Elite Athletes you're CONVINCED are clean

sweatdebt wrote:

Was having a discussion on the SLR with some teammates about which elite athletes are you most convinced (past or present) were/are clean: specifically who is the highest performing clean athletes

Obv it's not about who you're favourite athlete is, but which elite athletes would you be willing to bet your life savings on being clean?

There are certain fan favourites that there is just too much doubt over, whether it be:
- Some consider a tainted group: NOP, Bowerman
- proximity to a popped athlete/training partners: Eliud's group, Dibaba family
- shared management/agent: too many to name
- banned Nations or vast history of doping: Russia, USSR, some old Chinese times, Kenya
- athletes everyone screams must've doped from crazy performances: ElG, Kiptum, Eliud, Bekele, Faith, Sifan, Chep'n'getich, Kiplimo, Gidey, P.Radcliffe, Chebet, Cheptegei, Hull, Hunter-Bell
- never received a ban, but we got dodgy news about them: Lagat, Amdouni, Makhloufi

The further you go back, the more difficult it can be to choose some names.

My suggestions:
- Nick Willis
- Pre
- Cam Levins
- Laura Weightman
- Jack Rayner & Brett Robinson
- Stephen Scullion
- Joe Klecker, Morgan McDonald, Beamish, Hoare, Nuguse
- Hocker & Teare
- Laura Muir
- Dina Asher Smith
- Chris Thompson
- Justyn Knight
- Keely
- Abdi Nur

Yes it's obvious I'm British.

Who else?

themanontherun wrote:

sweatdebt wrote:

Was having a discussion on the SLR with some teammates about which elite athletes are you most convinced (past or present) were/are clean: specifically who is the highest performing clean athletes

Obv it's not about who you're favourite athlete is, but which elite athletes would you be willing to bet your life savings on being clean?

There are certain fan favourites that there is just too much doubt over, whether it be:
- Some consider a tainted group: NOP, Bowerman
- proximity to a popped athlete/training partners: Eliud's group, Dibaba family
- shared management/agent: too many to name
- banned Nations or vast history of doping: Russia, USSR, some old Chinese times, Kenya
- athletes everyone screams must've doped from crazy performances: ElG, Kiptum, Eliud, Bekele, Faith, Sifan, Chep'n'getich, Kiplimo, Gidey, P.Radcliffe, Chebet, Cheptegei, Hull, Hunter-Bell
- never received a ban, but we got dodgy news about them: Lagat, Amdouni, Makhloufi

The further you go back, the more difficult it can be to choose some names.

My suggestions:
- Nick Willis
- Pre
- Cam Levins
- Laura Weightman
- Jack Rayner & Brett Robinson
- Stephen Scullion
- Joe Klecker, Morgan McDonald, Beamish, Hoare, Nuguse
- Hocker & Teare
- Laura Muir
- Dina Asher Smith
- Chris Thompson
- Justyn Knight
- Keely
- Abdi Nur

Yes it's obvious I'm British.

Who else?

Hot take, but Galen Rupp was 100% clean as a whistle… “by the book.” The whole point of Salazar’s science experiment was to use whatever janky methods possible to get close to but not quite break the rules. The act of never crossing that line was always the mental gymnastic barrier that was not “acceptable.” Absolutely a violation of the spirit of the rule but always 100% within the bounds of the letter of the law.

Norsurg wrote:

I would bet money Nuguse is clean. My logic is he has the opposite of a “win at all costs” attitude. He is enormously talented and obviously wants to get as good as possible, but he spent much of college planning to go to dental school. If he hit a ceiling in running, he had Plan A all along. He just is too good to stop running. Now, not only would doping ruin his running career but would probably be a black mark on a dental school application which he otherwise will have no trouble getting into as a guy who graduated with honors in biochemistry from Notre Dame and is an Olympic medalist. very little incentive for him, bright future regardless of running and he just doesn’t seem to live and die with track like some of the other athletes.

I also found it interesting on the coffee club podcast when they were talking about about talent levels and described Nuguse as “A++” talent. obviously that entire team is elite company so I think that is saying something. For the record, also convinced Coffee club boys are clean.

Lots of other people I desperately want to be clean but just don’t know. I may never recover if I found out Radcliffe, Bekele, Haile G doped, but I don’t think they did.

Left Said Fred wrote:

Armstronglivs wrote:

It doesn't stop them doping. Some of them aren't even ashamed when they are caught. Shelby.

Is this broad assessment based on your personal or professional experience with top athletes? Or is it based on something you read on a website?

Is your citation of Houlihan meant to imply that she is without personal shame, or is it that she knowingly went outside the rules despite having a sense of shame?

In any case, there are far better examples, at least for the latter. The Houlihan case is an odd one, in that nandrolone is a stunningly ancient substance to employ in a modern doping scheme.

If you want to cite an athlete that was without shame, Gatlin would fit the bill. He knew that he and Graham were going outside the rules and despite his quiet efforts to cooperate with anti doping authorities after his conviction, he still has yet to publicly admit his complicity.