Doping In Athletics

[King Boonen]

I don't agree with a ban on marijuana, but I see it more as a test of whether you can follow the rules. If you are brazen enough to ingest THC, knowing it's banned but also that it stays in your blood for weeks, you might have a tendency to use actual PEDs.

It's banned in-competition which seems to make sense as you wouldn't wanted someone competing in mass start events while stoned. There's apparently some evidence it's performance enhancing from animal studies and athlete interviews, but that sounds like it's a bit up in the air. With it being decriminalised across the US and in other jurisdictions, it seems like something that should be moved to the watch list and dealt with in a similar way to alcohol (which was removed from the Prohibited List in 2018).

 

[Sciatic]

It was way more fitting when it was an Olympic medalist snowboarder dude who got busted

 

[BigCoward]

Her mam died the week before, so I give her some sympathy, but if you are sad have a glass of wine. Not a spliff.

 

[nayr497]

Well, that didn't take long. Does seem odd that they got her on boring old weed. Definitely suggests something else is going on, but maybe they didn't want to really out her as a doper, just someone who smokes dope.

 

[nayr497]

This and the "boar taco" from the food truck at midnight. Some of these elite athletes seem pretty casual with what they put into their bodies.

 

[King Boonen]

Well, that didn't take long. Does seem odd that they got her on boring old weed. Definitely suggests something else is going on, but maybe they didn't want to really out her as a doper, just someone who smokes dope.

I can't really get me head round that. If you're going to hide a more obvious performance enhancing positive and remove a likely medal winner from the biggest competition of the cycle, why wouldn't you hide the THC positive too?

 

[SafeBet]

I can't really get me head round that. If you're going to hide a more obvious performance enhancing positive and remove a likely medal winner from the biggest competition of the cycle, why wouldn't you hide the THC positive too?

Perhaps they fear a domino effect with a lot more heads rolling if she's caught in Tokyo?

 

[nayr497]

Also have to wonder if she actually smoked some weed to cope with her mother's death or if she's a habitual user and just thought it would sound more sympathetic if she had...never smoked weed, but was just overcome with grief and turned to it as a coping mechanism.

If she/her PR team used her mother's death to hide habitual weed smoking, well, that is pretty sad.

I have no problem with marijuana, but I'll probably honor my mother's life differently. Just saying.

 

[King Boonen]

Perhaps they fear a domino effect with a lot more heads rolling if she's caught in Tokyo?

I don‘t see how this would help. It‘s not likely to do anything other than increase targeted testing for US athletes and I don’t think it’ll serve as a warning because anyone else using it, or anything else, would likely stop now anyway. The ban also doesn’t technically prohibit her from competing, the nullification of the results does. I don’t know is USA athletics makes exceptions, but I’m also certain that it’s the trials that determine the participant no matter what previous results say. It feels like real mental gymnastics to try and fit this into a bigger conspiracy. It seems much more likely the she just smoked weed and tripped the allowed limit.

 

[Pinot's goat]

I cannot believe all the excuses sports people and people online are making for people who fail doping tests at the moment. There is literally mass campaigning to bend/change the rules for one person.

 

[Saint Unix]

It's hilarious that Warholm escapes all scrutiny on here for the incredible feat of beating a 29 year old world record just because a woman decided to blaze some jazz lettuce.

 

[King Boonen]

I cannot believe all the excuses sports people and people online are making for people who fail doping tests at the moment. There is literally mass campaigning to bend/change the rules for one person.

If you’re talking about Richardson then I agree that they should change the rules. It’s up to US athletics whether they take her or not.

 

[BigCoward]

It's hilarious that Warholm escapes all scrutiny on here for the incredible feat of beating a 29 year old world record just because a woman decided to blaze some jazz lettuce.

Is it that incredible that in 30 years nutrition and training have allowed improvements? Records have always progressed, that this one hadn't is the suspicious part (not that I give Warholm a pass).

 

[nayr497]

Richardson is very likely on actual PEDs. Not sure why they nabbed her on weed, but bad things can happen when you take banned substances. Not much sympathy for her. And I'm in awe of the general public acting like weed was the only drug in her system. Dennis Mitchell?

 

[djpbaltimore]

Positive for marijuana though.

What a strange story. The early reports I read did not mention the drug. I think there should be changes to the code, but I don't think that she should be eligible to run the 100m. Still haven't heard if she will be on the 4x100 as that falls outside the 30 day ban.

 

[Sciatic]

Richardson is very likely on actual PEDs. Not sure why they nabbed her on weed, but bad things can happen when you take banned substances. Not much sympathy for her. And I'm in awe of the general public acting like weed was the only drug in her system. Dennis Mitchell?

Agreed, it’s incredibly cringe-worthy. My 1st reaction to hearing she wouldn’t be selected for the relay was to be glad there wouldn’t be day and night coverage of her “shot at redemption” which American viewers seem to gobble up like candy. But thinking on it more, perhaps things will be even worse—they probably will show as much of her watching the race in her grandma’s living room than they show of the race itself. Thanks goodness for European coverage via VPN!

 

[nayr497]

Glad there is at least one other person in the world thinking she's very, very likely on PEDs!!

This is just bonkers, everyone acting like it was just weed. Phew, people really want to pretend nobody outside of pro road cyclists are dopers...what a friggin' joke!

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/patric...ed-spot-on-olympics-relay-team-234145001.html

 

[King Boonen]

What a strange story. The early reports I read did not mention the drug. I think there should be changes to the code, but I don't think that she should be eligible to run the 100m. Still haven't heard if she will be on the 4x100 as that falls outside the 30 day ban.

To be honest I don't really think the code is fit for purpose, but that's a different discussion and I'm not sure how it should change.

All of the athletics falls outside her 30 day ban, but it's USATF policy that stops her competing in the 100m (which is probably the right decision although I personally wouldn't have a problem with them changing it). If weed was handled like alcohol she would be at the Olympics. There's been a lot of people getting angry on social media, rightly so I think, but their anger in many cases is misplaced and aimed at the Olympics, rather than USATF. It is only USATF's selection policy that is stopping her running.

She has not been selected for the 4x100m and I have a bigger problem with that. They have discretionary picks in this case and are hiding behind the selecting the top finishers policy. I'd be very interested to know if anyone has ever been selected outside of that policy.

 

[djpbaltimore]

She has not been selected for the 4x100m and I have a bigger problem with that. They have discretionary picks in this case and are hiding behind the selecting the top finishers policy. I'd be very interested to know if anyone has ever been selected outside of that policy.

Agreed. The USATF argument that it was the most 'fair' thing do to take the 6th and 7th place finishers from trials is passing the buck. They probably didn't want the distraction.

"So while our heartfelt understanding lies with Sha'Carri, we must also maintain fairness for all of the athletes who attempted to realize their dreams by securing a place on the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team,"

I don't know how often they use discretionary picks, but one of the most famous examples was the 1996 Olympics Mens 4x400m. Anthuan Maybank was DQed at trials for a lane violation but was selected because he was running really fast times and he ended up anchoring the team to a gold medal. Michael Johnson and Butch Reynolds were injured.

Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Glad there is at least one other person in the world thinking she's very, very likely on PEDs!!

Hard to believe that a person can run that fast clean.

 

[meat puppet]

Thompson-Herah ran 10.54 and is within a whisker of FloJo's 100m world record. Totally legit.

 

[Cloxxki]

Might Richardson have glowed in the dark, no way to remain undetected in Tokyo? Or did the bribed official call to abort mission? Catched her on lettuce is like a dude claiming it was his erectile dysfunction creme that triggered the sensitive test. Just one of this things, right? Now the world feels sorry for her, pot doesn't make you faster, right? Well, if might if you're in agony over something, mental or physical.
I only was under that influence once, second hand, but the bike commute home after was something else. No pain, just hard riding wind. Like cranking up a wind tunnel switch. The scenery flashed bike. Not performance enhancing, huh? I'm old enough to remember the notion that EPO can't be used for sprinters.
Tell a bunch of sprinters there is no way to get faster from pot, but that you didn't actually try. Someone's going to figure out a way.

 

[nayr497]

There is no way Richardson is only smoking weed. No way. Too bad the public, blind to actual doping, is now sympathetic to her since weed in the U.S. is now no big deal.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

.......public sympathy is waning fast....due to her BIG mouth.....

Mark L

Humility does not seem to be in her vocabulary... there was this big promo for her prior to the Pre Classic race, she was all talking big and talking crap, it did not displease me she came in dead last.

Don't think weed is all she's smoking, but then I don't think the Jamaicans are either.

 

[veganrob]

Might Richardson have glowed in the dark, no way to remain undetected in Tokyo? Or did the bribed official call to abort mission? Catched her on lettuce is like a dude claiming it was his erectile dysfunction creme that triggered the sensitive test. Just one of this things, right? Now the world feels sorry for her, pot doesn't make you faster, right? Well, if might if you're in agony over something, mental or physical.
I only was under that influence once, second hand, but the bike commute home after was something else. No pain, just hard riding wind. Like cranking up a wind tunnel switch. The scenery flashed bike. Not performance enhancing, huh? I'm old enough to remember the notion that EPO can't be used for sprinters.
Tell a bunch of sprinters there is no way to get faster from pot, but that you didn't actually try. Someone's going to figure out a way.

There was the Canadian snowboarder in the Olypics a few years back. But then pot is just the norm for snowboarders, eh.

 

[nayr497]

And...another article on the new running records. And...it was all about trying to stay sane during covid lockdowns. No mention of another other potential enhancements during covid. Goddamn, I guess people just want to overlook PEDs, makes things easier.

Why Were So Many Running World Records Broken During the Pandemic?

The shutdown led to unusual circumstances that helped runners excel like never before.

www.newyorker.com