How did El Guerrouj Escape While Many of His Countrymen Got Caught?

and ramzi at the 2005 helsinki WC

One possibility is that the majority of races in the modern era (2006-present) that are championships,etc. are tactical. Because it is harder to make money on the track now, there are simply less talented athletes that pursue the career---many go straight to the marathon, which has had times drop shockingly since that time. El G may be a doper, however, the fast times also owe much to the abundance of true talent.

As time passes, and we see amazing athletes fall short of Hicham's time, it becomes increasingly obvious that he was doing something shady. I remember hearing from some guys on this board who claimed to be on the circuit and see a lot of 'shadiness' with the Moroccan team. Somebody else claimed he went to watch hicham do a workout and then El G had to go for "medical" and disappeared and the guy wasn't allowed even close... there have also been unsubstantiated reports of hicham's blood being so thick that he almost died, unexplained medical woes leading up to 2004, the diagnosis of 10 allergies and asthma...

Remember when El G finished 8th in a race won by ramzi?

Back then athletes had a way of rationalizing putting a needle in and injecting the good stuff. It's how the game was played. El G had the love of the prince and was an icon to countless moroccans. There was no way that money and the IAAF would ever allow public knowledge of his doping!

braces

Why is El G's 3:26 still on the books?

That era was so dirty

Canova>God wrote:

There is also the theory that some guys are to big to go down. It looks very bad for the sport when the faces of the sport get caught.

Correct. EL Gepo was to big too fail.

Every single endurance record in the 90s was done on Epo. Every single one.

These days, they don't compete with EPO anymore, it's limited to training. Still very effective of course.

scrawny chicken wrote:

Every single endurance record in the 90s was done on Epo. Every single one.

These days, they don't compete with EPO anymore, it's limited to training. Still very effective of course.

Not getting into the EL 'G doping debate, but you are correct, EPO is only done during training these days. With all of the advances in AD science, EPO microdosing in training is still difficult to detect. To catch a smart cheater, WADA almost has to get lucky; when an athlete takes EPO in a small dose during out of season training, WADA has to test them with in about 48 hours. A successful EPO program is beyond the capability of an athlete, there needs to be a team of people involved, which is why I would like to see WADA go after a lot more people than just the athlete.

Blah blah blah EPO this EPO that, on and on and on.

What you people don't understand is that World Records will come down with natural blood counts becasue the percentage of oxygen uptake in each even will hardly increase at all. What will increase is the fuel economy, i.e. more elastic return from the muscles.

Do I have to remind you that running is hugely reliant on motor skills which can always be improved?

Kyzer Sozenator wrote:

With atleast 25 Morrocan Track and Field athletes getting caught and banned while a few 'missed' testing, how did Hicham El Guerrouj manage to escape the doping police for so long? Any theories? In fact, one of the dopers who was caught was essentially El Guerrouj's rabbit during his most important races.

A broader question is whether some elite athletes are more prone to getting positive doping results as a result of a different response by each athlete. Or could it be that some athletes have perfected the dosage necessary to not show a positive result for certain performancce enhancing drugs? How about the idea that the best of the best are getting newer, better, less detectable drugs where others are given what still works but that requires more care to pass a test?

Discuss!

And how does any embedded deep-P connection politics play out?

High Wire wrote:

Guys like El G, Michael Johnson, etc. were "untouchables" as long as they kept their end of the "deal".

What was their end of the "deal"?

TLTR wrote:

Kyzer Sozenator wrote:

With atleast 25 Morrocan Track and Field athletes getting caught and banned while a few 'missed' testing, how did Hicham El Guerrouj manage to escape the doping police for so long? Any theories? In fact, one of the dopers who was caught was essentially El Guerrouj's rabbit during his most important races.

A broader question is whether some elite athletes are more prone to getting positive doping results as a result of a different response by each athlete. Or could it be that some athletes have perfected the dosage necessary to not show a positive result for certain performancce enhancing drugs? How about the idea that the best of the best are getting newer, better, less detectable drugs where others are given what still works but that requires more care to pass a test?

Discuss!

And how does any embedded deep-P connection politics play out?

Why do people comment on three year old threads like this out of the blue? How do they even find these? Am I the only one who thinks this is weird?

TLTR wrote:

Why do people comment on three year old threads like this out of the blue? How do they even find these? Am I the only one who thinks this is weird?

I thought of waiting three years before responding, but the world will have ended by then. So, instead, I'm replying to your three questions NOW:

I dunno. I dunno. And yes.

I bet the OP misses his handle. LOL @ t a r d s