6 Thoughts on Mo Trafeh Drug Suspension: Including #3 Who Else in Flagstaff was Doping?

LetsRun.com wrote:

4) LRC Nation is pretty good at finding cheats

Hmm considering that basically everyone is considered a drug cheat by at least someone in the LRC Nation, I'd say the LRC Nation actually has a pretty low success rate at correctly identifying drug cheats.

Lakovichrun wrote:

Haha... The guy who posted this, he also takes drugs. He's my best friend. He's very jealous on other runners because he's a shit. He run like granny...lol..... You can't win because you took drugs? You have to work hard so all you guys need to stop talk about people and work hard. All slow runners who the one always talk shit on message board. Stop talking shit about people and keep working hard. Talking ain't taking nowhere

Lol. These last two posts are the funniest things I've read on Letsrun. I read it out loud with a JayZ accent and it killed it.

Bila wrote:

The person who post this discussion, he's the one who takes drugs trust me. All people who resides in usa are not clean. Always talk shit. If you guys are smart take drug and make money. Life is short. Be smart and take drugs otherwise you ain't gonna make money. Everybody takes drugs. No ones clean. I take drugs everyday but never get caught and I'll never get caught.

I kid you not. I looked up the IP address of this post and it comes from Flagstaff, AZ.

YEAH BUDDY wrote:

LetsRun.com wrote:

4) LRC Nation is pretty good at finding cheats

Hmm considering that basically everyone is considered a drug cheat by at least someone in the LRC Nation, I'd say the LRC Nation actually has a pretty low success rate at correctly identifying drug cheats.

Letsrun... Or all runners for that matter, are probably the most naive of any sport out there. Anyone who wants to perform takes something. Either it's a 100 Therapeutic Use Exemptions or making trips to Mexico. The difference with other sports is that nobody here believes it's widespread. Of course 100% of NFL players take HGH, T and recovery IVs. Even Payton Manning had an IV at halftime last Sunday.

Anyone who follows professional cycling knows 95% of the TDF peloton is on a program. But that's just the way it is. The Lance Armstrong case didn't eliminate anything, it just made everyone a little more careful. If you want to watch a bunch of clean runners, have fun watching the Turkey Trot.

Case in point...

Yonas is unnerved that people are on to him. Or his training partners are laughing because they're still under the radar...The southwest, and Flagstaff in particular is a doping haven. It is the Mt. Teide/Tenerife, or Mt. Koloka of running. What busted American based runners come from anywhere else? Adrienne Herzog was in Colorado, and Hellebuyck in Albuquerque, in addition Fagan, Trafeh, Sisay. Am I forgetting anyone?

wejo wrote:

I kid you not. I looked up the IP address of this post and it comes from Flagstaff, AZ.

I would think Albequerque has the highest concentration. Many international athletes have been suspended there. And that's also where Paula Radcliffe did her training.

Regarding how effective the tests the athlete underwent, some things are important to understand.

Old fashioned EPO has a pretty short detection window in urine. A few days in the best situation. So, don't do it too close to competition and you'll be okay.

The use of EPO will definitely show up in the athlete's bio-passport values. It's up to the federation (national? International?) to open a sanction on the irregular values. It's also up to the federation in most cases to do blood tests.

I don't follow running closely, so I don't know if the sport's administrators are sanctioning for irregular longitudinal values or even doing blood tests. WADA/NADO will have some stats in their annual reports, but barely useful.

Reviewing what is known from the Russian leaks in IAAF corruption:

-Athlete can report sample number to corrupt official who gets the test altered at the lab a variety of ways.

-Athletics federation tests, has an athlete that's "too hot" and keeps them out of competition. Never tested positive.

-Athletics federation has positive and just doesn't open a sanction. There is no rule against this.

Plenty of opportunity to never test positive and federation officials to make money hiding positives. Definitely not limited to Russia.

Techincally, the anti-doping system works okay. It's the corruption and interference from sports federations and then cleverly shifting the blame to WADA that leaves the impression the system is ineffective.

Athletes in Flagstaff during 2011-2012? Ryan Hall

http://archive.azcentral.com/sports/articles/2012/01/12/20120112london-olympics-ryan-hall-marathon-training.html

If I read your article correctly, it's also very interesting apparently no one at the U.S. federation is processing whereabouts failures as anti-doping violations.

Another opportunity for senior USATF people to make money in the worst case. In the best case, it allows huge performance gains through doping.

Is Trafeh a favored athlete at USATF? I would assume so, but don't follow the sport closely.

I'm assuming USATF has favored athletes like other IOC sports with poor (no money for bribes), lower-ranked dopers the ones getting the sanctions.

runDirtyrun wrote:

I'm assuming USATF has favored athletes ...

Uhhh, you may not be aware how the bread is getting buttered now in T&F; look up who recently got a long-term multi-year contract with USATF.

ukathleticscoach wrote:

So why did Gay get 2 years (reduced to 1 backdated make it about a month) and Trafeh 4 years

I don't believe Trafeh and I don't believe Gay

Interesting that on Gay's wiki page it says he is' modest not like most sprinters'. I would rather have an arrogant clean athlete than a modest acting doper.

They seem like completely different cases. Gay blew three tests all in a row suggesting he didn't think he needed to try and hide whatever it was he was using. He immediately came clean, paid back all his earnings during the suspension period and rolled on his coach (who also happened to be a USATF official) and possibly others.

Trafeh on the other hand initially lied, then sort of cooperated and ratted on people, but ultimately failed to cooperate or provide evidence against others. He also refused to participate in his arbitration hearing and fled the country. Presumably he has not paid back any of his winnings.

It makes sense not to believe either of them, but the only hard evidence that we had to use against them (apart from their own admissions) was the failed tests from Gay and the EPO that Trafeh possessed. The truth is it is very difficult to develop evidence of doping, which is why we need to give athletes incentive to talk and offer to cut deals like the one Gay got.

I know people here like to treat all dopers as the same and want lifetime bans for all, but given the limitations of our detection systems and the need for at least a modicum of due process that's not really possible. And given those practicalities, Gay did exactly what you want someone to do when they're caught, and Trafeh did almost the exact opposite. Given the facts of the two cases, I think the disparity in the fines makes perfect sense.

Ben L Wrong wrote:

Athletes in Flagstaff during 2011-2012? Ryan Hall

http://archive.azcentral.com/sports/articles/2012/01/12/20120112london-olympics-ryan-hall-marathon-training.html

Really, you needed to post a link to "prove" that he lived in Flagstaff? Tons of runners live in Flagstaff, probably more than any other city. Not news at all. The question is which dopers lived in Flagstaff. (Not to assume 100% that Hall was clean, but 2011-2012 is right when his career took a nosedive so I'm going to bet he didn't.)

hold on here wrote:

But if the athletes are not aware of the full extent of 'medicines' being put into the syringes, are they really doping?

Exactly, just remove the labels and put an "H" and a "T" on the vials - how is the athlete supposed to know what's really in them ?

Bila wrote:

The person who post this discussion, he's the one who takes drugs trust me. All people who resides in usa are not clean. Always talk shit. If you guys are smart take drug and make money. Life is short. Be smart and take drugs otherwise you ain't gonna make money. Everybody takes drugs. No ones clean. I take drugs everyday but never get caught and I'll never get caught.

I bet you tear it up on the road scene. How much money did you make this year? In the US in the summer before heading to Europe for winter races?

Trafeh spent $650 dollars on his dope, maybe you have a better connection and only go down to Mexico like Hesch?

I was calling him EPMo for years!

The altitude myth

Altitude = hiding from testing

or confusing the biological passport

People have been going to altitude since long before there was reliable testing, let alone the biological passport.