Mo Trafeh, 2-time FL finallist, 8-time US champ, US 25k record holder, has been caught with EPO, will retire from sport

Point it, we've heard this song and dance before. It's difficult to believe that anyone who remotely follows this sport could stomach such a statement as "I was stopped before I was able to use EPO, I never previously used EPO". Maybe it's pride and ego on the part of Trafeh, but I'm surpised that this statement was publically made by his attorney.

Same here.Save the whiteout page for when the big guns get caught.

just a person wrote:

Whenever there is a whiteout page, I know it is big news in the sport.

I also have a very mild case of dyslexia. I quickly skimmed the headline and read 'Mo Farah' and quickly read on to see what big news about him had happened. I freaked out and reread it twice before realizing it wasn't Farah.

Dumb luck and terrible message board???

Are you out of your mind? This message board has proven to have an impact on professional distance running and continues to grow, and you seem to agree.

What does dumb luck have to do with starting a message board? You think one of the brojos fell onto their keyboard one day and up popped LETSRUN on the screen?

The questions were sent to let Mo and his lawyer know what was GOING to be asked in an interview. In person or over the phone, they could have been presented in a more tactful and softer manner.

Harry Carey wrote:

We end up learning nothing that we don't already know.

Right.

Basically we learn that the brojos' major interest is drugs, and not athletics or performance.

My personal interest is running, not drugs, and therefore I would not waste any time asking any athlete about them, especially as there are much better questions to ask and discussion to have about running.

Personally, my take from this is that the brojos are continuing to advertise and promote the idea that drugs are necessary to run well, which is hogwash. This story and others like it simply run down athletics.

It would be better to not talk about drugs at all, and to not pay any attention to them. After all, they have no importance whatsoever, except to drug promoters, but not to those of us who are truly interested in athletics.

Way too far

I respectfully disagree.

I can't defend Trafeh as he is now a proven cheater. However, your questions to him were ridiculous. Is LRC now a legal agency? Or simply the leader of the witch hunt? Very professional guys.

rojo wrote:

I told his lawyer that he long was suspected. His lawyer's rebuttal was along the lines of this is a guy who was a HS star, right near Ryan Hall at times, what's surprising about his times? He's never failed a drug test.

The fact that he was near Ryan Hall at times, is not the best proof for his case, in fact, after he beat Hall in a Half Marathon, many people, including me, thought Trafeh was on the juice (as probably is -or was- Ryan Hall)

Miss Herd wrote:

PEDs use is done by people who don't have the money to access to special "services." The real action is with the unknown gray-zone "things" that are going on.

I disagree - PED use is done by people with very little moral character. Money has less to do with it than taking short cuts in all aspects in life and not thinking they are wrong. Just look at the statements made by those who have been caught, they talk about how good they were, and almost always take the victim role. I bet they cheat in their business deals, relationships, education, life.

Harry Carey wrote:

What's wrong with them is that *they were all leading questions.* As a journalist, as a lawyer, as a teacher--and I'm sure in many other professions--you learn early on that simply making a statement and then adding "right?" to it effectively forecloses the very dialogue you are trying to establish. Not only are you asking a question to which there is only one of two possible, monosyllabic answers ("yes" or "no"), but by forcing the interviewee only to engage with the statement you yourself have made, you radically curb any interesting elaboration from the get-go.

and

Leader of the Witch Hunt wrote:

I can't defend Trafeh as he is now a proven cheater. However, your questions to him were ridiculous. Is LRC now a legal agency? Or simply the leader of the witch hunt? Very professional guys.

I understand what you all are saying. Robert can get on here and clarify more, but I do know the back and forth with the lawyer had gone on for a weeks. These were not the first questions Robert had posed to him.

The lawyer was saying Trafeh wanted to come clean, but there is a huge disconnect, most people don't believe the story he is trying to tell.

I've emitted farts that sound better than the questions you posed to Trafeh. Look at the way Oprah interviewed Lance when he made the big reveal. She got the truth out of him yet she didn't come off as a major douche. You need to go back to school, buddy.

And the story still has typos. It's not a long story, either, so I don't understand the whole issue with time delay in its release and the proofreading (especially since it wasn't proofread properly (or written properly, for that matter)).

AMATEUR.

"...7. Did you ever see illegal drug usage by others while training in the US or abroad? (Editor’s note: The Moroccan born Trafeh lives and trains often in Morocco). If so where and who was using it? If not, did anyone ever talk to you about possibly using illegal drugs during your career even if you never actually saw it?..."

Wow, actually this is the kind of question that can't be answered. Do you think that Trafeh is going to blow the whistle against probably 20 or 30 elites (including many olympians)?

Beergut wrote:

I've emitted farts that sound better than the questions you posed to Trafeh. Look at the way Oprah interviewed Lance when he made the big reveal. She got the truth out of him yet she didn't come off as a major douche. You need to go back to school, buddy.

And the story still has typos. It's not a long story, either, so I don't understand the whole issue with time delay in its release and the proofreading (especially since it wasn't proofread properly (or written properly, for that matter)).

AMATEUR.

Oprah got more out of Lance than the Brojos got out of Trafeh but I hardy think she got the "truth" out of him as there were a lot of very evasive answers and a lot of questions that went unasked and unanswered.

Delaying a story for proofreading on Letsrun is comical. I'd hate to see the unedited version...

The fact is that Mo cheated, and he admitted to cheating. Mo was an athlete that a lot of people looked to as a good and solid hope. Why are we grousing about question quality and personal respect when the person in question (Trafeh) disrespected the whole sport of running and USATF by openly cheating? You are not forced to buy PEDs. You choose. He chose. I read the questions and I personally think they were easy on him. He cheated. End. Of. Story.

Beergut wrote:

I've emitted farts that sound better than the questions you posed to Trafeh. Look at the way Oprah interviewed Lance when he made the big reveal. She got the truth out of him yet she didn't come off as a major douche. You need to go back to school, buddy.

And the story still has typos. It's not a long story, either, so I don't understand the whole issue with time delay in its release and the proofreading (especially since it wasn't proofread properly (or written properly, for that matter)).

AMATEUR.

rojo wrote:

My response was along the lines of, "I don't know exactly. It may not be fair but he's long been suspected and now he gets caught with EPO. Now, as a result, it's going to be virtually impossible for him to win the public relations battle on this one."

Rojo, have you ever heard of circular logic?

Here is an example:

- Trafeh has long been suspect.

- Therefore, his stories are suspect.

- ...

couldn't disagree more wrote:

curt kobaine wrote:

Those questions had zero tact. Did you guys even discuss what questions to ask and how to ask them, or did you do that completely on a whim?

Couldn't disagree more. Sick of mamby pamby journalists lobbing nerf softballs to PED-using athletes. It's time someone cuts through the lame lawyerese to expose what a minimal confession Trafeh made.

Any teenager with a laptop could have done that.

It takes a journalist to get answers.

That's why Trafeh will be talking to real media and not Letsrun. Opportunity lost, and with the email posted online to show how it went down.

And the Tea Party has proven to have an impact on the GOP, and Kip Litton has proven to have an impact on marathon running. Get my drift?

I think he meant that a couple of enthusiastic guys with few scruples and no journalistic skills have managed to eke out a name as "voices" of running for maybe 15 years. In a non-marginal sport this couldn't have happened, but they do deserve credit for their enthusiasm and ingenuity.

That's sort of how their posts appear to be created, so who knows?

Bullshit. Listen to their questioning of athletes and coaches at press conferences. rojo sounds just like the class clown who has taken four times the prescribed dose of Adderall and just finished masturbating.

rojo wrote:

Why do I need to do tact? I want the truth.

Do you really not get this??? Your own lack of tact prevented you from getting even one word from him.

Listing off how your anonymous cronies suspected him in high school is not the way to start a conversation.

I really admired how you went after Mark Block and associates, but this was a swing and a miss.

Monti was also a supporter of EPO Hesch as well. Came on here, in fact, defending him when his performances were questioned.

anonymouse lurker. wrote:

I'm just curious how david monti is going to distance himself from this one. he was always quick to gush about trafeh, bring him to nyc (didn't he run like 60flat there a week after destroying the field at grr?), despite the obvious fact that he was dirty, has a dirty manager, and is generally considering an all around jackass. I'm sure monti will pull a "pistorious," on this one (for those of you that forgot, google his comments shortly after the pisto story broke).

for the rest of us, this has been obvious since 2009, when he went from running barely sub 30min 10k's and 66min 1/2's, to 60flat and 28's in one year. bollox.