Clarify me wrote:
When I read "will go live" I assumed that audio would be up.
No?
Exactly what I assumed, as it's exactly what was implied.
Clarify me wrote:
When I read "will go live" I assumed that audio would be up.
No?
Exactly what I assumed, as it's exactly what was implied.
Gray's record is impressive to be sure but I think Rick Wohlhuter's 1000 m record (2:13.9) is older ('74). Granted that distance is not often run but it is not accurate to say that Gray has the oldest mark on the books.
He was rather merciless toward Ajee and even more so towards Charlene Lipsey who has never tested positive for anything (and who ran an American record indoors that will never be recognized because she WASN'T tested). I would like to hear another clear rejoinder from Derek Thompson.
I can't say anything about what the guy was like in the 90s, although I suspect that like a lot of guys who were at their peaks and were great at their peaks, he had his moments.
But I can say that a charitable organization that I sit on the board of asked him to come out and speak at a fundraiser we were putting on, and he did so without hesitation and without any request for compensation (which we couldn't afford), and he cordially stuck around after to give the donors their money's worth.
He was very candid in his talk there as well, but brought it all home in a very positive way.
So to the extent he was actually a bit arrogant back when he was doing things that no one in this country had ever done before or has ever done since, I will give him a pass for that because he was great to my group when he really had no reason to be.
1) I liked the interview.
2) I knew he'd get flak for saying he found Ajee to be suspicious but applaud him for telling the truth.
Please note he did not say say she's on drugs. He just find it all hard to believe.
I hate the state of modern day journalism. For the most part, interviews just give out PR talk that means nothing. Because if they say anything that is controversial they get ripped as they "have no proof."
3) As I thought about it some last night, I was thinking, "What he said is common sense" if you don't have a science degree which most of us don't have.
I think it comes down to the public doesn't know what to think about doping as we don't have science degrees. In my mind, the USADA press release doesn't give out enough info. The average person doesn't get whay low "part per billion" means. What would a doper have? Would it be part per 10,000? I have no clue.
If contaminated beef is real, then why don't more people test positive? If parts per billion is miniscule and not a performance enhancer, then why are we even bothering to detect it at that low level.
It's kind of like Lagat's EPO positive A. I asked a science friend of mine if one really could have an A be positive and B be negative and he said yes. But again I don't really know that as I"m not an expert.
So it's kind of like going to car mechanic, you have to believe what the people in charge are telling you. In my mind, USADA has proven to me they want to catch cheats so I trust them but most people may just lump them with all sports administrations - which certainly have proven themselves to be corrupt/inept on so many levels whether its the MLB, NFL, FIFA , IOC.
Who was the Kenyan he was referring to after this paragraph?
"You mentioned people offered you drugs. Was this athletes? Agents?
They were athletes. They were my competitors. They didn’t have no shame in letting me know they cheated. I knew they were cheating because the coach that they were with was known as a cheater. I’m not even going to say names, but in fact, he got banned for life because majority of his athletes cheated and he got caught. So he got banned for life. And this particular athlete was under that coach."
I enjoyed the interview and liked his honesty.
The Kenyan who came up to him and said point blank "I'm cheating" should be very easy to identify going by the clues. Why a cheater would do that is a different question. It also suggests an arrogance and swagger that's very uncommon with rural Kenyans.
So the Kenyan was under a coach who got banned for life. The athlete, apparently, paid a price for what he did. Come on LetsRun sleuths, get to work. Let's go!
My uncle has lots of VHS and cassette tapes he recorded from TV and radio interviews of athletes. I heard an interview he gave to BBC radio before the Olympic final in Barcelona in 1992. He said he was planning "on going out hard and taking everyone to what I like to call the 'twilight zone'. That way I think I can beat the African runners".
William Tanui and Nixon Kiprotich did catch him in the final metres, but I don't think it's fair to blame Jose Luis Barbosa for tripping him. In another BBC interview right after the race, he said his back kick caught someone. Not the same thing.
I thought it was a good interview, although Jonathan forgot to ask the most important question, whether Johnny ever ran the 800 on "Pure Hate"?
MAGA
It has to be Billy Konchealla. His son also went on to win World Championship 800 and 1500m running for Country. Then he just disappeared.
El Keniano wrote:
So the Kenyan was under a coach who got banned for life. The athlete, apparently, paid a price for what he did. Come on LetsRun sleuths, get to work. Let's go!
Billy Konchellah? He was later arrested on rape charges. I didn't find anything about him doping, but maybe Johnny was saying Billy's arrest was karma or something.
I liked the interview too, but liking it does not mean agreeing with the substance of everything offered up by the interviewee.I think Johnny Gray fits his own intuitive profile for runners who are "suspicious" (although there is no evidence to back up accusations against him, he nevertheless fits his own profile). So, his willingness to throw shade on others is open to question as a tactic designed to improve his own reputation relative to his contemporaries and successors. Ajee can be targeted by this tactic, I guess, although I still don't believe her success is at all due to PEDs. Against Lipsey there is zero evidence. I don't buy the idea that improvements in performance alone are enough to put a cloud over a runner's head - that would, for example, put Kate Grace, Laura Muir, Shannon Rowbury, and Jordan Hasay (among others) in the spotlight by virtue of their recent and past performance histories. As for Ajee, she is arguably on track to be the greatest female American middle distance runner ever. And her performance trajectory has been quite steady 2017 1:55.612016 1:59.44 (Injured late 2015 to early 2016)2015 1:57.87 2014 1:57.672013 1:58.21 2012 2:00.912011 2:02.642010 2:04.182009 2:07.08Excepting her years affected by injury ( 2016 and 2015 ), that's many years of continuous improvement. If the improvement history were due to doping, one would think there would be more than one minor, and debatable, testing infraction. By virtue of her preeminence, she is certainly one of the most tested athletes in track and field. I would attach some gravity to her leading position, and expect solid evidence, when considering casting suspicion in her direction.
Kmaclam wrote:
Clarify me wrote:When I read "will go live" I assumed that audio would be up.
No?
Exactly what I assumed, as it's exactly what was implied.
"Live" and "audio" are not synonyms. They are scarcely related.
party animal wrote:
El Keniano wrote:So the Kenyan was under a coach who got banned for life. The athlete, apparently, paid a price for what he did. Come on LetsRun sleuths, get to work. Let's go!
Billy Konchellah? He was later arrested on rape charges. I didn't find anything about him doping, but maybe Johnny was saying Billy's arrest was karma or something.
I was hoping he wasn't referring to Billy Konchellah. But Billy beat him to a World Championship, had that scandal of the rape charges, was cocky and impolite unlike most Kenyan runners but not unlike Johnny himself and, finally, lived and trained in the United States, assuming the coach who was banned for life is American.
I thought it was interesting how he beat himself up for raising his arms early at the trials. The film shows that if it was an early celebration, it was early by a few hundredths if a second. So either his recollection is off or he was an unbelievable perfectionist.
Hang on, you're worse than me for blanket broad statements. Let's hope that she is clean. So, we can also look at this a different way, in 2013 Wilson gets down 1:58.21 (which is the male equivalent of about 1:45, a very good time). Over the next two years she improves by 0.5s, then in 2016 she is injured. The classic example of a athlete that has physically reached their peak and hurts themselves trying to get 1% more out of themselves. Then the next thing we know she is using the "tainted meat" excuse to get out of a steroid ban and now she is a 1:55 runner (including finishing in lane 3/4). Ajee is certainly alot prettier that Eastern block cheats or Caster or Maria. It actually sounded like Gray was more suspicious of Lipsey, which would also be a tragedy, as she has a great bottom.
El Keniano wrote:
My uncle has lots of VHS and cassette tapes he recorded from TV and radio interviews of athletes. I heard an interview he gave to BBC radio before the Olympic final in Barcelona in 1992. He said he was planning "on going out hard and taking everyone to what I like to call the 'twilight zone'. That way I think I can beat the African runners".
William Tanui and Nixon Kiprotich did catch him in the final metres, but I don't think it's fair to blame Jose Luis Barbosa for tripping him. In another BBC interview right after the race, he said his back kick caught someone. Not the same thing.
If it is Nixon Kiprotich, I'd be shattered
Koncheallah racked up a few rape and drugs charges and served time in jail.