She's always had a big, strong, wide jaw-line. It doesn't look any different now, beyond the fact that she's obviously heavier and 'thicker' than she was in high school --like pretty much everyone else.
And she was already an epochal prodigy in junior high, for Chrissake. So if you think her performances come from 'roids, you'd probably have to figure she started on them in 5th grade or so --which seems highly doubtful.
She obviously has lots of advantages over anyone from the 70s, and even over lots of her competitors now, but we *know* for sure Koch and Krat and Bryzgina and all the rest were 'roided up the wazoo, and there's no chance in hell they would've run anything close to what they did without it. Just like the girls in 'Ma's Army.'
Of course it's *possible* Syd's on something --it's possible *anyone's* on something.
But we've got no good reason to believe that, and lots of reason to think she's one of the very greatest talents and performers there's ever been in the sport.
And yeah, the association with Kersee and his people makes me somewhat uncomfortable, too. But that doesn't prove anything, and when that's really the *only* reason we've got to doubt her, that ain't good enough.
She gets the benefit of the doubt, and all the credit she deserves for being one of the real gods of the sport for what she's accomplished.
When I and other folks suggested a couple of years ago that she *might* be capable of taking a serious run at Koch's mark, most of the guys here said that was ridiculous, and she'd never get close. Tonight makes it clear she's absolutely capable of it, and if she wanted to spend all next year just aiming for that and plan 6 or serious cracks at it, she'd very likely get it.
The same idiots said a couple years before that that she'd never crack 52 in the hurdles.
I suggested back then that she'd not only blow through 52, but it wasn't completely crazy to think she might eventually crack 51. It took her 2 or 3 years from that point, I think.
She choked in Rio. So what? She was 16 freaking years old. Since that day, I don't think she's ever had another championship performance that was less than *incredible*.
She's an all-time great among all-time greats. She's in the freaking Pantheon.
Unless there's ever some actual *evidence*, you should relish the privilege of watching her, and leave her the f*** alone.