B-Sample wrote:
http://news.sky.com/story/1550226/blood-tests-that-cleared-paula-radcliffeTwo of the OFF scores were 109, which is below the 111 recommended by Ashenden in conjunction with altitude training, the third is 114, taken at the World Half Marathon Championships:"
From the link:
http://news.sky.com/story/1550226/blood-tests-that-cleared-paula-radcliffe"Anything above 103 recorded by a female athlete can be a trigger for investigation and target-testing,"
There are 3 abnormal test scores (and we have no information on the full battery of blood data which would be more useful). Even with the altitude training adjustment, 2 of the test scores are very close to the adjusted threshold. And 1 test score is over the threshold even with the altitude training correction.
At this point there are 2 relevant questions to ask:
Are there other documented cases of athletes who have done altitude training and who are also close to the threshold score?
Are there other documented cases of athletes who have run a race under hot conditions and who surpass even the altitude-training correction threshold?
Other athletes will have been tested over the same time period using the same protocols so it should not be hard to make these sorts of comparisons.