I know she served her suspension quite a while ago, but couldn't Nova find someone who had not been busted for doping to coach there marathon team? If I was kid trying to run professionally, I might think, "I should take some XXXXX, Uta doped, and even though she got caught, seems to be doing pretty well."
She seems like a nice person, I'd just rather see her taking to kids and the public about the dangers of performance enhancing drugs.
She was redeemed by her RW cover - washed away the taint of her positive test and subsequent suspension.
I agree with you on this one. It would not be too different from having a NOVA special in a few years on cycling with Floyd Landis (excusing the arguments against the faulty testing procedures)coaching.
I think she believes she did nothing wrong.
It would be interesting to know if Nova considered her problem.
Tom
Tom do you think that she had been doped as far back
as her East German days?
Derderian wrote: I think she believes she did nothing wrong.
I think that characteristic runs in the family.
"Somebody tampered with my toothpaste!" He says with an innocent grin...
I followed her in a 10k race a few years ago. I wasn't stalking her, I was trying to (and failing to) catch her. Pleasant view, drug findings (or no-findings, as I understand her ban was overturned by arbitrators) notwithstanding.
Bob Wildes wrote:
Tom do you think that she had been doped as far back
as her East German days?
Of course I don't know and neither Uta nor Dieter told me. But in the penultimate paragraph of the yearly accounts in the second edition of "Boston Marathon" I write about Dieter Hogen's "10 secrets of training," that he would not tell me but he teased that they are all in the scientific and medical literature. I wondered what he meant.
Of course the next time I visit this topic, I will ask again about the ten secrets.
Tom
When she first came to the States and raced she admitted to early years in E Germany and doping when there. Saying she was young, didn't know what it was the coaches were giving her.
Her first race in the States, I think, was the Milk Run 10k in Boston. She placed second to Lynn Jennings. John McGrath of Boston Running Magazine had something to do with her coming to Boston but I can't remember the connection.
What's interesting to note is that after she tested positive and served her ban she was unable to replicate anything close to what she had produced in the past. Always an interesting point to ponder when caught athletes resume their competing.
She was in medical school and became a pediatrician during/after her drug ban, so maybe her life and advancing age also factored into her racing decline.
However, this does not negate the fact that she admitted to it while in the old GDR. Dieter Bauman too.
I was a HUGE Uta Pippig fan and I took it so hard when I heard the news. I just really loved her spirit and I admired her success. But hell, I'm the same age as Regina Jacobs and I pretty much worshipped all those girls at Stanford back in those days. The thought of Regina Jacobs only brings a salty shudder now.
I think she said she was in medical school. Not sure how accurate that is and that she actually completed the course of study to become a doctor. It sure sounded good. If she did all that then why is she coaching and not practicing?
She may have been taking some courses but the fact remains her running career ended abruptly. I always thought she was a bit of a phony. What's that axiom? Sometimes when it looks too good to be true....
Uta finished mediacl school and passed the boards but never practiced due to her running career.
Both her parents are doctors by the way.
My wife worked with her on the Nova project, whether or not she did use performance enhancers does not take away from her enthusiastic and inspirational personality. She actually came out to run with my girls last fall and kept in touch, called the night before the State Meet to wish them luck and sent a huge bouquet of flowers after they won. She is a great person and loves the sport of running.
The positive drug test was a testoterone to epitestorone ratio which was later overturned.
No, her drug positive was not overturned. From the New York Times: Pippig Suspension For Drugs Upheld
Published: July 17, 1999
The German Athletics Federation upheld a two-year ban of the marathon runner Uta Pippig yesterday, saying there was no doubt that she had used performance-enhancing drugs.
Pippig, who won the New York City Marathon in 1993 and the Boston Marathon from 1994-96, lives most of the year in Boulder, Colo., where she tested positive in April 1998 for abnormally high levels of testosterone, a male sex hormone.
Pippig, 33, was banned for two years but appealed to the German federation, asserting that the testosterone abnormalities had been caused by a medicine for a viral infection. The ban runs through April 22 next year.
That's all very nice about the flowers and enthusiasm and such. If we've learned one thing about drug cheats it's that public appearances can be highly deceiving. There are scores of clean women who never had any problems with epitestosterone ratios that were sky high.
There are plenty of women who could have worked on the Nova project who have clean as a whistle records without drug bans on their resume. Why go with one who has had problems in that regard? Regina Jacobs loved the sport of running, too.
A girl coaching?? Marathon team?? I'm officially rolling over.
LEAVE UTA ALONE!! NONE OF YOU DESERVE TO RUN ON THE SAME PLANET AS UTA!! SHE IS A BEAUTIFUL, CARING , GIVING HUMAN BEING AND IS BETTER THAN ANY OF YOU WORTHLESS LETSRUN POSTERS!!
LEAVE UTA ALONE!!!!!!!!!
perspective wrote: No, her drug positive was not overturned. From the New York Times: Pippig Suspension For Drugs Upheld
Published: July 17, 1999
The German Athletics Federation upheld a two-year ban of the marathon runner Uta Pippig yesterday, saying there was no doubt that she had used performance-enhancing drugs.
Pippig, who won the New York City Marathon in 1993 and the Boston Marathon from 1994-96, lives most of the year in Boulder, Colo., where she tested positive in April 1998 for abnormally high levels of testosterone, a male sex hormone.
Pippig, 33, was banned for two years but appealed to the German federation, asserting that the testosterone abnormalities had been caused by a medicine for a viral infection. The ban runs through April 22 next year.
I believe the arbitrators overturned the suspension some time after this article came out.
Somebody said she readily admitted to doping after coming to the States. Do you have anything to back this up (other than you word, I mean)?
A drug cheat? Who cares? I'd still do her.