Florent Lacasse doped - the end is near!!

Uh, have you ever heard of a pathological liar? You got Michael Vick'd

ghost wrote:

Everyone in France thought he was 'clean' including me.

He just seemed like such an honest, decent runner.

You're right, it is very disappointing.

I wonder if it makes you re-evaluate some of your strong claims about other athletes a few weeks ago, who "couldn't possibly" be doping because they're such nice guys.

I'm not saying the athletes in question are in fact doping -- I have no idea -- but just noting that dopers don't necessarily betray themselves by kicking small animals and pushing over old ladies. Some of them are quite pleasant and would be good company at the pub.

nice guys take drugs too. sorry - just the facts.

just assume everyone cheats in some form or another - then you don't get so disappointed.

Lacasse banned for two years over failed test

PARIS, Sept 15 (Reuters) - French 800 metres specialist Florent Lacasse has been suspended for two years after testing positive for testosterone.

"I do not appeal the suspension. I prefer to take the time to see whether I continue my career," he told sports daily L'Equipe on Saturday.

"It's not necessarily the end," he was quoted as saying by the daily's Web site (www.lequipe.fr).

Pierre Bordry, the president of the French Anti-Doping Agency, declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

Please do not think his coach - Pascal Haudicot, had anything to do with this. In fact, Haudicot seldom coaches him now, since he is usually training at other venues and with International athletes.

I can only assume that Florent felt compelled to take something because he felt most other world class athletes were taking something.

This has been a huge blow to me and other supporters of French athletics, because we all thought Florent was a fine example of a 'clean' athlete who could be up there with the best.

At least Florent, like Irish 10.000 man - Cathal Lombard (27:33) came clean, admitted what he did, and will not contest the finding. Good for him. We are waiting for his revelations, which could implicate other French athletes, especially those of North African descent. An inside source, friend of mine, has told me that more surprises are in store. Watch this space for more info in the coming days.

I still maintain, with almost 100% certainty, that Mehdi Baala and his friend, Bouabdallah Tahri ('Bob' to his friends) are clean. Just look at their steady progression over the years among other things.

Ghost in Korea

Come on Ghost how can you still believe that Baala and Tahri are clean i would bet my last penny that they are dirty.

I enjoy your posts especially the way they are set out in an easy to read manner but you cant say that your 100% sure of an athletes clenliness just because you like them.

Bear Grylls in the Sierra Nevada

The end is near? What planet are you living on? As long as there are mugs who believe all the ridiculous performances are legit, the sport will be fine.

ghost wrote:

Please do not think his coach - Pascal Haudicot, had anything to do with this. In fact, Haudicot seldom coaches him now, since he is usually training at other venues and with International athletes.

I can only assume that Florent felt compelled to take something because he felt most other world class athletes were taking something.

This has been a huge blow to me and other supporters of French athletics, because we all thought Florent was a fine example of a 'clean' athlete who could be up there with the best.

I still maintain, with almost 100% certainty, that Mehdi Baala and his friend, Bouabdallah Tahri ('Bob' to his friends) are clean. Just look at their steady progression over the years among other things.

to each bullet there:

1) please, it's really silly to think these coaches are not involved in everything going on. even if they aren't there with the needle in hand, they know what is going on. to believe otherwise is childish.

2) no shit. most top athletes are doping. what will it take to make you understand this? every single one of them being found out by the crappy testing system? it won't happen.

3) this is exactly why you should re-evaluate you cute stance of standing behind the "nice guys and gals." Top athletes are NOT innocent until proven guilty anymore.

4) this is just absurd. i hope (even if you can't admit it) that you understand how silly that sounds.

Why not? For the same reasons that you were sure Lacasse himself didn't dope -- i.e. because you know him and he's a nice guy?

Does this somehow excuse it or make it different from every other case?

"Good for him"?! You seem to be putting these two doping infractions in a completely different category from others. Other dopers: bad people who cheated for base reasons. Lacasse and Lombard: nice young chaps who simply doped due to some misunderstanding or youthful folly, and are to be forgiven. The only real difference between Lombard and Lacasse and the rest of the dopers is that you happen to know them.

Yes, this was reported in L'Equipe several weeks ago -- around the time that we discussed Baala and Tahri, and how it was "impossible" that they were doping. Fortunately, you still have "almost 100% certainty" that they're clean -- just like Lacasse.

So was Fouad Chouki and he was suspended 2 years for EPO. He had the same progression as Bob Tahri and Baala. Also, he was their competitor since he was 16 years old.

ghost wrote:

I still maintain, with almost 100% certainty, that Mehdi Baala and his friend, Bouabdallah Tahri ('Bob' to his friends) are clean. Just look at their steady progression over the years among other things.

Ghost in Korea

why ghost do you live in that bubble? both baala and tahri have so much juice that they could open their own bar, they as dirty as a lady of the night! progression- yes everytime they got some new gear!

i will love the day when these two scum bags go down, or die of heart attack- which ever comes first!

Sad to see the news on Lacasse. Either the French athletes have a doping problem OR their testers are just good at their job!

Is there anywhere that you can see a list of doping offenders and in what country they got caught??

I would hazard a guess that more people failed tests in France than any other country.

France is presently one of the countries that tests the most, included out of competition tests.

Baala and Tarhri have been tested more times than you would believe, and have never failed.

Saying they are 'dirty' is mere conjecture, and tantamount to defamation and libel. In the U.S. you could get sued big time for that. Luckily you are talking about French guys who do not sue nearly as much.

Ghost in Korea

ghost wrote:

Saying they are 'dirty' is mere conjecture, and tantamount to defamation and libel. In the U.S. you could get sued big time for that. Luckily you are talking about French guys who do not sue nearly as much.

"Luckily" in the U.S., Baala (as a public figure) would have to prove that the person making the statements knew they were false or should have known they were false--unlike in, say, Great Britain or Canada, where the burden would be on the speaker to prove the truth of the statements.

Dude, you're free to believe in anything you'd like, but as someone that appears to follow sport seriously you're amazingly naive. Those two runners are highly suspect in a sport where doubt hangs as a cloud over every elite competitor.

Absence of proof in these cases does not absolve one of suspicion. That's a sad thing to have to say but for anyone following professional sports over the last five years there's no other sensible conclusion that one can arrive at even if in individual cases it's incorrect.

As long as Baala and Tahri have not been found to be doing anything illegal, then we should refrain from insinuating that they are dirty, because that paints them in a negative light, and discredits their amazing performances, which we can only assume to be clean, unless proof comes.

It is very easy to tarnish/discredit people. This is not right.

Many of you guys don't realize how many times Baala and Tahri have been tested, and the French Athletics Federation is now very active in testing, including out of competition tests, where testers show up on your doorstep at any time.

Baala ran faster a couple of years ago. He is somewhat inconsistent in big competitions, as he at times suffers from nerves, brought on by great pressure on his shoulders. And all the North Africans look to him, because El Guerrouj has retired.

We should be more objective and circumspect in the way we talk about athletes. It is too easy to say things. Proof is needed.

Ghost in Korea

Tahri was implicated by La Monde earlier this year... ghost, I think you live in a naive cave.

From Le Monde, dated 26.07.07 and translated by Google:

"E French medium-distance race did not finish the spring cleaning begun at the summer 2006. According to our information, in a dated June 27 mail, the Moroccan half-founder Aïssa Dghoughi forwarded to the medical commission of the international Federation of athletics (IAAF) a list of French athletes to which it is shown to have provided doping products. In this letter, it also affirms that its compatriot Khalid Skah, Olympic champion of the 10.000 m in 1992 and champion of the world of cross-country race in 1990 and 1991, and a manager German athletes, Dorothee Paulmann, would have done as much of it.

Among the athletes blamed appear the ex-recordwoman of France of the 1.500 m Latifa Essarokh, and the ex-champion of France of cross-country races Khalid Zoubaa, which currently purge respective suspensions of two and three years for positive controls with the stanozolol (steroid anabolic) for the first and with the EPO for the second.

But Aïssa Dghoughi also quotes Yamina Bouchaouante, Julie Coulaud, recordwoman of France of the 3.000 m steeple, Bouchra Ghezielle, bronze medal-holder on 1.500 m with the championships of the world of 2005, Mustapha Tantan and Bouabdellah Tahri, former Co-recordman of Europe of the 3.000 m steeple.

Khalid Skah, according to him, provided products to Essarokh, Zoubaa and Bouchaouante. As for Dorothee Paulmann, which lives in Trier (Germany), former wife of a doctor, ex-triathlète and to manage approved by the IAAF of the Kenyan half-caster Edith Masai, it would provide “regularly” Bouabdellah Tahri in prohibited products."

There's more. If there's one thing we've learned over the last few years is that most of these allegations eventually prove themselves true.

The allegations about Tahri are not true....the French did a mini investigation and he was falsely named, but he was not involved. His name should never have been included in that list. He did not take anything. I have a reliable French source who lives near Nice, who knows Tahri who can swear on the Koran that he never took anything.

His name should not even be associated with those others. All those others have been found to be guilty, and are currently purging two year sentences. Tahri came through clean. He is not a doper.

If he had really taken stuff like the others, he would not have been allowed to participate in Osaka like he did.

Ghost in Korea

Testosterone Magazine: So the athletes are going to stay ahead of the game regardless, right?

Charlie Francis: Well, the top people will. What officials want is to clean it up at the bottom and leave it dirty at the top.

if you think webb and lagat are clean you are suffering from a patriotic, distorded view of those athletes. both are from one of the top 3 dirtiest nations in sport in general and specifically in athletics. Both are up there with the best in the world, to think they are clean is a joke.