2016 Rio Olympics

[MadAsHell 4,088]

Very early I know as it isn't until early August, but this tweet (on the club website) caught my eye of a potential multiple Gold Medal winner at the upcoming Olympic Games!

Mack Horton ‏@_mackhorton  12h12 hours ago

Looking forward to getting down to the G on Sunday for my first game of the year and supporting the mighty @melbournefc #carnthedees

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Good to see the young man has good taste!

 

Speaking of, they've announced the Australian Swim team and this Dees fan I believe will be competing in the 1500m, 400m and potentially the 4x200m relay team.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/rio-olympics/rio-olympics-2016-australian-swim-team-announced/news-story/1604449d14a24d54b708b2c88f63eb87

Lets hope the whole Australian Olympic team has a better games then we had in London.  Don't know if I could sit through another living version of the Bermagui Bronze!

 

Edited July 26, 2016 by AngryAtCasey

[Macca 16,173]

Obviously our swimmers will be expected to get a better return this time around 'TD' ...  I'll be hoping for around about 11-14 gold medals overall ... perhaps we might even fare better than that but I'm always optimistic with the Olympics.  35 total medals in London was a decent return but only 8 gold was a trifle disappointing (Jared Tallent is set to be awarded the gold medal for the 50km walk - retrospectively)

Haven't seen any medal projections of late but Sports illustrated did one last time for London ... of course, those projections are only a guide anyway.

Last Olympics, I posted up a daily program where the Aussies were involved (mainly the team events) so, if I've got time, I could do that again ... I'll probably be watching it wall-to-wall regardless

• The swimming finals will be held in the late evening in Rio (10pm start local time) which will mean they'll be shown from about 11am AEST.  The swimming finals are held during the first week.
• The large majority of the track & field finals will be held in the evening in Rio (about 9am AEST) with about another 10 finals held in the morning (marathons, walks etc)  The track & field events are held during the 2nd week.
• All the track cycling finals will be held from 4pm local time (5am AEST)  The track cycling events are held towards the end of the first week.

Also, in the lead up to the Olympics, the European based "Diamond League" (track & field) is well worth a look on Eurosport (if one has access) ... it kicked off last night (and is on replay today)  There are 14 separate meetings all up, all held on the one day*.  The telecasts of the one day events lasts for about 2 hours each time - and there's not a lot of down-time.  They somehow manage to cram 16 different events into a 2 hour window.

Here's the Wiki page for more details

 

*Except the London meet where the event is over 2 days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited July 12, 2016 by Macca
Confirmed times for the swimming, track cycling and track & field events

[MadAsHell 4,088]

Cheers Macca, and appreciate the research into when some of the finals will be on.  And your daily updates last time around about what was on for the evening were very useful!

The 7 Gold Medals at London was very disapointing, however as you said, it will officially become 8 once Talent is awarded his deserved Gold medal.  That would in fact take us from 10th in the medal tally from London to 8th, and we still would have won more medals in total then two other countries in the top 7, so it wasn't to bad when you look at it that way.  We just didn't quite get the ultimate wins one would have hoped for.

As for Rio, I'm hoping to see gradual improvement like we saw from Barcelona in 92' to Atlanta in 96'.  At Barcelona we won 27 medals (7 Gold) and at Atlanta we turned that into 41 medals (9 Gold and a staggering 23 Brozne).  So if we can have a similar type improvement and turn our 35 medals at London into about 50 medals at Rio and 8 Gold into around 10-12, then it would make for a pretty successful games and should probably see us at a minimum in the top 7 of the medal tally.

[Macca 16,173]

In retrospective testing, 31 athletes have returned positive tests from the Beijing Olympics and another 250 tests are being analysed from the London Olympics ... it could be assumed that many or most of the tests were from athletes that won medals so a reshuffling of medals in all sorts of events in those games is possible.

Rio Olympics: AOC boss John Coates unsure if Australians among positive doping tests from Beijing

We've already seen a retrospective gold medal awarded to Jared Tallent from the 50km walk in London so could there be more? (not necessarily Australian athletes)

Better late than never is a much better outcome than athletes from the steroid era ('68 - '92 or thereabouts) being able to keep their achievements because of a testing system that can't be used retrospectively.  And even if these current cheats are simply "outed" then that is a somewhat pleasing outcome.

WADA & co* are never going to 'catch up' per se but the blood passport system could show up the cheats down the track ... again, it's not ideal but it's better than not catching them at all.  It should happen in all sports but many of the governing bodies of many professional sports aren't too interested in catching their own drug cheats - it's bad for business. 

 

*In order for WADA and the other drug agencies to have some real teeth those agencies would need funding to much greater levels than is currently in operation ... and that is highly unlikely to happen in my opinion.  The drug agencies best assets are the blood passports and the retrospective testing.  In other words, we'll probably have to wait for a number of years to get more satisfactory outcomes.

[MadAsHell 4,088]

Found this article re: Schedule with the swimming at least: http://www.foxsports.com.au/breaking-news/ultimate-guide-to-swimming-at-2016-rio-olympics/news-story/953c5a331c3af324763684a7a23a3021

Although it works out to be good timing for us with swimming finals starting 11am AEST, I think this just shows that the media (US in this case) have far to much power over sporting events schedules given that means the finals wont start till 10pm local time.

Never mind the effect it may have on the athletes or locals/visitors making their way home after the event well past midnight through the streets of Rio. It just all comes down to the $$$

Either way i still maintain that holding the games in a city like Rio / country like Brazil was a terrible idea.

[Macca 16,173]

26 minutes ago, AngryAtCasey said:

Found this article re: Schedule with the swimming at least: http://www.foxsports.com.au/breaking-news/ultimate-guide-to-swimming-at-2016-rio-olympics/news-story/953c5a331c3af324763684a7a23a3021

Although it works out to be good timing for us with swimming finals starting 11am AEST, I think this just shows that the media (US in this case) have far to much power over sporting events schedules given that means the finals wont start till 10pm local time.

Never mind the effect it may have on the athletes or locals/visitors making their way home after the event well past midnight through the streets of Rio. It just all comes down to the $$$

Either way i still maintain that holding the games in a city like Rio / country like Brazil was a terrible idea.

Interesting that the starting time for the swimming finals will be 3am in Europe (4am for the UK)  ... I suppose it all comes down to who is paying the most for the broadcast rights. 

The early information about the track and field finals being mainly in the afternoon has been changed too - it seems that the majority of track & field finals are being held from about 8.15pm local time (9.15am AEST)

 

 

 

[Macca 16,173]

Team events scheduled ... I'll bump up the individual days when applicable.  All times and dates to be verified and all the times are AEST. 

There's obviously a lot happening on any given day but at least the team events seem to be spaced out quite well.  We are a chance to medal in nearly all the team events and in some of the team events we're a real chance for gold.

All the matches listed below are preliminary games / group stage only ...

                         Thursday August 4th

4.00am  Womens Soccer ........ Matildas vs Canada

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                         Sunday August 7th

2.30am  Mens Hockey ............. Kookaburras vs New Zealand

2.30am  Womens Rugby 7's  .. Pearls vs Colombia

3.15am  Mens Basketball ........ Boomers vs France

6.30am  Womens Basketball ... Opals vs Brazil

7.00am  Womens Soccer ........ Matildas vs Germany

7.30am  Womens Rugby 7's ... Pearls vs Fiji

9.30am  Womens Hockey ....... Hockeyroos vs Great Britain

9.50am  Mens Waterpolo ........ Sharks vs Brazil

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                         Monday August 8th

2.30am  Womens Rugby 7's .... Pearls vs USA

6.30am  Womens Basketball ... Opals vs Turkey

9.30am  Mens Hockey ............. Kookaburras vs Spain

11.00pm Womens Hockey ....... Hockeyroos vs USA

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                        Tuesday August 9th

3.15am   Mens Basketball ........ Boomers vs Serbia

9.50am   Mens Waterpolo ........ Sharks vs Hungary

11.55pm Mens Rugby 7's ......... Thunderbolts vs France

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                        Wednesday August 10th

1.15am   Womens Basketball . Opals vs France

2.00am   Womens Waterpolo .. Stingers vs Russia  

5.00am   Womens Soccer ....... Matildas vs Zimbabwe

5.00am   Mens Rugby 7's ........ Thunderbolts vs Spain

9.30am   Mens Hockey ............ Kookaburras vs Belgium

10.00pm Mens Waterpolo ........ Sharks vs Japan

11.55pm Womens Hockey ....... Hockeyroos vs India

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                          Thursday August 11th

12.30am  Mens Rugby 7's ........ Thunderbolts vs South Africa

8.00am    Mens Basketball ........ Boomers vs USA

9.30am    Mens Hockey ............. Kookaburras vs Great Britain

11.20pm  Womens Waterpolo .... Stingers vs Italy

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                          Friday August 12th

6.45am  Womens Basketball ..... Opals vs Japan

7.00am  Womens Hockey .......... Hockeyroos vs Argentina

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                         Saturday August 13th

3.15am   Mens Basketball .......... Boomers vs China

9.30am   Mens Hockey ............... Kookaburras vs Brazil

11.10am Mens Waterpolo ........... Sharks vs Serbia

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                         Sunday August 14th

12.40am Womens Waterpolo ...... Stingers vs Brazil

1.15am   Womens Basketball ...... Opals vs Belarus

8.30am   Womens Hockey ........... Hockeyroos vs Japan

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                          Monday August 15th

1.50am   Mens Waterpolo ............ Sharks vs Greece

8.00am   Mens Basketball ............ Boomers vs Venezuela

 

• The Swimming finals will be held in the late evening in Rio (10pm start local time) which will mean they'll be shown from about 11am AEST.  The swimming finals are held during the first week.
• The large majority of the Track & Field finals will be held in the evening (8pm) in Rio (about 9am AEST) with about another 10 finals held in the morning (marathons, walks etc)  The track & field events are held during the 2nd week.
• The Rowing finals will be shown from 8.30am local time (9.30pm AEST) beginning from the first Wednesday of the games (August 10)
• The Track Cycling finals will be held from 4pm local time (5am AEST) beginning from the first first Friday of the games (August 12)

 

Here's the daily schedule from NBC.com ... although the site is US based, the website does convert the event times to AEST and is easy to read.

 

.

Edited July 15, 2016 by Macca

[daisycutter 28,459]

I hope they don't turn out to be the Olympeds, but i'm not holding my breath

[Macca 16,173]

7 hours ago, daisycutter said:

I hope they don't turn out to be the Olympeds, but i'm not holding my breath

I could list any number of sporting bodies who do very little with regards to stamping out PED use in their respective sports.  And those athletes who are inclined to cheat with PED use will cheat in any sport. 

There will be athletes caught testing positive to PED's at these games - there's nothing surer.  But if every sporting body followed suit and tested their athletes in the same rigorous fashion (including the AFL), the results could be as similar (or worse) 

The large majority of athletes at these games (probably 98% or better) are clean and they don't deserve to be lumped in with the would-be cheats.  They've got my support.  And not just the Australian athletes.

Edited July 14, 2016 by Macca

[daisycutter 28,459]

On 14/07/2016 at 10:39 AM, Macca said:

I could list any number of sporting bodies who do very little with regards to stamping out PED use in their respective sports.  And those athletes who are inclined to cheat with PED use will cheat in any sport. 

There will be athletes caught testing positive to PED's at these games - there's nothing surer.  But if every sporting body followed suit and tested their athletes in the same rigorous fashion (including the AFL), the results could be as similar (or worse) 

The large majority of athletes at these games (probably 98% or better) are clean and they don't deserve to be lumped in with the would-be cheats.  They've got my support.  And not just the Australian athletes.

macca, we won't know how clean they were at rio for probably 4 years. i think it's a great idea that they hang onto samples then retest them later when technology improves, but i wouldn't be confident in saying 98% or better are clean.

agree other sports could do more

as far as rio olympics are concerned i couldn't be more underwhelmed and not just because of peds

[Macca 16,173]

6 hours ago, daisycutter said:

macca, we won't know how clean they were at rio for probably 4 years. i think it's a great idea that they hang onto samples then retest them later when technology improves, but i wouldn't be confident in saying 98% or better are clean.

agree other sports could do more

as far as rio olympics are concerned i couldn't be more underwhelmed and not just because of peds

Fair enough dc ... we all view the Olympics differently but no sport is squeaky clean.

I know people who can't get enough of the Olympics and/or disregard the drugs completely and others who have no real interest because it's not their thing.  As always, I'm all in. 

I get the angst towards the whole drugs issue but many sports are laden with PED use (even if it's not transparent)  I just don't feel comfortable being selective about the Olympics if I don't have the same attitude towards other sports.  If I took the attitude of 'turning away' from the Olympics my conscience would tell me to do that with a lot of sports - including the AFL. 

Another thing to consider is if you or anyone else believes that the Australian athletes are all clean, why not support them?  Any medal won will have a double effect if they are defeating "supposed" drug cheats from other countries.

We could go on for hours but I can accept your point of view ... I suspect you'll end up taking a good peek anyway Especially if the gold starts flowing.  And that's ok too - we're all allowed to change our minds.

 

Footnote:  If only 2% of athletes are using PED's at these games, that adds up to well over 200 participants.  The 200 number feels like a lot but the 2% figure seems small.

[daisycutter 28,459]

On 15/07/2016 at 5:44 PM, Macca said:

Fair enough dc ... we all view the Olympics differently but no sport is squeaky clean.

I know people who can't get enough of the Olympics and/or disregard the drugs completely and others who have no real interest because it's not their thing.  As always, I'm all in. 

I get the angst towards the whole drugs issue but many sports are laden with PED use (even if it's not transparent)  I just don't feel comfortable being selective about the Olympics if I don't have the same attitude towards other sports.  If I took the attitude of 'turning away' from the Olympics my conscience would tell me to do that with a lot of sports - including the AFL. 

Another thing to consider is if you or anyone else believes that the Australian athletes are all clean, why not support them?  Any medal won will have a double effect if they are defeating "supposed" drug cheats from other countries.

We could go on for hours but I can accept your point of view ... I suspect you'll end up taking a good peek anyway Especially if the gold starts flowing.  And that's ok too - we're all allowed to change our minds.

 

Footnote:  If only 2% of athletes are using PED's at these games, that adds up to well over 200 participants.  The 200 number feels like a lot but the 2% figure seems small.

it's a lot of other reasons too, macca. the corruption in the ioc and the whole bidding process, the idea that bigger and more expensive is better, the sheer number of sports that shouldn't be in the olympics and become a sham, the over commercialisation, the confusing tv coverage, government spending/intervention, etc

whilst i'm underwhelmed, i will still take some interest in our athletes and certain sports but not get too excited. i can't see much reason for the olympics to continue in these days of professionalism, grand slams, world cups and regular annual world championships

mozzie...mozzie...mozzie...oi...oi...oi

[Macca 16,173]

I don't exactly embrace all that stuff either dc and a good comparison is the AFL ...

• Money driven
• Corruption & cronyism
• The over commercialisation 
• Confusing TV coverage 
• Rigged fixturing 
• A commission that is often biased and conflicted.
• A soft approach to PED use (especially when it comes to testing procedures & standards)
• Undefined & confusing rules of the game
• Pandering to the big clubs etc etc    

Yet we still happily watch footy despite all of the above (myself included) 

About 90% (or more) of the Olympic athletes at these games will have devoted a good part of their lives in the pursuit of success and will not receive a medal of any colour.  And most of the Olympic athletes don't make a great deal of money out of their respective sports either - especially in comparison to the professional sports (which are PED riddled)

 

 

Edited July 17, 2016 by Macca

[daisycutter 28,459]

On 16/07/2016 at 11:19 PM, Macca said:

I don't exactly embrace all that stuff either dc and a good comparison is the AFL ...

• Money driven
• Corruption & cronyism
• The over commercialisation 
• Confusing TV coverage 
• Rigged fixturing 
• A commission that is often biased and conflicted.
• A soft approach to PED use (especially when it comes to testing procedures & standards)
• Undefined & confusing rules of the game
• Pandering to the big clubs etc etc    

Yet we still happily watch footy despite all of the above (myself included) 

About 90% (or more) of the Olympic athletes at these games will have devoted a good part of their lives in the pursuit of success and will not receive a medal of any colour.  And most of the Olympic athletes don't make a great deal of money out of their respective sports either - especially in comparison to the professional sports (which are PED riddled)

 

 

well macca, footy is my first love so that's always hardest to ignore but in general i agree what you say about afl issues

i'll still watch some olympics but it's just a fact i'm losing interest. if it stopped tomorrow most of the sports would continue with their world cups, world championships etc so we'd still get to see the best just in a different setting. the olympics has moved so far from its origins and ideals one wonders whether its worth the sham to continue in its current format 

[Macca 16,173]

9 hours ago, daisycutter said:

well macca, footy is my first love so that's always hardest to ignore but in general i agree what you say about afl issues

i'll still watch some olympics but it's just a fact i'm losing interest. if it stopped tomorrow most of the sports would continue with their world cups, world championships etc so we'd still get to see the best just in a different setting. the olympics has moved so far from its origins and ideals one wonders whether its worth the sham to continue in its current format 

And there lies the difference in how each of us are viewing things and why our views are quite different dc.  Footy is not my most preferred sport to watch ... I'm really only interested in the MFC but that addiction to this team we all follow on this site is quite strong!

But if it's any consolation a lot of people I know share your attitude - they love their footy and can't get enough of it.  But equally, I know a number of people who are indifferent to the sport and those people are more inclined to be all-in on the Olympics.

In some ways the Olympics fills a void but I love it as it is (and always have) and can ignore all the other aspects that intrude on the Olympics and most of the other sports (money,  corruption,  drugs etc)

 

 

Edited July 18, 2016 by Macca

[daisycutter 28,459]

1 hour ago, Macca said:

And there lies the difference in how each of us are viewing things and why our views are quite different dc.

I not only not love footy but it's not even close to being in my top 10 of preferred sports to watch ... the Olympics are miles ahead and it's been that way for a long. long time,  I'm only interested in the MFC really and even that bond gets tested periodically.  

 

macca, i got hooked on footy at age 5 at prep grade. I can still remember it. my parents had no interest in it at all, i had no mentor or such-like and there was no tv or social media. I don't know why but i just did. it was purely a self motivated thing, and it has stuck. doesn't mean i like all aspects of today's footy but i have to admit many things are better now. naturally i'm still nostalgic for many of the old ways but not enough to be disenchanted with the game.

vive la difference

[Macca 16,173]

Sports Illustrated has the Aussies winning 18 gold and finishing 4th ... nice of the Americans to see us featuring so well but I'm quite skeptical that we'll finish with that sort of result.  11-14 gold is my "optimistic" forecast.

Last Olympics 'SI' had us winning 15 or 16 gold but we only won 8 (35 total medals was an excellent return though - that beats the hell out of zero gold and a total of 5 medals in Montreal)

Anyway,  Sports Illustrated has got the gold tally as such ...

USA 42

China 31

Russia (22)

Australia (18)

Britain (17)

Germany (15)

Japan (12)

South Korea (12)

France (10)

Brazil (9).

[MadAsHell 4,088]

53 minutes ago, Macca said:

Sports Illustrated has the Aussies winning 18 gold and finishing 4th ... nice of the Americans to see us featuring so well but I'm quite skeptical that we'll finish with that sort of result.  11-14 gold is my "optimistic" forecast.

Last Olympics 'SI' had us winning 15 or 16 gold but we only won 8 (35 total medals was an excellent return though - that beats the hell out of zero gold and a total of 5 medals in Montreal)

Anyway,  Sports Illustrated has got the gold tally as such ...

USA 42

China 31

Russia (22)

Australia (18)

Britain (17)

Germany (15)

Japan (12)

South Korea (12)

France (10)

Brazil (9).

I wish i was as optimistic as Sports illustrated! I'm hoping for 12 (50% increase on London) but anything more would be most welcome.

Love your work with the earlier scheduling Macca!

[Macca 16,173]

34 minutes ago, AngryAtCasey said:

I wish i was as optimistic as Sports illustrated! I'm hoping for 12 (50% increase on London) but anything more would be most welcome.

Love your work with the earlier scheduling Macca!

I'm sure that a few of the times of those events might be changed/wrong but on the day, I'll verify them TD.

Posting the whole lot of them up now makes it easy to just copy & paste any particular day down the track ... most Olympic fans love/like the team events even if we're not a good chance to medal (the Boomers & Mens Waterpolo teams are good examples of that thinking)  Don't know much about our Rugby 7's chances in both the Mens & Womens but that sport can certainly throw up surprise results.

Anyway,  with the Demons going into preparation mode for next season (still trying to win games of course) the Olympics will serve as a good distraction in terms of achieving some sporting joy for us success-starved fans.

 

[MadAsHell 4,088]

1 hour ago, Macca said:

I'm sure that a few of the times of those events might be changed/wrong but on the day, I'll verify them TD.

Posting the whole lot of them up now makes it easy to just copy & paste any particular day down the track ... most Olympic fans love/like the team events even if we're not a good chance to medal (the Boomers & Mens Waterpolo teams are good examples of that thinking)  Don't know much about our Rugby 7's chances in both the Mens & Womens but that sport can certainly throw up surprise results.

Anyway,  with the Demons going into preparation mode for next season (still trying to win games of course) the Olympics will serve as a good distraction in terms of achieving some sporting joy for us success-starved fans.

 

We're certainly a medal chance in the Rugby 7's, but gold is doubtful.

At the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games we won bronze with South Africa taking gold and New Zealand silver. France is the only non Commonwealth nation that would likely push for medal contention. 

It must be said though that Fiji didn't compete in the 7's at the Commonwealth Games for an unknown reason. And they will be right in the mix for a medal.

[daisycutter 28,459]

hope you watched 4 corners tonight on drugs in sport, macca. casts big doubts over your 98% clean forecast (actual not tested)

even the now clean ones could be receiving long term benefits from prior use

whilst sporting bodies test and judge their own it will always remain suspect

they even cast aspersions over usain and his fellow jamaicans

Edited July 18, 2016 by daisycutter

[Macca 16,173]

Didn't see the 4 Corners show but I only wish that it wasn't just the Olympics that gets looked at.  I'd like to see 4 Corners take on the NFL or MLB.  Or FIFA ... there's a real doozy right there. 

The PED issue needs to be viewed from a much broader perspective. 

I am by no means denying that the Olympics doesn't have a major PED issue but narrowing the focus down on the Olympics won't solve the much greater problem - narrowing the focus effectively lets the other sports off the hook. 

One urine test per player per year in the AFL compared to up to 30-40 blood tests per year for an Olympic athlete - which sporting body is fair dinkum? ...  AFL not trying in fight on drugs

Virtually the whole world of sport is riddled with PED use - that is the inconvenient truth.  Most already know that but they don't know how to deal with it all.  Others just simply don't want to know about it - head in the sand stuff.  Many are happy to just give up the fight completely.

Don't test = don't catch = clean sport (in the eyes of many)

Drugbuster Pound says doping is so widespread that he no longer has faith in sport at the top

Quote

Pound says that during his time as WADA chairman between 1999-2008, he wrote to the commissioners of all America's major sports, asking how WADA could help in the fight against drugs.

He says he got a dismissive response from each of them.

'Baseball was one of the leading organisations of denial,' he says. 'Their attitude was basically "**** off, kid. We don't have a problem. Why don't you mind your own business?"'

Quote

Tennis and soccer have major problems and are ruled by governing bodies in denial.'

 

 

Edited July 19, 2016 by Macca

[MadAsHell 4,088]

Just watched 4 corners on my iphone on my way to work this morning Macca, and you'll be pleased to know that they do make reference to it being ripe in all forms of competition, not just the Olympics.

Olympics were used as the backdrop obviously due to them being only a few weeks away and the banning of tbe Russian track and field team for the Olympics due to their systematic cheating. Ala East Germany.

[Macca 16,173]

1 minute ago, AngryAtCasey said:

Just watched 4 corners on my iphone on my way to work this morning Macca, and you'll be pleased to know that they do make reference to it being ripe in all forms of competition, not just the Olympics.

Olympics were used as the backdrop obviously due to them being only a few weeks away and the banning of tbe Russian track and field team for the Olympics due to their systematic cheating. Ala East Germany.

Well that's good to hear ... Mr Pound constantly makes references to how the major sports do very little to catch their cheats ... and that's the real issue for me as well. 

So it's not the cheats who get caught - it's those who are virtually never tested that really bothers me.  These sporting bodies give these would-be cheats a license to cheat.  All in the name of protecting the almighty dollar.

And I'm never going to believe that PED use is confined to certain sports either - that really is a naïve view.  People are the same all over.  Drug cheats will cheat in any sport.

I still maintain the Essendon issue was merely a symptom of a much much larger problem.  That's not to say they should have got off the hook - on the contrary, punish them but at the same time have a tougher stance on PED use in footy ... the AFL failed badly when they were put to the test.  Nothing has changed.

[daisycutter 28,459]

10 hours ago, Macca said:

 

One urine test per player per year in the AFL compared to up 30-40 blood tests per year for an Olympic athlete - which sporting body is fair dinkum? ...  AFL not trying in fight on drugs

 

i don't understand this comment, macca. what is an "olympic athlete"? some olympic attendees don't even get selected until weeks before the olympics. olympic athletes come from many different sports and each sport (as the video showed) have their own testing regime. Are you saying professional olympic basketballers, golfers, tennis players, soccer players get tested 30-40 blood tests (or any other tests) per year? Of course many professional sports bodies pay only lip service to drug testing and administration, but you just can't group all olympic athletes together and say the get adequate testing