The biggest thing at play with all of this is applying our own living situations and circumstances to the idea of acquiring prescription drugs.
Right now if I wanted to go and "buy" EPO, I can't just walk into a Walgreens or a Rite-Aid and ask for it, it's a pretty strict and regulated "supply chain" - especially for the average person (runner) off the street. And if you want to circumvent that with some kind of under-the-table, back-door connect, at a guess you would need some serious money to even start contemplating that game.
Kenya is still a firmly entrenched "developing" nation - a term used to a replace a slightly more derogatory one from the past - but hard to know exactly where on the spectrum of "developing" they are. Point is, things like an infrastructure around prescription drugs with the medical community is not like it is here or in the majority of the Western World. At least there are enough road blocks here to deter even asking where you could get it. I 100% believe that story there - the German ARD documentary from about a decade ago basically uncovered the same thing. Unless you believe in some kind of conspiracy between German TV and Cornelius Kiplagat that spans the course of a decade.
I was told a story by an AIU informant of how western athletes training in Kenya would get their hands on EPO, as easy as waiting in the parking lot of a Nairobi mall for a pickup truck with tinted windows to just roll by, pay your couple of hundred US dollars and that's it. Might as well be Doordash or UberEats.
It's why they will only ever catch athletes there if they are on AIU watchlists like Ruth Chepng'etich was. Think about it. Her WR will stand in the books because it was ratified and she wasn't caught prior to running it or in the testing at the event. But obviously she was cheating to to do it - she didn't run 2.09 and then think "now I need to start with this". So it shows that an athlete of her level can easily get away with it and the only way she was caught was when the AIU were like "holy sh-t this woman just ran a sub 2.10 marathon we need to watch her". Think about then these guys coming out of Kenyan and popping these insane times which to be honest is all they need to do. Run (I dunno), 1.42 or 3.27, some clown in big brand sports marketing will throw 150-200k at you for 4 years, you're set for life.
Don't know what else to say, it is what it is. Depressing.
Don't know what else to say, it is what it is. Depressing.
Sadly, things get even more depressing if one wonders to what extent Kenyan juniors have been pressed into PED usage (unknowingly, perhaps) as part of a futures market--financial windfall for the family household, NCAA scholarships & such.
Sadly, things get even more depressing if one wonders to what extent Kenyan juniors have been pressed into PED usage (unknowingly, perhaps) as part of a futures market--financial windfall for the family household, NCAA scholarships & such.
Don't know what the downvotes are for here, this is absolutely the case. I've made no secret about how I can't quite understand how a certain 800m recruit to Oregon ran 1.42.66 at their trials to make the team in 2024 and then became the first sub 1.43 runner ever to not make it past the first round (or even the repechage) at an Olympics. Season bests of 1.45.24, 1.45.25 and 1.45.31 in 22,23 and 25 respectively and then his cool 1.42 performance in 2024 - a time which he has never come within 2.5 seconds of ever in his life.
But that single performance sent him to Paris, got him a six figure NIL deal and a full ride at Oregon. The guy couldn't even win the big 10 800m or his NCAA first round meet.
Don't know what else to say, it is what it is. Depressing.
Sadly, things get even more depressing if one wonders to what extent Kenyan juniors have been pressed into PED usage (unknowingly, perhaps) as part of a futures market--financial windfall for the family household, NCAA scholarships & such.
Who cares? What right have you got to pass judgement? You're probably a racist. There's no evidence that Alem Techale , Richard Chelimo, Abadi Hadis, Kipyeogen Bett, Shewarge Alene, or any of the other deaths of young East Africans runners was linked to doping. In any case, their candles burnt brightly, and they made some money for their families and their handlers, so why are you passing judgement? Everybody dopes anyway.
Unless you believe in some kind of conspiracy between German TV and Cornelius Kiplagat that spans the course of a decade.
Obviously it's extremely easy to get EPO in Kenya, yes. But, I don't buy Kiplagat's story at all. He just made up something after his first lies weren't believed to a) get a ban reduction and b) not reveal anything about his teammates/coach/agent.
The more interesting question is why East African were "superior" in performances during 50 years to you? despite the opulence of wealth/resources and authority you were using for a century.
So if you follow the logic, one can ask:
- How Nigerian are getting EPO?
- How Egyptian are getting EPO?
- How South African are getting EPO?
- How Cameroonian are getting EPO?
- etc
- etc
It sound like your "greed of power" lead you only to "watch" and "envy" East African.
See how the logic works you "complexed retards" of Middle Distances?
500 rand is $29, for an EPO score dropped off at the corner market??
Sorry, he said it was 660 Rand, so $38, no prescription, no doctor, no fuss.
The bottom line is, I’m not sure getting drugs out of the sport is fixable; it’s a ruse for the big shoe companies to control athletes like pawns, and use this ‘sport’ as a big advertisement.
"the Athlete approached a bus conductor and gave him 5000 Kenyan shillings to travel into Eldoret town and to purchase EPO and CERA from any pharmacy / chemist."
So that included the bus conductor's work. About 38 USD only, yes, but to put it into perspective, the average earnings in Kenya are about 620 USD per month.
"the Athlete approached a bus conductor and gave him 5000 Kenyan shillings to travel into Eldoret town and to purchase EPO and CERA from any pharmacy / chemist."
So that included the bus conductor's work. About 38 USD only, yes, but to put it into perspective, the average earnings in Kenya are about 620 USD per month.
But does not a 2:04 marathoner have a foreign agent/agency/coach and/or sponsor, willing to front what is pocket change to them, in order to see one of their athletes run fast?
Wasn’t Canova emphatically repeating on this forum that EPO doesn’t even benefit the elite 2:04 marathoner types?
Are you asking a question? How do we know it benefits the 2:04 type?
When Canova posted that here, that EPO won't benefit such runners, I asked two exercise physiologists I knew, one being Peter Snell, the other no one would have heard of, what they thought of Canova's claim. Both told me the idea was nonsense. Canova did have a pretty vested interest in convincing people that the Kenyan performances were legitimate.