Doping in Sport

[JTR 2,698]

Yeah, not a good look at all for Gatlin to win, or even be running. His first conviction was probably 50/50 and he appealed it because the positive test was from medication he claimed he had used since childhood for ADD. Second time around though was testosterone and there is zero excuse for that.   

On the subject, I came across this on reddit yesterday which shows all the fastest 100m times run.  The names crossed are those found to have been using illicit substances.

Apologies for the image quality. Not my work...

 

[Wunders 392]

36 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

And the sports only have themselves to blame. How Justin Gatlin was allowed to compete at the Athletics World Championships after twice having been found guilty of doping astounds me. Usain Bolt was beaten in fair and square by Christian Coleman in the 100m. That would have been in itself a great story - the retiring, old champ being overtaken by the new (believed to be clean) young gun. But, instead, the administrators of athletics rained on their own parade by allowing Gatlin to beat both of them. 

SEN had someone on talking about this around 630am yesterday and they said that Gatlin appealed the 8 year verdict to another body who overruled their verdict (hence he came back 4 years early, which meant he wasn't to old and able to compete). So from the sounds of that, they were trying to finally clean up the sport and whoever Gatlin appealed to overruled them, so their hands were tied. 

Very unfortunate

[Sir Why You Little 35,387]

He got a great reception...

[drdrake 3,066]

Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger"

This is what every athlete strives for be it your casual runner just wanting to beat their personal best or the professional athlete that will do anything it takes to do the same.  If we look at team sport in isolation the top competitions global have so much money it is impossible for WADA or any testing authority to keep up.  A lot of substances that athletes are taking today are legal, they are enhance to meet all the legal limits, just because it is legal does it make it right.  It may be legal because it is impossible to test for it.  Testing is complex for a number of drugs, it is about having elevated levels in your system, the hard part is assessing the point where something is considered elevated and also what needs to be elevated to give you better performance. 

Money is massive in sport, whilst this is the case and it always will be there will be people cheating to cash in. 

 

   

[Macca 16,174]

The huge ongoing issue of doping in sport is only going to get worse.  Way way worse.   The Gatlin story is a mere pimple on the World's ass.

There is no easy fix and the reality is that there is no fix at all.  Not a feasible one anyway.  Those expecting WADA to be able to address the issue in even a minor way are dreaming.  WADA's funding is unbelievably minuscule and they need billions. 

But the other real issue are the sporting bodies themselves.  Most couldn't give a rats clacker and most are doing virtually nothing to test and catch their own cheats.  And the cheats are everywhere, in every sport.  Even suburban sport.

Take the AFL for example ... on average they conduct 1 urine test per player per year.  And you won't catch drug cheats doing urine tests.  So why don't they do more?  Because they don't want to.  Transparency has its price.

If I was to hazard a guess I reckon about 7-10% of current AFL footballers have either dabbled or are using performance enhancing drugs.  And that's without factoring in the Essendon club.  And why wouldn't they?  Their chances of being caught are negligible (if they're smart about it)

And don't expect the sporting media to give a full account on how things are either - they'd rather dumb it all down to Justin Gatlin.

[drdrake 3,066]

I remember back in the 1990's, a high profiled USA sprinter got off a ban for high testosterone levels with his defence being he had 5 bottles of beer and excessive amounts of sex prior to his test. His country's governing body accepted this, but the sports governing body over ruled and he got his ban.

[bing181 8,363]

4 hours ago, Macca said:

But the other real issue are the sporting bodies themselves.  Most couldn't give a rats clacker and most are doing virtually nothing to test and catch their own cheats.  And the cheats are everywhere, in every sport.  Even suburban sport.

Don't disagree at all, but money talks ... and money walks. What really put the cat amongst the pigeons with cycling was when the sponsors and backers started to pull out because cycling was getting (had) such a bad name/reputation. Alongside that there were situations where German TV refused to broadcast the Tour de France, so even the rights-holders were complaining.

I think the problem is especially difficult in lower profile sports, where there's very little money either for the sports themselves or for the athletes. There, the difference between world level performances and being decent on a national level is the difference between being able to make a career of it or not. This isn't the case with say, footy, where even at country or suburban level, decent players can get $500+ per game plus perks. There's no equivalent to that if you're a weight-lifter, distance runner or mountain-biker.

[Macca 16,174]

2 minutes ago, bing181 said:

Don't disagree at all, but money talks ... and money walks. What really put the cat amongst the pigeons with cycling was when the sponsors and backers started to pull out because cycling was getting (had) such a bad name/reputation. Alongside that there were situations where German TV refused to broadcast the Tour de France, so even the rights-holders were complaining.

I think the problem is especially difficult in lower profile sports, where there's very little money either for the sports themselves or for the athletes. There, the difference between world level performances and being decent on a national level is the difference between being able to make a career of it or not. This isn't the case with say, footy, where even at country or suburban level, decent players can get $500+ per game plus perks. There's no equivalent to that if you're a weight-lifter, distance runner or mountain-biker.

We will almost certainly be talking about the very same issue in the same way in 5, 10,  20,  30 years time ... unless a sporting body decides to get ultra-serious about illegal PED use.  I'm holding out hope that that will happen. 

The AFL can and should be at the forefront but they've put the whole issue into the too-hard basket as well.  They like to portray themselves as the moral crusaders but only if there's a dollar in it for them.

If we saw something like that (a sporting body clamping down on PED use) we could at least say that they're doing everything possible.  Weekly blood tests with blood passports is what is needed (as a minimum)  Across the board in all sports.

Oddly enough, cycling & a number of the Olympic disciplines are doing a great deal of blood testing with blood passports attached etc etc.  However, those sports are so tarnished with the cheats being exposed so recently that most still view those sports as being the worst.  But the 'worst' is what we can't readily see. 

Big time Soccer does virtually nothing, the big 4 American sports turn a blind eye and so on and so forth.  Baseball has more stringent testing now but it's miles off being enough.  And Baseball was forced to act after that sport was completely over run with steroid use.   All their records should include asterisks.

As previously stated,  drug cheats will cheat in any sport.  Anywhere, anytime.