I've said it before and I'll say it again:I competed in track and cross-country for two different universities, one NAIA and the other NCAA DI in a BCS conference. I have a close friend and law school classmate who went to work for the NCAA as an investigator. Later he worked directly for the NFL, and then went to work for two NFL franchises. Through a combination of both my sport and my profession, I have been very fortunate to get to know a good number of world-class and professional athletes in a variety of different sports. Because of my profession, I am regularly provided a large amount of information because those giving it to me know that it is privileged and cannot be divulged. So, in this summary don't expect many details or names because you won't get any. Rather, I will distill and explain more generally my understanding of the subject into a few main principles. In a separate post, I will provide a few selected examples not as anecdotal evidence but rather as examples or illustrations of the concept.Here goes:PRINCIPLE #1: The cheaters are (almost) always ahead of the testers. The hardest thing for people to understand is that negative test results truly don't mean a thing. They really don't. Whether or not an athlete has never tested positive is absolutely, completely and totally irrelevant. Marion Jones passed 162 drug tests during a period of time when she was using a designer steroid, EPO and HGH. I have seen guys take the medicine chest one day and test clean the next. The multiple reasons for this (use of undetectable substances, masking agents, cycling the drug use, pre-testing and monitoring done by sponsors or even governing bodies to assist with avoiding detection, etc.) are many and beyond the scope of this simple post.Just like in the BALCO scandal, there are labs who create undetectable drugs for the sole purpose of evading testing. Remember, in BALCO the only way the designer steroid that Regina Jacobs and many others were using was discovered was because a syringe containing a tiny amount of the drug was provided to WADA. From there, they created a test and went back and tested previously tested samples that had been frozen and preserved. Had it not been for Trevor Graham providing that syringe, we still wouldn't know about that designer steroid. You can rest assured that there are other substances out there that were created for exactly the same purpose that we still don't know exist, and may never know exist.The key point to understand here is that when someone tests positive, that is the exception not the rule. The rule is that it is normal and ordinary for drug cheats to test negative. A positive test usually results from either absolute stupidity or just sheer bad luck. It is critical that you understand this. As the saying goes, “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”PRINCIPLE #2: Doped up athletes are good for business.Doped up athletes run faster, jump higher, set records, perform more consistently, defy the aging process and are generally more exciting to watch. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if doped up athletes are more exciting to watch and attract more fans, TV viewers, and revenue, then those who profit from that increased revenue are more than willing to, at the very least, turn a blind eye to doping but are far more likely to even participate in, and possibly even encourage, the doping and avoiding detection. This includes everyone from the athletes themselves to the governing bodies to sponsors to the media to agents to sponsors and even teammates and spouses.The motives to dope are many and large. Agents work on a commission, so a bigger contract for the athlete means a bigger commission for the agent. One way to get a bigger contract is to perform better and one of the most certain ways to perform better is to dope. Pro teams make money by selling tickets and through TV contracts. If you want to sell more tickets and attract more eyeballs to more TV sets, then doped athletes will unquestionably help your bottom line. I could go on and on.It is also true of governing bodies. As I have posted before, our own governing body performed pre-testing prior to the 1984 Olympic Trials and Olympics in order to aid our own athletes and avoiding detection: http://articles.ocregister.com/2009-...-irving-dardik. Even though I've posted before, it's worth repeating here:
It's not just the East Germans and Moroccans whose governing bodies are more than happy to help their drug athletes avoid detection.
The bottom line is that there is a tremendous support system in place that encourages, fosters and promotes athletes doping. Athletes ascending the performance ladder are surrounded by coaches, teammates, spouses, agents, sponsors, teams, and governing bodies who all benefit from their doping. And, of course, the athletes themselves benefit.
PRINCIPLE #3: You should never be surprised by who tests positive.
The most surprising thing about a positive test is that someone actually slipped up and got caught. However, as to who that someone is there should be no surprise. The reason for that is that the incidence of drug use is so high and the risk of detection is so low. The high probability of any one athlete out of a population of athletes with a very high incidence of drug use simply means that you cannot be surprised when someone turns out to be a drug cheat. Negative tests mean nothing, and activism against drug use means nothing. That said, while no one can be above suspicion because the incidence of drug use is so high, there are certainly those who are suspected more than others (see Principle #5 below).
The very best quote I've ever seen regarding this point was by KevinM when he said in reference to Floyd Landis that "When the Amish kid tests positive, no one can be above suspicion."
PRINCIPLE #4: Cheaters are extremely skilled liars.
There are a lot of reasons for this. Many truly do not believe they're doing anything wrong because "everybody does it" and they are surrounded by people supporting and protecting them in their drug use. It's a little bit of a chicken and egg question; do they only lie after beginning to cheat or is it because they are liars that they cheat? I've never fully answer that one to my satisfaction. All I know for sure is the drug cheats are some of the most magnificently skilled liars I've ever encountered.
PRINCIPLE #5: I can't define it but I know it when I see it.
When you've had a peek inside that world, he learn that otherwise very subtle or innocuous things can mean a great deal. There often isn't any one telltale sign of cheating, although there can be (like Lagat's recent braces, acquired in his late 30s despite previously having previously flawless teeth; a prominent sign of HGH use). It's usually a combination of a variety of factors, including competition patterns, performances, the company they keep, and a lot of other things. It's usually not one thing, but rather an overall picture that emerges based on a myriad of factors. You cannot simplistically look at performances and know who doped and who doesn't. Performances are just one of many factors that paint picture.
PRINCIPLE #6: Logic means nothing , and everything.
This is the part that most people can't get past. They apply logic to PEDs ("it doesn't make sense that they would use PEDs because . . .") PED use doesn't conform to our logic. A lot of human behavior defies logic. If logic governed human behavior, all we'd have to do is point out to an alcoholic that drinking that much is ruining their life and they'd stop. I know this sounds nuts, but logic and what makes "sense" or "adds up" will get you nowhere in understanding the world of PEDs. It ain't about logic. It's a special kind of warped behavior with its own rules and sick rationalizations.
But on the other hand, logic is everything. To the athletes and the enablers with which they are surrounded, it is only logical to use if "everyone's doing it", it helps them make more money, there is very little chance of detection, etc.
In the world of PEDs, you can believe very little of what you see. It's a world that operates on its own sick rationalizations that are foreign to the vast majority of people on the outside looking in at that world. There's always a wizard or two behind the curtain creating an illusion for those looking in so they don't see the reality. In the world of PEDs, what you see is often nothing but a carefully crafted mirage.