to mention the fans, most of whom don't want to see fake runners running fake times.
Coevettcram: I can see your point but do you honestly believe that Mead ran under the influence of illicit PEDs for most of his career? I very much doubt it. Hopefully Mead will clarify and explain about his use of the illicit product he took in the very latest period of his running career.
You have a tendency to dramatize situations and paint some athletes under a very negative picture when in fact it appears that this was merely one blip in his career.
I’m not condoning what he did but hopefully we’ll get more of an explanation in the coming days.
Mead pulled a Mo Trafeh and tried to beat the bad news by retiring first. It would be more heroic if he named names.
Absolutely that. Retiring in May, lol, not saying anything, not making it official, starting to use drugs, updating the whereabouts for Q3 (July - September), updating the whereabouts for Q4 (October - December), getting popped on the second test in Q4, getting provisionally banned, then making it official six days later. Oh my Lord.
Are some people really believing that, or are those all Nike PR guys posting?
This explains the situation and apparently Mead has nothing to be ashamed of except for the fact that he did not complete his retirement paperwork on time until November 2022 and having retired in May 2022 he then felt he was free to take supplements to help his lifting which obviously would’ve had no effect on his running because he had already retired. The people jumping on the bandwagon and condemning the guy are not looking at the true situation. Mead is most probably totally guiltless and most probably never committed any infraction during his long career.
Coevettcram: Quote from Chris Chavez: in the quote “Chris Chavis explained that Mead had not done anything wrong except for the fact that he did not fill out the paperwork when he retired in May 2022 and then ingested bodybuilding products to help his lifting which had nothing to do with running. Do you acknowledge that Mead should not have this tag to his name inferring that he doped during his running career? if you don’t, then it appears that you have an agenda but we already know this from your posts.
So basically we have this African coming in and steal from hard working Americans for years. Like Chelimo. Great. Nothing to see here
Sure he’s a doper and I don’t condone that, it’s bad for the sport. But dudes been here since high school or even earlier. He’s American. I prefer him in this country over you and your racist takes. Get out of here
Will his friends the Leers and Ben Blankenship and all the other US runners who complain about foreigners doping have a comment on this? Or will it continue to be rules for thee, not for me? I wish LetsRun would ask these people directly for comment.
What do you want a smear campaign? If anything talk to the guy who did it at least.
Mead pulled a Mo Trafeh and tried to beat the bad news by retiring first. It would be more heroic if he named names.
Absolutely that. Retiring in May, lol, not saying anything, not making it official, starting to use drugs, updating the whereabouts for Q3 (July - September), updating the whereabouts for Q4 (October - December), getting popped on the second test in Q4, getting provisionally banned, then making it official six days later. Oh my Lord.
Are some people really believing that, or are those all Nike PR guys posting?
Bingo. It's not like he forgot to update or renew his car insurance policy or something... being in the testing pool is not something passive, you have to update your whereabouts. If I were a pro and retiring, getting out that would be on the top of my list, it sounds annoying. He did this for months. Maybe he was toying with a comeback or a move up to the marathon.
Regardless, he definitely knew he was in the testing pool, and so might get tested even though he wasn't competing. If he knew that, why on earth would he take an unverified supplement? It's not rocket science to pick out tested supplements and as a pro he would have had awareness of that kind of thing, and was presumably doing this before his secret retirement. Seems like a pretty weird risk to take for a hobby (lifting). Personally, even if I knew I'd never get tested I wouldn't want to take a potentially tainted supplement since you can't guarantee what's in there, and it probably isn't healthy long-term.
The most charitable take doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you think about it. I'd be interested to hear how he would explain some of this in an interview.
Lies here, lies there, lies everywhere. Burritos, fake retirement, blaming the system, the system is wrong, the system this, the system that. I'm the victim. I'm grieving, my career, my reputation, me me me.
We need a Floyd Landis.
I'm not buying Hassan's story. Clean as a whistle, and he "retired" in May, told no one and then immediately started reaching for banned drugs?
WHAT is it going to take for someone to tell the truth here? Why on earth should any pro athlete get the benefit of the doubt?
Isn't there more Nike athletes than any other group. So it should be higher if that's true.
Yes, but brands are much more evenly distributed today than 15-25yrs ago when it was Nike, a few adidas, or Hansen Brooks team and that was about it.
I’d still feel pretty certain the ratio of Nike dopers to all Nike athletes is higher than the ratio of non-Nike dopers to non-Nike athletes.
In case there’s any confusion, I’m not insinuating dopers go and run for Nike, I’m saying Nike breeds dopers (for a variety of reasons you can easily find on this forum).
I would love to see the percentage of Nike athletes that get popped for drugs in track and field vs. all other non-nike athletes.
Isn't there more Nike athletes than any other group. So it should be higher if that's true.
No, the % should not be higher. Total # could be, but not %. Yet it is. I have been aware of a total of 1 non-Nike bust since Ben Johnson. 1. It's not just running. Armstrong. Nike. I've never seen a picture of Bonds without the Swoosh. Feel free to name asics, adidas (there was 1), Saucony, etc. athletes who have tested positive.