Those accusing me of being inconsistent in accepting Paula?s European record as legitimate whilst rejecting Junxia?s 29:31 are themselves guilty of hypocrisy, in my opinion.
There is simply too much circumstantial evidence surrounding both Ma J. and his stable of athletes to ignore.
Let?s look at some of the facts;
In 1993, the only year of Chinese domination in women?s distance running, Junxia set three world records in a single week. Prior to 1993, she was not ranked in the top 50 in any of those events.
In Stuttgart in the same year, Chinese women won every distance event from 800 to 10000. Two years later, in Gothenburg, not a single Chinese athlete advanced to a final. In 1991, two Chinese athletes won medals in the 10,000m.
Not a single male athlete from China has ever approached anything remotely resembling a world class time at a distance event.
At the world swimming championships in 1994, Chinese athletes won 12 of 16 events, despite having only 7 swimmers in the top 25 prior to 1993. Chinese swimmers were subsequently banned from international competition (as a nation) by FINA in 1996, and several swimmers were banned individually for drug taking as recently as Sydney 2000. Some were also detained at Australian customs (and deported) when drugs were found mixed in with their training kits.
China?s international sporting reputation was in tatters following the scandals of their swimmers and the suspension of Ma J by the Chinese government in 1995. This just happened to coincide with the launch of their bid to host the Olympics in 2008. Being unable to afford any further drug or doping scandals, it is widely believed that the government allowed Ma to return to coaching only if he could produce clean athletes. Thus China?s reputation is restores, the past scandals forgotten, and the Olympic bid a success.
All of this points to systematic use and abuse of performance enhancing drugs (Chinese swimmers were unknown to anyone outside of their own team only WEEKS before smashing 5 world records and winning 6 of 8 gold medals at the world short course championships in 1993).
The hypocrisy, especially where Jason is concerned, is staggering. He?s quite happy to refer to KK as a "druged-up ?", but sees nothing untoward about a Junxia going from outside the top 50 to multiple world record holder within a week. Both have passed drug tests, both have maintained their innocence. Yet Jason chooses to defend the Asian athlete (curiously possessing the identical physical attributes that Jason so publicly adores) and denounce the Moroccan-American.
Others have suggested that I?m not suspicious of Radcliffe because she happens to be British. Believe me when I tell you that, being born in Ireland, I have no emotional attachment to British athletes per se ? especially when one is just about ready to lap our of our "cailins", Sonia O.
So let?s try and apply some circumstantial evidence of our own to Paula?s remarkable year in 2002:
Is there a history of athletes in any sport in Britain systematically using performance-enhancing drugs?
Has Radcliffe produced results that are inconsistent with her previous achievements? (ie, did her world ranking in any event increase dramatically in the last year? The last 5? The last 10?)
Has the national federation ever suspended her coach?
Is there a legacy of distance running in her home country that includes records and championships by both men and women?
I?ll leave it up to those defending the legitimacy of Junxia to decide whether or not these questions are "mute" (I think the author meant to say "moot" ? at least I hope he did).
As others have said, passing a drugs test is, unfortunately, no measure of an athlete?s guilt or innocence. Athletes and performances need to be looked at in an entire context. Athletes don?t train in a vacuum ? each is a product of his/her surroundings. To ignore the circumstances relating to an athlete, his/or her coach or their federation is to miss the truth.
Radcliffe is clean --- Junxia is not.
Martin