I don't want to go again to speak about how ridiculous is an article speaking about the effects of some drug on normal people, referred to top athletes.
Because, to these "scientists", I can ask : what do you know about the EFFECTS OF TRAINING ON THE CHANGE OF BLOOD VALUES ?
Of course, it's very easy to study how a NORMAL performance can change for a NORMAL person, taking EPO. So, the trend is : I have low values, I take EPO, my values grow because I have more RBC, I can transport more O2, so I can run faster.
No problem to accept this. I actually can run 1 km in 5', and of sure if I take EPO I can run 4'40".
But the real question is :
I have an athlete, not trained, able running, for example, 10 km in 34'. He goes to train well for 6 months, and after this he's able running in 32'.
My simple question is : WHY ?
So,somebody of ALL this chemical scientists can explain me the effects of training ?
And do you think that, with a NORMAL athlete with a NORMAL training, the effect of taking EPO can be the same as a NORMAL person without any training ?
So, we can say that :
a) Person with kidney desease. Taking EPO, they can increase the ability to transport O2 of 30%.
b) Not trained person : they try running 10 km, and run 50'. With NO TRAINING, but taking EPO, they run 45' (increase of 10%).
c) Trained athletes of NORMAL LEVEL. They, already with medium basic training, are able to run 33'. Taking EPO, can run 31' (increase of about 6%)
d) Athlete of MEDIUM INTERNATIONAL LEVEL (a lot of people give the example of Lombard). They can run 28'30", taking EPO run 27'30" (increase of about 3,5 %)
e) Athlete of HIGH INTERNATIONAL LEVEL (able running 27'30" clean, living in altitude) : taking EPO can run 27'10" (increase of about 1,2%)
f) Athletes TOP CHAMPIONS (able running COMPLETELY CLEAN, like I had Nicholas Kemboi, for example) : taking EPO, I'm not surprised if they run SLOWER than what they can run when clean.
I repeat a lot of times : TILL WHEN THERE IS NOT A SPECIFIC RESEARCH WITH REALLY TOP ATHLETES ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE WE CAN HAVE WITH OR WITHOUT EPO, EVERY IDEA IS ONLY SOME PERSONAL OPINION, BUT THERE ARE NO SPECIFIC BASIS FOR THINKING NOT POSSIBLE RUNNING FAST WITHOUT DRUG.
I had athletes running fast without anything : WR in steeple, a lot of athletes under 27' in 10000m with one at 26'30" with only 2 months of proper preparation. So, I know what is possible to run with proper training and great talent.
Of course may be EPO could work for these athletes, too.
But in this case, the WR of 5000m should be already under 12'30", and in 10000 under 25'50", because THE BEST KENYAN AND ETHIOPIAN IN LONG DISTANCES ARE ALL CLEAN, are the weakest trying to fill the gap with some doping, and normally they nothing can do also in this way.