I think Lashawn is lying, and here's why

What disturbs me on this is that no one contends or believes his use of the substance enhanced his performance or would enhance a performance.

There is something wrong with this. It smacks of wanton unfairness.

But the essential question is: "Did it enhance the length of his pecker?"

Does it enhance size or duration?

Many things on the banned list are banned for being similar to performance-enhancers, or chemists for whatever reason suspect they might have the ability to enhance performance. Only a fraction of the drugs on the banned list have actually been shown to improve performance, and I would imagine that if a doper was going to take the risk of getting caught, they'd at least do it with something they knew would help.

Also, why the hell is marijuana on the banned list? Seriously people, come on.

All I know is that there's a new sheriff in town. I think that's what sticks in the crawl of most letsrunners.

You can say that again.

TK1451 wrote:

Many things on the banned list are banned for being similar to performance-enhancers, or chemists for whatever reason suspect they might have the ability to enhance performance. Only a fraction of the drugs on the banned list have actually been shown to improve performance, and I would imagine that if a doper was going to take the risk of getting caught, they'd at least do it with something they knew would help.

Also, why the hell is marijuana on the banned list? Seriously people, come on.

Yeah, mj should not be on the list -- it does have incredible muscle relaxing powers, which can help with recovery after workouts. Since most people use it as an anti anxiety med, or mood elevator, or party drug...it is kinda weird that it is on the list.

Cocaine? Understandable.

wejo wrote:

The arbitrators truly believed Merritt was using ExtenZe and even made the argument USADA believed it. Merritt got a 7-11 clerk to testify on his behalf.

USADA did also point to a performance enhancing supplement that has similar ingredients. The decision however does not go into much detail on that argument.

And a smart doper would know of an over the counter product that had similar ingredients to what he was busted for but the arbitrators did believe Merritt.

Decision here:

http://www.usada.org/files/active/arbitration_rulings/merritt.pdf

Wejo, my point though about him lying comes down to the fact that I believe he was training when he took the product, but said he wasn't to get a lighter ban, seeing as it's performance-enhancing qualities are dubious. If he says he's training they could rightfully give him a full ban for a possibly enhancing drug in his system, but if he says he was "not training at all" (which i take to mean absolute nada for the 3 months) then he was hoping the panel would go easy on him. So he takes 6 weeks off after Olympic year, a normal end-of-season break for most sprinters it seems, fair enough, but isn't it awfully convenient that his break had doubled last year to include the period of his positive tests? Personally, I think it's a plausible excuse, simply because it's almost a more embarrassing story to be made public than taking drugs, but when I saw this "not training at all during this period" in the transcript, alarm bells started ringing for me.

well. here is why i think lashawn is not lying.

http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/o0pde0YsqGF/IAAF+Golden+League/KFxeqjx_Nih/Lashawn+Merritt

look at that itty bitty little thingy! he needed the extenze.

I have no idea whether Merritt is lying or not about why he took Extenz and I have no idea whether he is lying about how much time he takes off after a season.

I will say this, though: I have seen Merritt race indoors several times over the last few years at CNU in January and he always looks terrible (for a world-class athlete). If you didn't know who he was and someone told you during the race that he was a Gold Medalist, you would laugh in their face. I know he uses those meets as workouts, but it is usually pretty apparent that he is in terrible shape that time of year.

Again, I don't know whether he is telling the truth or not about how much time he takes off, but after seeing him "race" several times in January of different years, I can see it being believable that he took 3 months off after a track season.

The poison on this page is worse than anything Merritt put in his body. Poison coming out of a man is the greater concern.

LaSHAWN is the man at 400 m and needs no drug help - most guys would like to be better in the sack or are just curious . I BELIEVE the dude and he should be reinstated NOW.

Direct quote from Olympic silver medallist Nixon Kiprotich, regarding time off at the end of the season:

"It's total relaxation time for at least one month. TWO MONTHS ARE EVEN BETTER. I'll sleep late in the mornings and just spend the days with my family and friends, with no real training at all."

I'm just glad the 400 meters has its alpha male back. The 400 sucked this season without its alpha male.

Yes, so it seems Kiprotich takes a month off at the end of the year, and two months if he's really feeling it, pretty much standard with most elite runners who seem to take anywhere from 2-6 weeks off at end of season, but come on, 3 months, anyone with knowledge of american elite sprint groups out there, is this normal? Do Tyson Gay/ Allyson Felix/ Wariner normally take 3 months off, conveniently overlapping with the time of a positive test? I remember Victor Conte saying that the time athletes should be tested MOST and not the least (as the drug testing figures showed) was in the October-December period as this is when athletes go on drug programs and build strength in the gym. Not saying this was the case with Merritt, but it certainly suggests this period is usually where athletes are indeed busting their balls in the gym and building strength for the upcoming season.