Ethiopian Female Marathoner Provisionally Suspended For Failed Doping Test

rizzoboy wrote:

That's a thinking error. There are no Ethiopia and Kenya's clean runners, let alone top clean runners.

Just like there were no clean Tour de France riders in 2000.

From this "nobody" to the Kenyan 2016 Olympic marathon gold medalist who got busted, every single one of them is dirty. It's part of their culture, their DNA.

I would wager that you haven’t known many elite athletes from either of those two countries.

There is a genuine drugs problem in both countries, but it is far from all encompassing.

There are a ton of dopers in both countries. One of my acquaintances was good enough to be able to leave Kenya and compete here in the US. He's nearly as skeptical of Kenyans and Ethiopian athletes as we are on the boards.

I think you have to be incredibly naive to think that there isn't widespread, systematic doping in Kenya and other nations. The benefits are too significant and if the nation's own sports federation does not take it seriously, it is almost impossible to catch. The rule is always that when something seems too good to be real (East German swim team, Spanish then American then British cyclists, Jamaica sprinters, etc), it is.

astro wrote:

I think you have to be incredibly naive to think that there isn't widespread, systematic doping in Kenya and other nations. The benefits are too significant and if the nation's own sports federation does not take it seriously, it is almost impossible to catch. The rule is always that when something seems too good to be real (East German swim team, Spanish then American then British cyclists, Jamaica sprinters, etc), it is.

And even more naive to think there's no doping in North America and Western Europe where the drugs are made in the first place. Ignoring red flags like say, universal asthma rates in Norwegian endurance sport, or an American doping coach who never really doped anyone, a catch rate indicates either these are the most honest and honourable peoples in history or, more likely, they're just scientifically advanced enough to keep a step ahead of testing standards. Percentage-wise, I think fewer Kenyans are doping than Americans.

Given the work ADAK has been doing, I predicted ADRVs of Kenyans would slow down to a trickle and that's been the case. We've had about six provisionals of mostly third-tier runners with former half marathon world record holder (who enjoyed the top ranks for only about a year) being the one big catch. This a low from the peak of a few years ago and it's still trending downwards. The others big story was a 16-year-old whose main achievement was finishing 8th in the 800m at the Junior Olympics, indicating the AIU has had to cast its net wider as Kenyan elites, who've been in the pool for ages, aren't getting popped. When a middling high school girl is the big Kenyan doping story of the second half of this year, I'd say the clean up is working.

LoneStarXC wrote:

Looks like she runs for the West Side Runners, the same group that Girma Bekele Gebre is in.

http://news.wsxnyc.org/2019/05/etaferahu-temesgen-sets-22844-pr-in.html?m=1

Other club members have been cleaning up at road races with no drug testing around New England this season

That's a red herring. No one is claiming there are no dopers among those groups. In the Prefontaine days the Norwegians were notorious blood dopers, which was legal btw. And US athletes have been caught.

In Kenya there is a major doping culture. EPO use is almost acceptable. Couple that with a govt that looks the other way and the difficulties in catching the cheaters, and you get a major, systemic problem. Think of MLB a few years back. There was significant peer and professional pressure to dope just to keep up, and MLB did not test. That was always a recipe for a major cheating scandal. The US sports authorities might be inept, but I have not seen evidence of complete corruption. On the other hand in certain countries you can easily see that the athletes are getting the green light. If the Kenyan authorities ignore the issue, there is almost no way to catch the cheaters. I would say percentage wise any nation where the govt is giving the green light is going to have higher percentages of dopers. The Kenyan results are not natural and not the result of hard work, genetics, etc. EPO turns mules into race horses.

Tegridy wrote:

LoneStarXC wrote:

Looks like she runs for the West Side Runners, the same group that Girma Bekele Gebre is in.

http://news.wsxnyc.org/2019/05/etaferahu-temesgen-sets-22844-pr-in.html?m=1

Other club members have been cleaning up at road races with no drug testing around New England this season

Sounds like the same M.O. as that Newport, Kentucky group that got busted a few years ago...

astro wrote:

In Kenya there is a major doping culture. EPO use is almost acceptable.

If over 90% of Kenyans and Ethiopians are doping, then they would also have masking techniques. Why would they throw Wodaj under the bus?

It's in the doctor's best interests for the athlete to beat the drug tests. His reputation is on the line, and he can make thousands of dollars in extra income by helping athletes to cheat. If it's so easy for the best runners to beat the drug tests 100% of the time, then why didn't Wodaj follow them?

There are 2 schools of thought.

1. +90% are cheating, and only the "dumbest" ones get caught by making a small mistake.

2. +90% are natural, but some Kenyans are desperate to get out of poverty and will take the risk by using shady doctors.

You can't prove that almost all of them are cheating just from a small percentage of drug busts or from a few undercover videos from journalists. It's possible that you letsrun accusers have a jealousy or animosity that makes you jump to the conclusion that Kenyan culture forces drugs on young runners in their system. This could then be used to make excuses for your own shortcomings in your running career. "I'm not able to win races because the winners are all cheating. I'm going to accuse all of them and get my revenge!"

You may have a point wrote:

El Keniano wrote:

Still not a single bust from North America or Western Europe. They are so clean they banned doping coach without implicating any his athletes because that ... that would be unthinkable.

You may have a point there. The pattern for the provisionals has been Russia, Kenya, Morroco, Ukraine, Belarus, India & Ethiopia. I have no doubt that the next "AIU announced" provisional-suspension will be from one of those nations. I guess these are the only nations that dope...or get caught?

https://www.athleticsintegrity.org/disciplinary-process/provisional-suspensions-in-force

Hi Observki!

So let's get this straight. A pattern of doping busts coming from Ethiopia, Morocco, Kenya, Russia proves that there is a conspiracy going on, yet a pattern of athletes dominating certain events from Ethiopia, Morocco, Kenya, Russia (which correlates to documented factors such as EPO availability etc.) is simply proof that these athletes have superior genes and it's racist to deny otherwise? (well I don't think El K claims that Russian female race walkers have superior genes, for obvious reasons).

Well said, but you shouldn't even have to explain this to them. The likes of El K and Observski should be banned. That level of doping apologism shouldn't be tolerated here.

Does worry me a bit that athletes aren't more public about their concerns with the doping apologism allowed here. They complain on Instagram about alleged 'toxic masculinity' and 'female body shaming', but they don't appear to mind the likes of El K spamming the boards with his claims of an IAAF cover up of the 'fact' that every Western athlete who can run fast is doping, and regular doping busts in East Africa somehow prove this.

Left Said Fred wrote:

How can we fund anti-doping efforts so that athletes ranked outside the top 100 are subject to random, out-of-competition testing?

Some suggestions:

Every athlete that tests positive has to give their lifetime earnings back and these go into funding the antidoping effort.

If the athlete does not do this then the athlete's nation pays back the money by race directors handing over money that is taken away from prize and appearance money from athletes of the same nation in competitions until the total sum is paid back.

The athlete's sponsor's have to pay a considerable fine, which goes to the antidoping effort.

Quite a lot of money can be raised in this way.

El Keniano wrote:

Percentage-wise, I think fewer Kenyans are doping than Americans.

That's very patriotic of you, despite you not being Kenyan.

So nothing suspicious about the insanely high number of asthmatics and abundance of other TUEs in these countries? And the few US athletes who've been caught have been let off on ridiculous technicalities. That a Salazar athlete has never failed a drugs test is proof his outfit was more sophisticated than the Russians'.

Not true. Asbel Kiprop has been shunned to the point his police-issued weapons had to be confiscated because he was on the verge of harming himself. Doping is not tolerated in Kenya. ADAK and AK have a policy that advocates zero supplements for Kenyan athletes. Meanwhile, the average American runner is on at least a dozen different "medications" at any particular time. And apart from Kiptum who suspiciously burst onto the scene last year with a world record out of nowhere, the other handful of Kenyans ADRVs have come from such luminaries as teenage sensation Angela Ndungwa Munguti and superstar Vincent Kipsengechi Yator. So famous we couldn't find a picture of them anywhere.

"Difficulties in catching cheaters"? You must be talking about the US and Europe because Kenyan cheaters have been caught. The Kenyan government has never lifted a finger for sports in the country. They've just sat back and basked in the glory of 50+ years of Kenyan dominance. If anything, they've created an environment that's too open where every foreign charlatan can just hop on a plane and head to the Rift Valley to "nurture" new talent. Ethiopia is far more regulated in this area, and any suspicious foreigner (athlete, coach, agent or journalist) is likely to be denied entry into the country. Kenya gives them unfettered freedom and that's what started the mess.

Just technicalities "intense kissing", "tainted beef" and improbable craigslist hookups that have seen likely cheaters get off.

No green light from any authorities in Kenya. In fact, the AIU took the rare step of praising Kenya's progress in this area especially considering the limited resources. Very soon, Kenya is going to criminalise doping, something the US would never do. When Kip Keino utterly destroyed Jim Ryun in 1968, it was as natural as when Tim Cheruiyot crashed the NOP runners in Doha 2019.

El Keniano wrote:

So nothing suspicious about the insanely high number of asthmatics and abundance of other TUEs in these countries? And the few US athletes who've been caught have been let off on ridiculous technicalities. That a Salazar athlete has never failed a drugs test is proof his outfit was more sophisticated than the Russians'.

Which TUEs in particular do you have a problem with Cleo?

douglas burke wrote:

Or The Athletes when offered, turned them down and IMMEDIATELY turned the Coach in Anonymously. I think this is far more likely if 99.9% of people are honest (My 3rd Grade Teacher always used the number 99.9% when talking about how overwhelming the number of good people to bad people is).

Where have you been? 99.9% honest?

1) Blood doping alone has been shown repeatedly to amount to 18% among distance runners.

2) Including all kinds of doping, that number was reported to rise to 44%.

facts and reason wrote:

There are 2 schools of thought.

1. +90% are cheating, and only the "dumbest" ones get caught by making a small mistake.

2. +90% are natural, but some Kenyans are desperate to get out of poverty and will take the risk by using shady doctors.

LOL - this is getting better and better...

Where have you been? +90% natural? Facts and reason:

1) Blood doping alone has been shown repeatedly to amount to 18% among distance runners.

2) Including all kinds of doping, that number was reported to rise to 44%.

3) According to the IAAF, and recent busts, the Kenyans cheat more than average.

In conclusion, the majority of Kenyans cheat.

Yep, its all clean living, hard work, etc. Just like the East German and Chinese swim teams and so many other examples. The same excuses and rationalizations. Let's see. You have substantial reporting about a rampant doping culture, clusters of athletes who are periodically caught from the same countries, tons of anecdotal evidence, a huge incentive to dope, evidence that their national federations are ignoring the issue, the difficulties in catching out of competition EPO use and extreme performances that are telltale signs of EPO. It's not jumping to conclusions, just facing facts. It is fascinating though that every time doping scandals emerge and the evidence seems significant, there is always denial and deflection. I was not stupid enough to ever think that Armstrong or Indurain for example were clean. The performances and circumstances made it evident. But still to this day you will see apologists, even where there are confessions.

See her career here:

https://marathonview.net/query/Etaferahu%20Temesgen%20Wodaj&loose=2