Doping in other sports?

[TourOfSardinia]

Schwazer, the disqualification for doping ends today:
«The light after the darkness of injustice»
(in italiano)

Schwazer, la squalifica per doping finisce oggi: «La luce dopo il buio dell'ingiustizia»

Squalificato 8 anni nel 2016 dopo la controversa positività al testosterone, da oggi Alex Schwazer è libero«almeno di portare i figli agli allenamenti». Ma dopo aver cullato il sogno di Parigi 2024, negato dal Tas nonostante le sentenze sulle provette manipolate, forse vuole tornare a fare l'atleta

www.corriere.it

Disqualified for 8 years in 2016 after the controversial testosterone test, from today Alex Schwazer is free "at least to bring his children to training". But after having cradled the dream of Paris 2024, denied by the Tas despite the sentences on manipulated test tubes, may be he wants to go back to being an athlete

 

[fenns]

bit suspicious about Djokovic's injury and surgery just prior to Wimbledon.

 

[Invicituz]

First positive doping test at Paris Olympics is Iraqi judoka for anabolic steroids:

First positive doping test at Paris Olympics is Iraqi judoka for anabolic steroids

A male judoka from Iraq tested positive for two anabolic steroids at the Paris Olympics

abcnews.go.com

 

[Tim Cahill]

First positive doping test at Paris Olympics is Iraqi judoka for anabolic steroids:

First positive doping test at Paris Olympics is Iraqi judoka for anabolic steroids

A male judoka from Iraq tested positive for two anabolic steroids at the Paris Olympics

abcnews.go.com

 

[awavey]

meanwhile national records and pb's are tumbling across the board it seems in lots of the other sports...Im sure they just peaked at the right time.

 

[TheSpud]

Italian swimming team at Paris 2024 - discuss …

 

[Mayomaniac]

Italian swimming team at Paris 2024 - discuss …

Italy is a top tier swimming nation and supercharged in all infamous sports (besides cycling and XC skiing) atm. Swimming, T&F and they are the top European nation in Olympic Weightlifting.

 

[TheSpud]

Italy is a top tier swimming nation and supercharged in all infamous sports (besides cycling and XC skiing) atm. Swimming, T&F and they are the top European nation in Olympic Weightlifting.

Apparently they do most of their training in Tenerife …

 

[Invicituz]

Another Chinese doping controversy pops up during Olympic swimming competition:

Another Chinese doping controversy pops up during Olympic swimming competition

Another Chinese doping allegation has flared up at the Paris Games, angering some swimmers who say officials need to enforce drug-testing rules consistently.

apnews.com

 

[Nomad]

Oops...mistimed his off-phase. Lol

First positive doping test at Paris Olympics is Iraqi judoka for anabolic steroids

A male judoka from Iraq tested positive for two anabolic steroids at the Paris Olympics

www.google.com

 

[Sciatic]

Another Chinese doping controversy pops up during Olympic swimming competition:

Another Chinese doping controversy pops up during Olympic swimming competition

Another Chinese doping allegation has flared up at the Paris Games, angering some swimmers who say officials need to enforce drug-testing rules consistently.

apnews.com

Seems humorous to me that some Chinese swimmers trying to rebut the reports and innuendo about doping argued that they get tested more than other athletes. Well, no one claimed you weren’t being tested enough—the problem is that Chinese anti-doping accepts silly contamination excuses for the test results so as to avoid violations and bans.

 

[Nick2413]

Chinese situation aside, I’ve always been curious about the doping practices in swimming. It’s a weird sport given the technique component and the physiological attributes aren’t quite as straightforward as cycling or distance running.

The WR progressions also don’t seem to have taken the same trajectory as other sports, probably partly due to the higher importance of technique and the way certain skills have made breakthroughs at different times (dolphin kick, maximizing underwaters, breathing pattern optimization going into turns, etc). The “evolution of training” is more of a real thing for a sport like swimming than cycling.

Phelps was in his heyday smashing records when doping was seemingly slowing down in the cycling world and long after the absolute peaks of performance in the 90s, and he was known for being a physical freak in all the anthropometric ways.

Even knowing not to expect much from the media, it was a bit odd at the time that there was almost no noise about Phelps and co doping whatsoever despite the Armstrong saga going on at the same time. Or the other stream of records on men’s and women’s side in recent years. There have been occasional busts but we haven’t really seen anything major getting exposed in the sport. Whatever cocktail/methods they’re using, it would be interesting to know how it compares to other sports.

 

[Sciatic]

Chinese situation aside, I’ve always been curious about the doping practices in swimming. It’s a weird sport given the technique component and the physiological attributes aren’t quite as straightforward as cycling or distance running.

The WR progressions also don’t seem to have taken the same trajectory as other sports, probably partly due to the higher importance of technique and the way certain skills have made breakthroughs at different times (dolphin kick, maximizing underwaters, breathing pattern optimization going into turns, etc). The “evolution of training” is more of a real thing for a sport like swimming than cycling.

Phelps was in his heyday smashing records when doping was seemingly slowing down in the cycling world and long after the absolute peaks of performance in the 90s, and he was known for being a physical freak in all the anthropometric ways.

Even knowing not to expect much from the media, it was a bit odd at the time that there was almost no noise about Phelps and co doping whatsoever despite the Armstrong saga going on at the same time. Or the other stream of records on men’s and women’s side in recent years. There have been occasional busts but we haven’t really seen anything major getting exposed in the sport. Whatever cocktail/methods they’re using, it would be interesting to know how it compares to other sports.

Michelle Smith from the 90’s was a big bust of top tier swimmer—but I guess with it was obvious to a lot of people.

Obviously anabolics can create huge performance increase for swimmers as demonstrated by the dominant E. German women’s team in the 70s-80s. It would seem like steroid use is too detectable, but yet folks in misc, sports keep getting busted for it.

 

[Brullnux]

Italian swimming team at Paris 2024 - discuss …

Upwards trajectory for quite a few years, only Martinenghi is a surprise but the winning time was pretty slow (59s, the slowest Olympic winner since 2004).

Ceccon was the favourite, Paltrinieri bronze was expected, 4x100 was also expected. Nothing out of the ordinary so far in terms of performances – no more so than the rest, at least.

 

[Brullnux]

meanwhile national records and pb's are tumbling across the board it seems in lots of the other sports...Im sure they just peaked at the right time.

I think a lot of sports (swimming especially) have been quite slow! No world record set yet, a handful of ORs but not very many. A lot of gold medal winners have talked about how they're surprised their time got them a medal.

Rowing so far also hasn't been particularly fast compared to Tokyo. I really don't think so far it has been a very suspicious Olympics, with very few records falling.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Times are hard to gauge in the swimming this year as it's a 'slow pool'. It's shallower than the usual 3m depth as it's a temporary pool and the artistic swimming is being held elsewhere, so the organisers have only provided a 2.1m pool - which apparently meets the olympic minimum standards but results in more backwash/turbulence. Swimmers have been trying to adapt by doing things like staying under longer on turns and putting faster swimmers in the first couple of legs of relays to try to get out front, but it's definitely slowed everything down (the men's 100m breaststroke was apparently won in the slowest winning time since 2004 for example). Despite peaking for the olympics swimmers seem to be going slower than in their national qualification swims and there have been no world records that I've seen. A couple of olympic records have been the best achievements, probably would have been world records in a better pool.

So I don't think the times will tell us anything about any doping trends this year, it's hard to judge performances in a wider context.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I think a lot of sports (swimming especially) have been quite slow! No world record set yet, a handful of ORs but not very many. A lot of gold medal winners have talked about how they're surprised their time got them a medal.

Rowing so far also hasn't been particularly fast compared to Tokyo. I really don't think so far it has been a very suspicious Olympics, with very few records falling.

It's a slow pool, so I think that hides some of the strong swimming performances we've seen. It's also only been 3 years since the last Olympics, which might have affected things as well. The lack of the strongest Russians probably also makes a difference.

 

[awavey]

I think a lot of sports (swimming especially) have been quite slow! No world record set yet, a handful of ORs but not very many. A lot of gold medal winners have talked about how they're surprised their time got them a medal.

Rowing so far also hasn't been particularly fast compared to Tokyo. I really don't think so far it has been a very suspicious Olympics, with very few records falling.

As I say PBs and National records, they don't get the hoopla of a WR or an OR and often the commentators miss them.

But there were a stack of them on the first day of the swimming qualifying heats.

There was one heat where a guy finished 4th I think about 1 second off taking 1st, which is biggish time gap for the type of event , set a National record, his time would have won him the gold medal in that same event in Tokyo in the "quicker" pool

Its just better nutrition and equipment isn't it 😉

 

[Mayomaniac]

I think a lot of sports (swimming especially) have been quite slow! No world record set yet, a handful of ORs but not very many. A lot of gold medal winners have talked about how they're surprised their time got them a medal.

Rowing so far also hasn't been particularly fast compared to Tokyo. I really don't think so far it has been a very suspicious Olympics, with very few records falling.

Apparently the pool is rather shallow and many swimmers consider it to be a slow one.
About rowing, lower water temperatures compared to Japan would mean more resistance/friction.

 

[Mayomaniac]

It's a slow pool, so I think that hides some of the strong swimming performances we've seen. It's also only been 3 years since the last Olympics, which might have affected things as well. The lack of the strongest Russians probably also makes a difference.

Beat me to it.

 

[Brullnux]

It's a slow pool, so I think that hides some of the strong swimming performances we've seen. It's also only been 3 years since the last Olympics, which might have affected things as well. The lack of the strongest Russians probably also makes a difference.

I don't think there's been anything crazy, though. Maybe Marchand would've beaten his WR but nobody else has been particularly close other than the Aussie women. The fields have become more compact but I don't think the top end is any faster than three years ago. PBs are to be expected at an Olympics, they're either happening here or at World Champs.

I stand by it, though, I don't think this has been an unusual Olympics so far. Definitely nothing like the Tour lol

 

[Sciatic]

If we’re looking for suspicious happenings at the Olympics I would put the top 2 Jamaican women sprinters — possible podium or gold medalists—dropping out with recent injuries in that category.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I don't think there's been anything crazy, though. Maybe Marchand would've beaten his WR but nobody else has been particularly close other than the Aussie women. The fields have become more compact but I don't think the top end is any faster than three years ago. PBs are to be expected at an Olympics, they're either happening here or at World Champs.

I stand by it, though, I don't think this has been an unusual Olympics so far. Definitely nothing like the Tour lol

Sure, this won't go down as the craziest Olympic swimming competition ever, and the WC in Japan last year also produced faster times (at this stage), but I still believe the pool makes the biggest difference here. I think it's quite telling that a time over 59 seconds in the men's 100m breaststroke hasn't been enough to win a major championship title since before the super-suit era, and 7 out of 8 swimmers swam faster in the Olympic final in Tokyo.

Of course that drop in level (Peaty and Martinenghi did swim under 59 in the semis, to be fair) can also be explained by less PED usage, but I don't have the feeling that swimming is less dirty now than it was a year ago.

 

[Brullnux]

Sure, this won't go down as the craziest Olympic swimming competition ever, and the WC in Japan last year also produced faster times (at this stage), but I still believe the pool makes the biggest difference here. I think it's quite telling that a time over 59 seconds in the men's 100m breaststroke hasn't been enough to win a major championship title since before the super-suit era, and 7 out of 8 swimmers swam faster in the Olympic final in Tokyo.

Of course that drop in level (Peaty and Martinenghi did swim under 59 in the semis, to be fair) can also be explained by less PED usage, but I don't have the feeling that swimming is less dirty now than it was a year ago.

No I don't think so either, I don't think there's been any change in anything. I just also don't think there's anything to be gobsmacked about, or to suggest that anything beyond whatever happens normally is going on. No WTF moments, basically. Even without PEDs, you would expect PRs to come at the Olympics, so I don't think PRs being set is indicative of much.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

No I don't think so either, I don't think there's been any change in anything. I just also don't think there's anything to be gobsmacked about, or to suggest that anything beyond whatever happens normally is going on. No WTF moments, basically. Even without PEDs, you would expect PRs to come at the Olympics, so I don't think PRs being set is indicative of much.

Yeah, I agree that there definitely hasn't been a sudden rise in performances like we've seen in cycling recently. Whether that is because it happened earlier in swimming, or if it's going to happen later, remains to be seen.