Ethiopians and possible drug use- a call for input

I might be able to help you out alittle bit. I, being half ethiopian have gone to Ethiopia and trained with the National team. (set up by Fatuma Roba) I don't know if I'm biased or not, but I don't think that they use drugs. Of course anything is possible with the runners that are coached by Jos Hermans (Haile, Million, etc.). They train together in groups seperated by distance (marathoners, 5k, 1500) and like the kenyans work together. Unlike the kenyans though they have enormous national pride when it comes to the WC and olympics. They don't care as much about making tons of money by road whoring, because an olympic medal means that they return home to Addis as national hero's and to huge amounts of fans lining the streets to welcome them. This explains why you always see the Ethiopians perform better at the WC and Olympics. Plus when was the last time you saw the top level kenyans run at the olympics especially in the marathon.

Please don't start a rumor without a proof. I am not only friends with a lot Ethiopian Elites but I spend a lots of time with them when they stayed in Boulder in 2001 for 3 month. I can tell you they were even afraid to take an Advil if they had a head heach because they thought it might be considered as drug. Please get your facts for next time.

1. I like Ethiopians too. The ones I shared a communal bathroom and kitchen with were really nice people, despite the fact that they had no problem with killing lots of Eritreans. I guess no one is perfect.

2. Congratulations on also having an excellent life experience to share with the board. Seriously, you probably have a better world view than most North Americans.

3. There are no facts at my disposal as to the structure of the Ethiopian system, other than my own personal knowledge of the Soviet system, which is why I threw the question out there. I certainly never claimed to have any facts. Moreover, serious Soviet intervention in Africa essentially ended with Perestroika. Perhaps the people you know are free of the previous generations burden?

I also have a lot of German friends that I really like, but we still managed to have a Holocaust.

I don't think that any one group of people is intrinsically better than another. It is dangerous to excuse people from scrutiny because you have empathy for their personal situation.

Hell, I once had to fire the Prom Queen for stealing money from the till. Not quite the Holocaust, but I certainly wouldn't have anticipated that either.

Anyway. If the Ethiopians didn't adopt the Soviet system, it would be interesting to know how they managed to avoid it. Sounds like a job for Toby Tanser.

......I've had the pleasure of meeting with on more than one occassion - Fita Bayessa and Million Wolde. I can say without question that in my opinion those 2 are totally clean and have always been so...........however both of them and Fita in particular spoke about how depressed he would get trying to compete clean against athletes who he knew to be taking drugs. He pointed to how in 1993 (?) he ran 13.03 to be in the top 3 in the world and how a few years later (after the outbreak of EPO) that time didn't get him anywhere near the top 10......sad really isn't it.

runner2002 wrote:

Please don't start a rumor without a proof. I am not only friends with a lot Ethiopian Elites but I spend a lots of time with them when they stayed in Boulder in 2001 for 3 month. I can tell you they were even afraid to take an Advil if they had a head heach because they thought it might be considered as drug. Please get your facts for next time.

I believe that's what Howie is attempting to do.