I don't know you personally, but I do know that you are a very smart guy. One of the most well-educated on these boards, or anywhere for that matter. I seem to remember that you went to TWO very prestigious schools.
Based on how thoughtfully and intelligently you write on here I can see that you are, at the very least, a VERY smart individual.
I don't want to argue this point, because I did it 10-14 yrs ago over and over on the OLD Darkwing Track listserver. Track had not suffered so many drug cheats at that time and there were still people who believed in the suspicious people like Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, C.J. Hunter, Regina Jacobs, Eddy Helleybuyck, etc.
There were plenty of internationalists from other countries that were suspicious too, but there was not testing in place (Pre-2000) to stop them. I was a distance runner FIRST from 11 yrs old, starting around 1979, and then I took up cycling later. I saw what was happening in cycling where they take a LOT more stuff and had 80-130 race days per year, and even though the testing was hit-or-miss in the 80s ... they caught people.
Anyway, now we know that nearly all successful people in T and F were dopers (the Americans who tested positive but were never sanctioned, the high profile people like Linford Christie and Ben Johnson, and the many people above who were caught). If you have been around the sport for this long and read the TaFNews interviews from the 70s, the info is RIGHT THERE FOR YOU. The athletes talk all about what steroids they use, used before and plan to use and what effect the "new" testing is going to have.
When asked about doping, guys like Frank shorter and Marty Liquori have been very upfront about how prevalent it was in the 70s (Marty specifically says that they didn't have the same technology)
from cohenrunning.com ...
"MLiquori -- When they ran the second half of the 1972 Olympic 1,500 meters in 1:49 with a similar strategy like Jim and I had in the ‘Dream Mile,’ I was one of the announcers and was disappointed to not be in the race when I saw how it developed. When the race was over the producer said, ‘Okay we’re going to a commercial in three, two, one.’ I took off my headset and said, ‘Aw, shit.’ The producer said, ‘Just because I said ‘one’ didn’t mean we were off the air.’ Luckily we were. Looking back I don’t think anyone would have beaten Lasse Viren in the 5,000 meters in 1972 or 1976 as his scientific prowess was way ahead of us."
I also have several friends who were top runners and road racers in Boulder around 1978 to 1988 and they told me it was a fact of life. I have also heard from some Americans that they knew Americans that doped (they saw them do it and/or accompanied them to the doping doctor) and that some top foreigners (WR level) confessed that they doped. I will not betray those people and name the names as there is no use in throwing these people under the bus.
Add in the people who have been caught over the years in the 60s, 70s and 80s (before the EPO age), and those who admitted using but were not caught, and it is perfectly clear that drugs have been in use in the USA since 1960 at the latest. Different drugs started in different time frames, but steroids were in use (in the USA and elsewhere) by 1960, Medalists have admitted it. stimulants have been in use for almost as long, maybe longer. Blood packing has been possible for a long time, but in use for sure since the 1960s. None of this is my OPINION, it is all there for those who are willing to look for it. It has all been documented and it has been admitted.
I am getting off on a rant that I said I would not, but my point is (and I DO have one) just a few simple facts (again NOT my opinion):
1) there have been athletes in the WEST who were WR-level and Medal-level using drugs since at least 1960. They continue right up until this year.
2) EPO was introduced and MANY cyclists got caught for it (in different ways - some tested positive, some were caught with it, some had high hematocrit, some admitted use - like the FESTINA Affair) over the last 20 years.
3) No sane person can keep saying that EPO doesn't yield big benefits. Why would so many skiers and cyclists and runners use it and risk getting caught, and then ultimately GET CAUGHT. People like J.R. (clearly insane) and Renato Canova (clearly deluded and has an incentive) can keep saying it. But it is like saying that the sun will rise in the West tomorrow, nobody is buying it.
4) now, we have established that doping has gone on somewhere in the world for AT LEAST 50 years in TnF. We have established that EPO, steroids, amphetamines, and the like WORK. We have established that many people in TnF have been caught cheating (I won't rehash the names but Goumri is just the latest in a long line). Many of them have been at the top end of the sport (Mourhit, Ramzi, Goumri, etc.)
5) Accepting these facts, why would anyone suppose that drugs are used, drugs are beneficial, that EPO is especially useful for distance runners and distance runners have been proven to use it (to great effect!) ...
but that the greatest distance runners of the EPO generation by and large don't use it?
Like I said, I have no dog in this fight, I don't care whether you believe it or keep believing otherwise. I know that you are very intelligent NO MATTER WHAT you decide. That will not change either way.
However, I am consistently amazed when people say, "based on the available evidence I can't see how you can say that a certain group doped." Based on the available evidence (including admissions/confessions, positive tests, and getting caught with dope) I can't see how anyone reaches any other conclusion.