Mike Smith Part II: Smith explains why he agreed to work with Galen Rupp

Mike Smith said

"While someone may accuse me of defending a person, I’m defending a process. I would defend anybody in this. Even people that hate Galen Rupp or Nike, I’d defend anybody. Even with virtuous intention, we’ve gotta care about a process. We can’t just trade in our own thinking on these subjects just getting swept in a movement because it actually threatens the real things that have to be addressed and attacked.

I’m certainly alarmed at jeez, lots of things in that report. But there’s also a process that looks deep into those athletes. I don’t know Jordan Hasay at all, but I remember Jordan Hasay had this quote that’s like hey, I’ve spent a lot of time with these people, and no one ever asked me to do something I was uncomfortable with or do something that violated my integrity. And instantly, [the general public’s reaction] is like, no, no, no that can’t be true. And that [reaction] bothers me.

Do I think that every stone [was] turned or edge explored and those things? Yeah. It’s probably easier for me to just say, I don’t know man, I’ve got nothing to do with that, that was in the past, but I think those reports, there’s a lot included in there that may be concerning but is…I don’t know.

I’m trying to really not dodge your question and answer it as directly as it can. I think we’ve gotta really care about our process of how we assign guilt. Someone that cheats, yeah, get them out. Let’s crush them. The world record holder in the steeplechase yesterday? Yeah, good riddance. But we’ve also gotta be really open to [thinking critically about] all these things that may challenge spirit of sport ethics that aren’t acceptable for me or you or someone else but that’s not the same as the world record holder having EPO in her urine. It’s not the same thing.

Is it just easier if it’s all the same thing? Yeah, it is. Is it harder to have it be convoluted and what’s okay with one person isn’t okay with someone else? Yup, that’s hard. But that’s the human condition in so many things. And only when we are really talking about that can we firm those things up for the future of our sport. And people in the spotlight have great responsibility for that — athletes, coaches, agents.

The questions you ask, like, yeah, of course that stuff’s alarming. But the second we abandon our critical thinking or our process with this stuff…I worry about that. And please, it’s important to know, I’m not defending any of that. I just think that (critical thinking and the process) is as important for the battles we have to fight in our sport as anything."

anacondarunner wrote:

Kudos to JGault for asking the tough questions. Smith's extreme equivocation was disappointing but telling. Like, get a load of this doozy of a response:

Mike Smith said

"While someone may accuse me of defending a person, I’m defending a process. I would defend anybody in this. Even people that hate Galen Rupp or Nike, I’d defend anybody. Even with virtuous intention, we’ve gotta care about a process. We can’t just trade in our own thinking on these subjects just getting swept in a movement because it actually threatens the real things that have to be addressed and attacked.

I’m certainly alarmed at jeez, lots of things in that report. But there’s also a process that looks deep into those athletes. I don’t know Jordan Hasay at all, but I remember Jordan Hasay had this quote that’s like hey, I’ve spent a lot of time with these people, and no one ever asked me to do something I was uncomfortable with or do something that violated my integrity. And instantly, [the general public’s reaction] is like, no, no, no that can’t be true. And that [reaction] bothers me.

Do I think that every stone [was] turned or edge explored and those things? Yeah. It’s probably easier for me to just say, I don’t know man, I’ve got nothing to do with that, that was in the past, but I think those reports, there’s a lot included in there that may be concerning but is…I don’t know.

I’m trying to really not dodge your question and answer it as directly as it can. I think we’ve gotta really care about our process of how we assign guilt. Someone that cheats, yeah, get them out. Let’s crush them. The world record holder in the steeplechase yesterday? Yeah, good riddance. But we’ve also gotta be really open to [thinking critically about] all these things that may challenge spirit of sport ethics that aren’t acceptable for me or you or someone else but that’s not the same as the world record holder having EPO in her urine. It’s not the same thing.

Is it just easier if it’s all the same thing? Yeah, it is. Is it harder to have it be convoluted and what’s okay with one person isn’t okay with someone else? Yup, that’s hard. But that’s the human condition in so many things. And only when we are really talking about that can we firm those things up for the future of our sport. And people in the spotlight have great responsibility for that — athletes, coaches, agents.

The questions you ask, like, yeah, of course that stuff’s alarming. But the second we abandon our critical thinking or our process with this stuff…I worry about that. And please, it’s important to know, I’m not defending any of that. I just think that (critical thinking and the process) is as important for the battles we have to fight in our sport as anything."

Okay, Mike, we get that you value critical thinking. You've made that (albeit nothing else) extraordinarily clear. Now can you use your critical thinking faculties to answer Gault's question about the reasonable inference that Galen abused testosterone under Salazar?