Mods, maybe update the thread title to include Kandie's name? We all know who he is, and most threads with similar titles are about much lesser runners. Easy to miss with the current title.
Such a joke. Just ban Kenya already. This is extremely frustrating.
Banning is not a good idea. Catching the cheaters is.
First, if runners want to prove they're the best, they need to prove that against the best runners. If the US wants to be the best it has to beat the best. US runners have proven they can do it; that's what made the Paris Olympics special for the US.
Second, like it or not, there would be an asterisk in the back of many, many peoples' minds if Kenya was banned.
Not every Kenyan is cheating, just like not every American is clean.
Such a joke. Just ban Kenya already. This is extremely frustrating.
Have to think a high majority of people who have watched and learned about Kenyan runners ,male and female, their coaches, agents… feel the same way as you do.
My sense is; Kenyan and really most of African runners are runners that monetize their talents any way they can. Doping, to them, is just a means to their end goal… the same goals that their coaches and agents have. This will never change because the economic, political, and corrupt nature of African countries will never change. Runners provide money (hard currency) to themselves but also to all those involved including government officials. They help their country’s economy. There are no claw backs of prize winnings, there are no team disqualifications, there is no social condemnation. Those that are banned just move on and are financially set for life. The purchasing power of $10,000 in Kenya is equivalent to 30x or more depending on where one lives in Kenya. The Kalenjin tribe that is primarily in the Rift Valley region that produces most of the Kenyan running talent is protected by themselves and their government. The Kenyan athletes that have left Kenya to run for other countries are outcast, in a way, because they are not Kalenjin and therefore know they would have to pay even more kickbacks to the mafia that enables “unbelievable” performances.
Ask yourselves the question: Why doesn’t any coach, agent, pharmacist, drug provider, political official ever go down when a Kenyan athlete is caught or fails whereabouts? It is because the running/doping mafia in Kenya threatens to kill the athlete and or that athletes family members.
The only path to change is to ban Kenya, then focus anti doping resources on Ethiopia, then Uganda and so on.
Clearly Mr. Coe has his sights set on bigger things for himself (IOC president) and isn’t willing to do the right thing - he doesn’t want controversy attached to his name. Maybe he will do what is clearly necessary if he gets the IOC slot. But that is not guaranteed given he has to gain the votes necessary from many delegates who are representing corrupt countries. He knows the games being played in Kenya and Ethiopia. Unlike Russia, that clearly had a state sponsored doping apparatus akin to old soviet style, Kenya… and other African countries don’t have that level of sophistication but they do have an apparatus that is efficient and turned a blind eye to.
I sympathize for all the clean athletes that have lost to dopers throughout the decades.
Disappointing. I thought he was just unlucky as someone who found their sweetspot at a non-championship distance, but maybe there was something more to it - on and off cycles perhaps.
Such a joke. Just ban Kenya already. This is extremely frustrating.
I had no problem with Russia being banned. I have a problem with Kenya not being banned right now. How much prize money has this guy along with his agent and coach stolen from the sport? Will they be paying it back?
Such a joke. Just ban Kenya already. This is extremely frustrating.
Banning is not a good idea. Catching the cheaters is.
First, if runners want to prove they're the best, they need to prove that against the best runners. If the US wants to be the best it has to beat the best. US runners have proven they can do it; that's what made the Paris Olympics special for the US.
Second, like it or not, there would be an asterisk in the back of many, many peoples' minds if Kenya was banned.
Not every Kenyan is cheating, just like not every American is clean.
Testing results don’t support your claim in the last sentence.
Kenya is banning their athletes for doping violations and you want their country banned. In the US, athletes that get caught doping get 200 pages of letsrun posts arguing that they could never do it because they're "like really nice".
Banning is not a good idea. Catching the cheaters is.
First, if runners want to prove they're the best, they need to prove that against the best runners. If the US wants to be the best it has to beat the best. US runners have proven they can do it; that's what made the Paris Olympics special for the US.
Second, like it or not, there would be an asterisk in the back of many, many peoples' minds if Kenya was banned.
Not every Kenyan is cheating, just like not every American is clean.
Testing results don’t support your claim in the last sentence.
Would this be a different asterisk than the one that's been in many, many peoples' minds over the last 20 years of watching running/track and field?
Very much so. The presumption of my asterisk is innocent until guilty. But that's just me.
Yeah, it's not always so black and white. People have been pointing out the guilty by association part of this for years with "dirty" coaches and agents, but we don't test coaches and agents.
The fact is that at the very point of the spear in Kenyan athletics there is a significant doping problem. For it to reach such extreme levels means that this significant doping at all lower levels along with the handlers that assist in the doping schemes.
Kenya as a country may not have a systematic doping regime, but they certainly aren't doing enough to prevent the ongoing doping crisis that has pervaded them.
Kenya is banning their athletes for doping violations and you want their country banned. In the US, athletes that get caught doping get 200 pages of letsrun posts arguing that they could never do it because they're "like really nice".
100% this.
This just shows Kenya are
A. Testing
B. Catching the cheats
Kenya is likely the cleanest running nation currently.
Why are blatant cheats like Ingebrigsten blatantly flouting testing? Or more likely, being protected and being allowed to submit false tests.
Very, very likely to be allowed to submit another athletes samples imo.