They have the NBC5 feed of the Chicago Marathon broadcast playing here in the pressroom. I was curious whether we would hear the name "Ruth Chepngetich" at all given what has happened in the last 12 months. I certainly didn't hear it at Friday's press conference.
Boom -- we got it almost immediately. Less than 10 minutes into the broadcast, the host acknowledged Chepngetich's ban and even asked the analysts for their thoughts. And Ed Eyestone did not hold back. Here's what Eyestone said:
We need to have more out of competition testing. It does work when it happens properly.
Also there needs to be heavier penalties. I’m all in favor of the death penalty suspension from all competition if you test positive. One and done, that’s the way it should be.
And then also these athletes aren’t operating in a vacuum. They have coaches, they have agents, they have mentors. These people are leading them astray. And if we have athletes that are testing positive from certain systems, those managers should also be disqualified.
Credit to NBC5 for not shying away from the topic. Eyestone's words certainly seem directed towards Federico Rosa, who has had five World Marathon Majors champions banned for doping, including Ruth. Of course, Rosa represents Jacob Kiplimo, who is running Chicago today.
