Ritzenhein finally speaks out and says USADA made right call to ban Salazar: "I stand behind the findings of the panel."

People looking at so many different theories and stretching things every which way. Isn’t the most likely that Salazar pushed the grey area. Broke a couple rules when he tested these areas but nobody doped. That’s why after 6 years you don’t have any doping evidence on any athlete, because there was no doping. Do you really think kara or Steve would be holding that back at this point?

Salazar technically broke a rule looking for grey area advantages. But no athletes were involved. Case closed

"…it was not easy to testify against someone who was once so close to me, I chose to assist and cooperate fully with USADA’s investigation into all practices done at the Nike Oregon Project save my hide and rat out my friends”

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/92/74/e8/9274e8ef8828d85135b059fe953031ff.jpg

No one has proven Aden to dope his athletes either.

Too strong to say there was not “any” evidence he doped athletes. There was some evidence, but it wasn’t enough to meet the burden of proving a doping violation occurred.

I think Ritz did the right thing here. He was the one who initially questioned whether the larger volume infusion was legal (leading magness et al to lower the volume below the 50 cc threshold). He also testified as a witness for USADA.

Thank you for this post, levelheadedness is incredibly rare on these historically emotional threads.

"I'd love to know if Nike offers a retirement bonus/NDA combo!"

....or they offer them a job that includes an NDA. There are an awful lot of former Nike athletes now employed there, wither full-time or in ambassadorial roles.

"but he's never missed a drug test"

THAT'S THE POINT, YOU FVCKING IDIOTS

Did you read ANY of the information that has come out? Yeah, I wonder why he never tested positive when the nike lab was doing regular testing of hormomone levels ALL THE TIME.

Ever hear about a guy named Victor Conte? The guy who ran a huge doping scheme and famously said, "The dopers are always ahead of the testers?"

Yeah, wonder why he never tested positive. I wonder why Marion Jones never tested positive either.

Ever hear about the positive tests that get swept under the rug?

Jesus, you have to willingly be blind to all of this to maintain the level of ignorance y'all have. People like Zat0pek have been trying to tell you this stuff for years and you never listen

semi_pro wrote:

Seems like a guy with lots of integrity. Works hard and cares a lot about the sport. I'm sure its been a hard process for him.

I agree. And now he needs to take the next step, and show some TRUE integrity, and ask for his 12:56 AR, and 60:00 / bronze medal to be stricken from the record books. That would show some real class.

I second that - thank you for this post.

Wildhorse wrote:

Makes sense but wrote:

PS: The only example is the infusions, which seem to have clearly been over the allowed limit. But IIRC, the athletes all said Alberto told them the infusions were legal.

Didn't the report clearly say the only infusions over the allowed limit were the ones given to Magness? Everyone else's were legal.

No, Ritz and others including Tara Welling that we know of for sure were given doses over the legal amount. That's documented. It's also true that Alberto told the athletes that it was legal...but that doesn't change the fact that they trusted him and broke the rules.

If your dad gives you EPO and tells you it's "vitamins" and you test positive...it's still your fault.

reed wrote:

Wildhorse wrote:

Didn't the report clearly say the only infusions over the allowed limit were the ones given to Magness? Everyone else's were legal.

No, Ritz and others including Tara Welling that we know of for sure were given doses over the legal amount. That's documented. It's also true that Alberto told the athletes that it was legal...but that doesn't change the fact that they trusted him and broke the rules.

Could you give us a citation showing where the Reports say this? I just looked at the report, and am pretty sure the Panel says exactly the opposite.

If in fact there was cheating then Dathan and Kara need to provide evidence. They are accepting that they cheated and should be erased from the record books, based on this admission. They should also provide evidence that Alberto was the reason that they cheated. I heard Adam acted like a spoiled brat, then Nike booted him. Always easy to throw stones at those who hurt you. That is what my mother taught me, wait no it's not. The crack head, homeless guy that lives next to me did though.

Championship Gap wrote:

So, if this was a vigorous and comprehensive process, does that mean that all the athletes are clean?

Because, of course, otherwise the process wasn't comprehensive if they missed doping athletes. Because, of course, Ritz also stands behind the panel findings that Salazar unwittingly broke the rules while trying to be careful.

I swear, professional athletes should take remedial logic courses before speaking in public. It'd be good for the sport.

Sleazy Sal wittingly broke the rules while trying to not get caught.

There was no evidence about Lance Armstrong... but he doped like crazy!

For the past few days, one thing about the Al Sal scandal had still been eating away at me... I desperately craved a generic, manufactured political tweet from Ritz about the situation. Now I can relax again.

reed wrote:

No, Ritz and others including Tara Welling that we know of for sure were given doses over the legal amount. That's documented...

Documented where? In the report, the Panel says over and over that the USADA did not prove that the infusions to Ritz and others were over the allowed limits. Here are some examples from pages 75 and 82 of the report on Dr. Brown.

5.156 With respect to Ritzenhein and the infusions received by Grunnagle, Begay, Allen, Rupp, and Erdmann, the Panel declines to apply an adverse inference in this case to conclude that the infusions were in excess of the 100 mL limit....USADA’s position would require the Panel to accept that the infusions were in excess of 100 mL and conclude Respondent committed a violation even though USADA has not presented any affirmative evidence to support these contentions.

5.157 Even if the Panel were to apply an adverse inference, USADA only contends that, at worst, Respondent allegedly trafficked in L-carnitine infusions in excess of 50 mL, not the 100 mL under the 2015 WADA Code. Thus, there is no prohibited method that was being trafficked....

5.200 If anything, the emails exchanged between Salazar, Fedoruk, Respondent, and Ritzenhein suggest that the infusion protocol was modified to a 45 mL infusion volume after Salazar received the correspondence from Fedoruk regarding the WADA rules on infusion limits.

5.201 With respect to the infusions received by Grunnagle, Begay, Rupp, Allen, and Erdmann the Panel likewise finds that USADA has not proven to the Panel’s comfortable satisfaction that Respondent administered a Prohibited Method to these athletes.

Yoyoyo here we go wrote:

FrenchDawg wrote:

Thank you for this post, levelheadedness is incredibly rare on these historically emotional threads.

I second that - thank you for this post.

I guarantee that this is probably the same poster thanking him/herself over and over for the post. Just a few NOPologists, here trying to throw off the truth. Salazar and Dr. Brown are banned for 4 years for crossing the line, and if anything they got off too easy.

This is a joke, there is no evidence that Alberto gave drugs to an athlete. A doctor prescribed it, if that doctor did so without evidence of its need, then they should be thrown in jail and their license should be revoked. I really hope this goes before a court and that it is made public. Those people involved in slander should be help accountable. I really hope those people at USADA that made this ruling, find themselves jobless. Although, this type of thing seems to be common in our culture today. Hope they meet the same demise.

What kind of athlete would choose to be coached by someone under an active investigation (that they surely knew about)? Surely Salazar was just a dealer, not a user!