According to our world-renowned sports attorney, if an athlete has been informed that they are part of the RTP, they must file quarterly whereabouts updates that provide information about their training locations, competitions, regularly scheduled activities, overnight locations, and a daily 60-minute window where they will be available for testing. This information must be updated on a timely basis when an athlete’s schedule changes.
Doping Control Officers are required to make a reasonable attempt to locate you for testing. This includes knocking or ringing the doorbell at regular intervals if you are being tested at your residence or checking the gym, locker rooms, meeting rooms, and treatment rooms if you are being tested during your training time. An important note from our sports attorney: the Doping Control Officer is not required to call you or text you during your 60-minute time slot.
Although athletes are allowed to challenge all three violations if they are later charged with a whereabouts anti-doping violation, evidence to make your case successful becomes more difficult to locate as time passes. Testing officials are given the benefit of the doubt because of the importance of ensuring clean sport. As an athlete, it can be challenging to prove that your own negligence wasn’t the cause of the whereabouts failure.
===================== I am curious as to how many of you 'regular people' would think u could provide all that info correctly over a period of 5 years or so for your regular life activities.
To me it would be an insane violation of my privacy and independence as a human being - but I also understand that because of all the dopers and cheaters, Pros have been forced to give up all semblance of a normal life.
Personally I would rather never be a Pro if this was the cost. The money and the 'fame' are not even remotely worth that.
Given it’s your job and livelihood, it’s not that difficult. Putting aside training locations, competitions and regularly scheduled activities and focusing on overnight location and the 60 minute window, it’s pretty simple - I saw this for years as my spouse was in the testing pool. It can be updated from a mobile in less than 5 minutes, you can update anytime, and if you’re not doping, just pick a period of time that’s you’re nearly always going to be home. For example, choose 7-8am if you don’t do morning runs early. Choose 9-10pm if you don’t go out much - and pros won’t - but don’t want 10-11pm as it might interrupt your sleep. While the agents don’t have to call or text, they typically will try. My experience is that they will wait during the full hour. If you’re not home, they will call and wait if you can get back to your whereabouts location in that time period. They aren’t trying to get athletes to miss tests. I probably saw 10 or 12 tests in 4 years and no one should have sympathy for more than 1 missed test (people do make mistakes, after all).
If you're going to accuse professionals of doping, you need to look at more than simple progression. Look at training factors. Work, school, altitude, recovery, injury and baseline. is the woman's marathon Olympic bronze doping because her progression sense HS, or college. I would say no. Is Grant doping because he's progressed, I'd say no. He was a top standout with more factors pointing to training and recovery. Any excellent young prospect will improve. Will we ever be 100% certain? No. But at least let's respect the work these people put in, until they don't follow the rules.
In amongst all the thread posted on Katir over the ages, this was my favorite quantifiable surrounding him.
These are the fastest 12 athletes in history (all the sub 3.29.0 guys), their first sub 3.30, their previous seasons best before that first sub 3.30 and the performance drop in seconds that they were able to manage at this threshold of performance
El G: 3.29.59 > 3.31.16 >> 1.57s
Lagat: 3.28.51 > 3.30.56 >> 2.05s
Jakob: 3.28.68 > 3.30.16 >> 1.48s
Morceli 3.28.86 > 3.31.00 >> 2.14s
Kiplagat 3.29.27 > 3.39.1(h) >> 9.83s
Ngeny 3.28.84 > 3.30.34 >> 1.50s
Cheruiyot 3.29.10 > 3.31.34 >> 2.24s
Makhloufi 3.28.75 > 3.30.40 >> 1.65s
Katir 3.28.76 > 3.36.59 >> 7.83s
Iguider 3.29.83 > 3.31.47 >> 1.64s
Cacho 3.28.95 > 3.32.01 >> 3.06s
Baala 3.28.98 > 3.31.97 >> 2.99s
Obviously the point of this list is to show that making the jump into the sub 3.30 club - even for the fastest runners to ever toe the line in this event, is rarely a dramatic one. We are basically looking at a 1.5-3.0 second improvement (averaging out around 2.0 seconds) but that's of course only if we omit two massive outliers in Silas Kiplagat and Mohammed Katir who made their ascension into the 3.2X's more akin to a high school kid going from the mid 3.50's to high 3.40's after actually bothering to put in their first good winter of training.
So how could Kiplagat and Katir do something so dramatic that none of their peers could. Were they just so much talented and what reasons could there possibly be? At least with Kiplagat his 3.39.1 is run in some tiny random town (Kakamega) just southwest of Eldoret at 5000ft which equates to a 3.34.0 sea level time. Not only that, it was run in his first year of recorded performances so this lack of performance history helps the plausibility in that it is possible he was just a massively untapped talent. Sadly for Katir he doesn't have this. His talent was tapped into - in 2018 he ran 4 races best time 3.40.84. In 2019 he ran 6 races best time of 3.37.61 and in 2020 5 races best time of 3.36.59.
What do I really think is the answer? Probably the same thing - especially now that the entire bubble in Kenya seems to have burst. But at least with Kiplagat there is no evidence of any sort of plateau/level finding. We simply can't say the same with Katir who never bothered with anything below 3.36 in the season before running not just under 3.30, but 3.29. Even Fermin Cacho who has the next biggest jump on this list at 3.06s (which is well less than half of Katir's improvement) had run 3.32.01 prior (also the slowest previous seasons performance of anyone on this list other than Kip), including running in the 32's 4/6 seasons prior to his (then) euro record of 3.28.95. I'm also not even taking into account that others on this list weren't doing stuff they shouldn't have because there is no chance all of these guys except katir were clean (point being even if bending the rules they couldn't manage such huge performance drops).
Bottom line, Katirs rise to prominence - in the 1500m event alone, was and is just not plausible and never was and none of this is sadly a shock.
Did the doping cheater Katir pull a doorbell mo and hide, or did he dash out the back door when they came knocking? Anyway, hope to see him gone forever, stripped of all medals and records, have any money clawed back, and a lengthy term in prison.
In amongst all the thread posted on Katir over the ages, this was my favorite quantifiable surrounding him.
These are the fastest 12 athletes in history (all the sub 3.29.0 guys), their first sub 3.30, their previous seasons best before that first sub 3.30 and the performance drop in seconds that they were able to manage at this threshold of performance
El G: 3.29.59 > 3.31.16 >> 1.57s
Lagat: 3.28.51 > 3.30.56 >> 2.05s
Jakob: 3.28.68 > 3.30.16 >> 1.48s
Morceli 3.28.86 > 3.31.00 >> 2.14s
Kiplagat 3.29.27 > 3.39.1(h) >> 9.83s
Ngeny 3.28.84 > 3.30.34 >> 1.50s
Cheruiyot 3.29.10 > 3.31.34 >> 2.24s
Makhloufi 3.28.75 > 3.30.40 >> 1.65s
Katir 3.28.76 > 3.36.59 >> 7.83s
Iguider 3.29.83 > 3.31.47 >> 1.64s
Cacho 3.28.95 > 3.32.01 >> 3.06s
Baala 3.28.98 > 3.31.97 >> 2.99s
Obviously the point of this list is to show that making the jump into the sub 3.30 club - even for the fastest runners to ever toe the line in this event, is rarely a dramatic one. We are basically looking at a 1.5-3.0 second improvement (averaging out around 2.0 seconds) but that's of course only if we omit two massive outliers in Silas Kiplagat and Mohammed Katir who made their ascension into the 3.2X's more akin to a high school kid going from the mid 3.50's to high 3.40's after actually bothering to put in their first good winter of training.
So how could Kiplagat and Katir do something so dramatic that none of their peers could. Were they just so much talented and what reasons could there possibly be? At least with Kiplagat his 3.39.1 is run in some tiny random town (Kakamega) just southwest of Eldoret at 5000ft which equates to a 3.34.0 sea level time. Not only that, it was run in his first year of recorded performances so this lack of performance history helps the plausibility in that it is possible he was just a massively untapped talent. Sadly for Katir he doesn't have this. His talent was tapped into - in 2018 he ran 4 races best time 3.40.84. In 2019 he ran 6 races best time of 3.37.61 and in 2020 5 races best time of 3.36.59.
What do I really think is the answer? Probably the same thing - especially now that the entire bubble in Kenya seems to have burst. But at least with Kiplagat there is no evidence of any sort of plateau/level finding. We simply can't say the same with Katir who never bothered with anything below 3.36 in the season before running not just under 3.30, but 3.29. Even Fermin Cacho who has the next biggest jump on this list at 3.06s (which is well less than half of Katir's improvement) had run 3.32.01 prior (also the slowest previous seasons performance of anyone on this list other than Kip), including running in the 32's 4/6 seasons prior to his (then) euro record of 3.28.95. I'm also not even taking into account that others on this list weren't doing stuff they shouldn't have because there is no chance all of these guys except katir were clean (point being even if bending the rules they couldn't manage such huge performance drops).
Bottom line, Katirs rise to prominence - in the 1500m event alone, was and is just not plausible and never was and none of this is sadly a shock.
What's with that 'fastest 12 athletes in history' list excluding Manangoi, Farah, and Kwemoi, but including Cacho and Baala below them? All of their top performances preceded Katir's rise so it can't be that it was just an old analysis. Farah is going to be a weird outlier if added to your analysis because he wasn't a 1500m specialist, but Manangoi and Kwemoi were both primarily 1500m runners as I recall.
(You also exclude Kiprop but perhaps that's understandable; of the many suspicious people on that list he's the only one who I remember testing positive.)
This my thought exactly. Perhaps there isn't a procedure to remove a false whereabouts strike until afterwards? That doesn't make sense to me, but there are weirder things in this world. My guess is that there is a way to remove a false whereabouts strike, but it's not worth the legal wrangling especially if you are likely to lose or you are clean and don't miss tests. Being he's now facing a ban, a legal fight with a 1% chance of winning is still better than taking the ban without a fight.
Also, anyone remember WADA's Operation Fennec? Two of the most famous current Triathletes in the world had long training stints in remote regions of Morocco last year. Previously, they trained in the Sierra Nevada. One of which (KB) scored one of the highest vo2 max ever recorded immediately afterwards.
Love finding this in the Katir thread. they may be Norwegian, but they were doping in Morocco for a few years for sure.
ever since they foolishly let Sweat Elite film them up in ass end nowhere Morocco, in a seemingly terrible training location, anyone with half a brain could tell they were doing the old “come find me” trick.
as George St Pierre always said, I can decide to take a vacation to Antarctica for training tomorrow and put it in the whereabouts app. I am 100% compliant. That’s basically a two week free doping pass by the time a planned blitz on you has time to adjust and schedule travel.
So how could Kiplagat and Katir do something so dramatic that none of their peers could. Were they just so much talented and what reasons could there possibly be? At least with Kiplagat his 3.39.1 is run in some tiny random town (Kakamega) just southwest of Eldoret at 5000ft which equates to a 3.34.0 sea level time. Not only that, it was run in his first year of recorded performances so this lack of performance history helps the plausibility in that it is possible he was just a massively untapped talent. Sadly for Katir he doesn't have this. His talent was tapped into - in 2018 he ran 4 races best time 3.40.84. In 2019 he ran 6 races best time of 3.37.61 and in 2020 5 races best time of 3.36.59.
What do I really think is the answer? Probably the same thing - especially now that the entire bubble in Kenya seems to have burst. But at least with Kiplagat there is no evidence of any sort of plateau/level finding. We simply can't say the same with Katir who never bothered with anything below 3.36 in the season before running not just under 3.30, but 3.29. Even Fermin Cacho who has the next biggest jump on this list at 3.06s (which is well less than half of Katir's improvement) had run 3.32.01 prior (also the slowest previous seasons performance of anyone on this list other than Kip), including running in the 32's 4/6 seasons prior to his (then) euro record of 3.28.95. I'm also not even taking into account that others on this list weren't doing stuff they shouldn't have because there is no chance all of these guys except katir were clean (point being even if bending the rules they couldn't manage such huge performance drops).
Bottom line, Katirs rise to prominence - in the 1500m event alone, was and is just not plausible and never was and none of this is sadly a shock.
Is Nordas 3:36.23>>3.29.47 at an older age and no shoe advances plausible? What if his coach had another athlete who went from 3:38 to 3:32 at like 23 and was named in a doping report?😂
And reality is picking arbitrary numbers like this is stupid. Wheating going from 3:38 to 3:31 isn’t really any different than 3:37-3:30. If Jacob had super spikes in 2018 and ran 1.2s faster would his improvement be any different? You can make up stories if you want (Jacob was like 18, Wheating was an 800m guy) you want to believe they were clean. Katir story would be something like 2020 was messed up and he was going to run 3:34. And then the super spikes got him another second.
now if any of these stories are believable is the tough part. We haven’t really had a Tour de France style expose (well besides the Kenyans) that suggests everyone is doping at the top level but that thought has been in the back of everyone’s mind for a long time.
TBH, even if he was clean (which I don't believe is the case), its good that he's getting banned. If it's your JOB to provide accurate whereabouts information, be there for your window, follow the procedures, etc., and you can't manage to do it 3 separate times, you don't deserve to be called a professional.
If there genuinely is a case where the doping agency screws up and gives you an undeserved strike, wouldn't you want to address that BEFORE you manage to get another one and get yourself banned? Like, if I got a second strike for a reason I thought was undeserved, I would at least contact the doping agency and try to reason with them to get that strike removed. I might also want to publicize the mistake the agency made, just to show that there are, in fact, cases where the agency screws up. Why would you try to contest a "screwed up" 2nd strike AFTER you've already gotten the third and a ban? Super suspicious and frankly he's showing his hand by making this argument.
Also, no, there is no "presumption of innocence" once you get a ban.
Great post. We should write an article telling athletes. "Hey if you get a missed test and you think it's bogus, email us and we'll publish it now ahead of time." If you stay quiet about it, it looks quite suspicious particularly when you improved massively in an Olympic year.
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