posted May 17, 2008

I fail to understand why everyone is so shocked. Modern society is riddled with drugs. Do we in all honesty expect the world of sport/athletics to be the exception?

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posted May 17, 2008

Tim as always you make excellent points. Do not believe I am unaware of the problem or do not care about it. My point was being made in context. The use of drugs by young athletes is a different debate. I was highlighting the fact that substances such as "the clear" are hard to get hold of and that the use of PED's by non elite athletes etc is not an issue for WADA to think about when dealing with Athletes such as Dwain, Marion, Kelli.

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posted May 18, 2008

Reading the Conte letter I was struck by the planning involved in avoiding the testers. I think this shows that we should treat missing tests much more seriously.

A 3 to 6 month ban each time a test is missed would quickly focus the minds of those unwittingly missing tests and keep those deliberately doing so away from our tracks.

We still have a UK athlete going on the BBC saturday morning arguing that the big difference between her and Chambers is that she has never tested positive.

Perhaps he was just not as bright as her.

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posted May 18, 2008

I agree with your suggestions. However for this to work UK sport will have to ensure that missing a test is going to be incredibly difficult for an athlete to do by mistake. The current system, altho infinitely better than before, still does not make it easy for an athlete to never make mistakes.

I know what people will think "it's their responsibility etc" but no, mistakes do happen, alot. The life of an elite athlete is hectic. We would need to ensure that clean athletes are not going to recieve a 3-6 month ban for a common mistake such as crashing at a mates house or not hearing the doorbell.

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posted May 18, 2008

As long as they still have their mobile with them they should be able to overcome such errors.

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posted May 19, 2008

Bolt..Gay..Powell...What chance they will still be legal in 2 years time...The sport is dead guys.

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posted May 19, 2008

Spend time in the sport and you will realise it's not dead. There is nore to athletics than the mens 100m final.

Insightful comment, well done

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posted May 19, 2008

And unfortunately I doubt very much it is only the 100m men who take PEDs.

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posted May 20, 2008

Well then let's all pack it in, it's dead, done


It may be that ignorance is bliss but I choose to still believe that many of my favourite athletes and those I love to watch are clean and despite all the negativity I will not complain or devalue my experience until it is proved otherwise.

Otherwise our sport really will die

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posted May 20, 2008

As a competitor, it would drive me a little crazy to take this kind of few of every athlete lining up next to me.

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