"The Drug Cheat Mary Slaney"

Well said!

agree with all that except where you mention that Letsrun.com strives to be objective. I don't feel that make any legitimate attempt at such

I too am tired of LR repeatedly singling out Slaney in that way and never mentioning it for many others. Slaney's records still are official, and everyone is entitle to speculate as to any athlete's drug usage, but there is no question that Slaney was an extraordinary talent from a very young age who did not test positive until late in her career when she appeared to be trying to hang on well past her prime.

John the Ninth wrote:

agree with all that except where you mention that Letsrun.com strives to be objective. I don't feel that make any legitimate attempt at such

I agree that letsrun.com does not strive to be completely objective, but I also think that it seeks to be less biased than other sources in important respects, perhaps most notably in bringing attention to athletes who are not from the U.S. For that very reason, I phrased it as "the level of objectivity to which it generally appears to aspire."

And the front page yesterday extolling Gatlin and slamming Slaney was jolting and wildly inconsistent.

From the Letsrun front page:

"Justin Gatlin had the fastest 100-200 same-day double ever as he crushed the competition in Brussels."

They did not say "Drug cheat Justin Gatlin"

And I didn't notice them write "drug cheat" in front of other names of those that served drug suspensions.

But Mary Slaney is always prefaced by drug cheat on this site without ever having any actual drugs found in her tests or testimony or investigations that have found her to use drugs.

In the early 80sm Slaney was being coached by Dick Brown, the architect of the AW doping program (see the Ben Johnson documentary).

The T:E ratio (11:1) test was not many years after her world class career. It was the reason why she made made the 1996 Olympic team. In 1996 she had not shown fitness that indicated she was capable of making that team. Suddenly, out of nowhere, with an acne covered back, she makes the team. When asked by the IAAF arbitration panel to submit her medical records for a longitudinal study to support her defense that it was birth-control pills that made her do it, she declined.

Even after that she had the audacity to sue the IAAF for "racketeering" violations under the RICO Act.

Let's face it, Slaney did herself no favors by her public persona, routinely exhibiting public tantrums and just plain nastiness towards her competition, making her on the short list for the title of worst sportsmanship by a track and field athlete.

Avocado's Number wrote:

John the Ninth wrote:

agree with all that except where you mention that Letsrun.com strives to be objective. I don't feel that make any legitimate attempt at such

I agree that letsrun.com does not strive to be completely objective, but I also think that it seeks to be less biased than other sources in important respects, perhaps most notably in bringing attention to athletes who are not from the U.S. For that very reason, I phrased it as "the level of objectivity to which it generally appears to aspire."

Totally agree with you Avocado. This has also bothered me.

LRC articles should either leave out such label except when relavent (for example posting on a recent positive, mentioning the athlete being discussed is just returning from a ban, etc) or they should add "drug cheat" as a label to every athlete who has ever tested positive every time he/she is mentioned.

The inconsistent nature and the seeming desire to force this into reader's minds only for certain athletes I find baffling. If they are truly so offended by drug use that they cannot leave out every mention when given the opportunity, they should mention it every time. Being selective with the label of "drug cheat" makes it clear they have an agenda besides bringing to light the cancer that is drugs in our sport. I suspect instead they have some sort of personal vendetta against certain coaches and so they want to negatively label anybody associated with those coaches while casting athletes associated with other coaches/training groups in a positive light.

Perhaps the brojos will one get a chance to discuss this with Mary's husband.

The drug cheat Mary Slaney was indeed a drug cheat. What's the problem?

Amen. Agree with this.

Slaney was a drug cheat who cheated during her career, where do you come up with this tripe?

Well said. Unfortunately this thread will surely be deleted.

Finders keepers wrote:

Let's face it, Slaney did herself no favors by her public persona, routinely exhibiting public tantrums and just plain nastiness towards her competition, making her on the short list for the title of worst sportsmanship by a track and field athlete.

Translation.... People who make me feel good and aren't mean to my face are welcome to lie and cheat. However, people who are rude and who I don't like can not.

[quote]fact checka wrote:

Slaney was a drug cheat who cheated during her career, where do you come up with this tripe?

Looks like you're the one bringing the tripe.

I think drug cheat Mary Slaney is just right, as is drug cheat Justin Gatlin, and drug cheat Javier Sotomayor, etc., etc..

I was told by a prominent AW coach in Eugene back in the 80s that Slaney was doping. Was the accusation true? I don't know. I do know that she could and did beat the top USSR women, who more than likely doped. I do know that she tested positive later. I wish she would just tell the truth, plain and simple. The fact that she denied, denied, denied to the bitter end is a shame.

There's a saying, "Where there's smoke, there's fire." In this instance, there was smoke and ashes.

Agree with OP 100%. Without even trying I seem to like people the more LetsRun.com (mostly Rojo probably) bashes on them. It's their website, though, so if they are going to continue with "drug cheat Mary Decker-Slaney" can we just abbreviate that to DCMD-Slaney?

I hadn't realized Sotomayor went positive for Nandrolone! Holy crap.

Yes certainly you could argue that she got caught at the end of her career however, she was competing and she was made the trials for the 5000m. It is possible that she was using it to comeback from injury or give her the edge at an older age. She was however, doping. Her ratio was sky high and that it not possible from taking birth control. Does that mean she was doped her whole career? No but it doesn't mean that she wasn't and we all know with which group she was associated. So yes, she is a drug cheat just like Gay or Gatlin or Powell or Baumann. They are all drug cheats. Should the Brojos refer to her as one? Well certainly, just so long as they refer to all others as drug cheats. It is lame for them to not call Gatlin a cheat but call Slaney one. But is anyone is arguing that Slaney wasn't a cheat when she got caught, then they are just fooling themselves.

Completely agree. LR noticeably singles out Slaney.

Here is what bothered me about the Slaney case. With Tyson Gay, there was the Epstein connection. Marion Jones and Regina Jacobs were linked to Balco. Eventually with drug cheats, a supplier is revealed, or a trainer squeals and their story is eventually supported by some evidence. Think A-Rod, Armstrong, Braun. From what I can remember, no one ever squealed on Slaney, she wasn't linked to a supplier, and no one claimed they supplied her with the testosterone. Maybe I'm not remembering that correctly, but did any other evidence - besides the positive tests of course - come to light that she was indeed cheating?

Just wondering...