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

anonymouse lurker. wrote:

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.

I personnaly think that he was a good, clean runner when he was in HS and ARIZONA. Look at his HS 10K, 2mile track time. HS Cross country. Arizona CC times at Stanford. he def had the potential. I saw him doing clean training back in 2009 before going to Europe. He was capable of 3:45, 13:45.

Now if the jump to the roads was clean or not, I don't know. he was training in Morocco and a lot of this drug crap is used over there. Whether he used it or not, that's question?

i am AMAZED at the number of highly accomplished journalist on the boards after reading this thread - i thought everyone on here was either a doctor, tech company CEO, or high-powered lawyer!

turd alert wrote:

"I was stopped before I was able to use EPO, I never previously used EPO and if I had the financial resources to fight this case, I am confident that I would prevail."

Yeah, ok. What a turd.

If you don't believe him, then why ask any questions?

The questions were pointless.

I haven't read the article yet, so I can't weigh in on that, but this is a great comment.

Drug cheats are people too. Should they be banned? Of course! I wish we had far stricter doping enforcement laws.

That being said, drug cheats are people too. They made a MISTAKE.

The Drug Cheats are people who need 'forgiveness??'

No. What the drug cheats need is to pay back the prize money they STOLE from their clean, honest competitors.

Then they need to *double* that, as punishment, and incentive to others to compete honestly, and disincentive to others to cheat and steal.

THAT's what the Drug Cheats need.

J.R. wrote:

turd alert wrote:

"I was stopped before I was able to use EPO, I never previously used EPO and if I had the financial resources to fight this case, I am confident that I would prevail."

Yeah, ok. What a turd.

If you don't believe him, then why ask any questions?

The questions were pointless.

Because if he would just come clean, and own his mistakes, I'd have more respect for the guy. But no, I'll only admit to exactly what I've been caught for, and nothing more.

sp2 wrote:

The Drug Cheats are people who need 'forgiveness??'

No. What the drug cheats need is to pay back the prize money they STOLE from their clean, honest competitors.

Then they need to *double* that, as punishment, and incentive to others to compete honestly, and disincentive to others to cheat and steal.

THAT's what the Drug Cheats need.

I'm definitely not saying they shouldn't be punished harshly. I do wish there were better treating measures, and this is again a case where drug testing didn't catch a cheat. So frustrating.

McFlounder wrote:

"I have never failed a drug test" ... is the biggest joke ever.

This makes me sad. I have no idea what a clean athlete is supposed to say if they are questioned.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

McFlounder wrote:

"I have never failed a drug test" ... is the biggest joke ever.

This makes me sad. I have no idea what a clean athlete is supposed to say if they are questioned.

"Never failed a drug test" is certainly less of a joke now than it was in Lance's day.

He retired because he knew he couldn't beat the new biological passport tests.

Those of us on the "outside" with no first-hand knowledge, but whom strongly desire that cheating be elimitated, are pleased to learn that one of these folks are caught so unequivocally. Whether or not they ever measure EPO in Trafeh's blood, he isn't supposed to have EPO on his person--clearly. What is frustrating to me about this whole discussion are those of you who are willing to claim *more* than you know. To my mind the challlenge of ending cheating is not served by people stating "so and so IS" using. We only know what we know and when you claim that athlete X, Y, or Z is using just because of heresay, you are contributing to a culture in which young people are pressured to use it themselves, or to choose another sport. We should have ZERO tolerance for those who are caught (and stricter penalties than are now in place), but unless you have first hand knowledge, try to remember that the culture of endless negativity is very damaging for young athletes. It makes it hard for them to feel good about choosing track; it makes it harder for those who do choose track to feel as if they should stay on the right side of the cheating line. Just my opinion. I have personally been very close to giving up on following the sport because of this issue. I love track and want to keep it close to me, so I struggle with the back and forth. Tyson Gay getting caught was pretty gut wrenching. I am not ashamed to admit it was heartbreaking. I gather that those of you who are so addicted to "hatin'" are immune to such naivetey as myself. I guess we all have to find our own comfort zone but it's hard to imagine how those of you who claim so blithley that "everyone is cheating" find it even worth bothering to follow track. If I got to that point, I would just give up. But as I said, we all have our on approach.

record story ever heard of wrote:

Oh come on. The questions were objective and not insulting to anyone more mature than a 5-year-old.

If Mo wanted to talk, there was no way to avoid the issue while answering those questions.

Mo Trafeh's answers (or lack thereof) tells me all I need to know.

Question - Where was Mo flying in from.

Comment - USADA needs to hire experienced interrogation detectives. Give a 2 year suspension for assistance in breaking the EPO ring.

An 8 year suspension for zero cooperation.

Obviously testing isn't effective ALONE.

I too would love to know where he was flying from. One is inclined to think there is a lot behind the picture about his own possible use of the drug, and the question about whether or not he might have been trafficking. What is odd however is why he reached out to LetsRun in the first place. Was he hoping to open up about his story before "lawyering up"?

Go watch Oprah talk to Lance. She got a lot of answers without accusing or being rude. She guided him to tell a story and let him hang himself. Conversely, The only acceptable answer to you was "I've been doping for years and had EPO flowing out my ears for the 25k record". You were not going to accept or believe anything else. The truth was irrelevant given your tactic.

rojo wrote:

If he wanted to salvage his reputation int he running community, there was and still is only one way to do it. Be 100% truthful. Let everyone see EVERYTHING so they can then believe your story which most people will find implausible.

Bowl Cut wrote:

The fact is, Letsrun is the PREMIER site for track and field news and discussion. They are obviously doing something right.

Bullshit. You must not get out much. This is a place where trolling is encouraged and all manner of crap is way out of hand. Saying this is a premier site for discussing running is akin to calling USA Today the most esteemed newspaper in the country because it's #1 in circulation or Duck Dynasty one of the most respected contemporary television programs because it gets high ratings. We live in a country where startlingly stupid shit like Dancing With the 'Tards and Real House-Hos of East Saint Louis are more popular than, say, Cosmos. So please don't conflate popularity with quality -- the only reason this shithole stays afloat is because "everyone" knows "everyone" comes here, and because you can use 15 different handles in the same thread, which I have done, as well as goad the mods into banning you when you know this will result in the banning of an entire huge netblock of users in a major city, which I have also done.

What's interesting is that wejo comes across as far more stable and intelligent than his borderline hysterical twin brother, whom I actually met a couple of years ago.

Harry Carey wrote:

But what's wrong with the questions sent to Trafeh wasn't that they were "mean" or "tough" or lacked "tact."

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.

These are great insights. It would be nice to see a response. If I asked questions like those in my line of work (editor/translator/writer--albeit an entirely different platform) I would effectively alienate myself from establishing any kind of meaningful discourse whatsoever.

I've been coming here for years, and am frustrated with precisely the kind of rhetoric and lack of professionalism pointed out by the above poster. Of course, I keep coming, and will continue to do so, partly because the site is clearly designed with serious running issues in mind (i.e. it's not Runner's World).

Pretty interesting that Christian Hesch saw this coming over 2.5 years ago, maybe more than a coincidence that one EPO cheat was suspicious of another?

https://twitter.com/Sub4Medic/status/158211900906291200

Testy Testing wrote:

That something is not forcing user name registration.

You have no idea how wrong you are, because you're not endowed with enough brainpower to look at this from any standpoint outside your own myopic perspective.

Sure, this place is great for trolls, because they can say whatever they want under any number of handles and easily override any IP bans they earn. But this creates a tremendous amount of work for rojo and wejo the rest of this mindless bunch, because they have to root out and edit or delete individual posts and try to keep serial troublemakers from returning using badly outdated and futile methods. Requiring registration would greatly enhance THEIR experience here while not really compromising OURS, unless you can make a case for how having to register would somehow be problematic. And if you think these guys would have to shell out money for a board that would fit the bill, you are wrong.

I guess the reason they don't do this, is the one other people have noted that I preferred not to believe simply because it's so pathetic: It would make it harder for the owners of the site to themselves embark on trolling expeditions.

Good points. I respect the goal of LR, and their doggedness, but the questions were cub reporter level. To be fair, they aren't trained journalists. This is why true journalism is still needed. Sadly, many skilled reporters lack Johnson's unflinching desire to seek the truth because they have editors and owners and advertisers to please. LR isn't bound by the same constraints, but leading questions aren't the best strategy. A for intent D for method.

Exactly, there's a network effect in play here. Letsrun's popularity has nothing to do with the quality of the editorial content or the platform itself, and has everything to do with the pure quantity of posts and posters. It's unfortunate really - this site has the potential to be so much more but the ownership refuses to acknowledge its deficiencies.