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Yannik Noah questions Spain's sporting success.

Dec 30, 2010
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Yannik Noah (former pro tennis player), says that he suspects that most of Spain's recent success is due to Spanish athletes being more "protected" by their homecountry than other countries athletes are.



French:
http://www.eurosport.fr/omnisport/noah-et-la-potion-magique_sto3032615/story.shtml?google_editors_picks=true

English :
http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ap-doping-noah

Addendum : (better English translation)
""When I still milled around on the courts with my racket, we weren't ridiculous, far from it, against our spanish friends. Same on the soccer fields, the basket halls or on the roads of the Tour de France. Today they are running faster than us, are much more stronger and only leave us the bread crumbs. Compared to us, it's simple, we look like dwarves. Did we miss something ?

One question keeps coming back to me : how can a nation dominate virtually overnight the sport in such a way ? Did they discover some avant-garde techniques or training facilities that nobody before them had imagined ? I have searched and didn't find any documented evidence of such innovations, even if I can understand one doesn't want to be imitated when having stumbled onto such a secret. But, between us, it's hard for me to believe in such a hypothesis. Today, sports are a bit like Astérix at the olympic games : if you don't have the magic potion, it's hard to win. And here it looks like, just like Obélix, they fell right down in the potion pot. Lucky guys.

However, in the last years they may have abused a bit of it, considering the avalanche of positive tests. No sooner than last week did I read that a player of the European champion basket team, in september, had a problem with an "anormal" testosterone value. The Spanish federation quickly declared that it was a "normal" anormal rate. Lucky guys.

Had it happened in France, I'm convinced the matter would have turned out very differently. Let's take the case of Jeannie Longo. During twenty years, she was an idol. But as soon as there was a small incident regarding doping, she was assassinated. It's typical French schizophrenia. We want champions, we admire foreign champions, et we have no mercy as soon as one gets caught. Remember Virenque "à l'insu de son plein gré". We sacrificated him, we had our victim, the others are still there. Lucky guys.

But do you know what they talk about at the sports bar (I know that well, I'm often around there) ? Those who win are those who can slip out of the net, those who are quicker than the controllers and use the non-detectable drugs.

Of course, it's very honorable for us to have put in place the "suivi longitudinal", a strict system to follow our athletes. But they are not treated the same as the majority of theirs opponents in the other countries.

In Spain, the Fuentes case, the biggest scandal in the history of the sport, did "pschitt" (nothing, a private French joke). The majority of the Spanish customers of the good doctors were let go. Maybe because, over there, sport is so important its heroes are more protected. But why are we rolling out then the red carpet for Contador at the Tour de France, after he tested positive (oh right, that was the meat....) ? let's stop with hypocrisy. Of course you have to apply "innocent until proven guilty", but nobody is fooled. The best attitude would be to accept doping. Let everyone have his magic potion."
"
 
Apr 18, 2010
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Yeah
and longo just started doping last year, zidane is a saint, and so is thierry, cantona, etc. I think it was fignon who gave a better explanation for the decay of French cycling, the same might hold true in other sports.
 
Oct 16, 2010
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robertocarlos said:
Yeah
and longo just started doping last year, zidane is a saint, and so is thierry, cantona, etc. I think it was fignon who gave a better explanation for the decay of French cycling, the same might hold true in other sports.

Regardless of what happens in other countries, the recent uprising of Spanish sports is quite clearly related to doping and the climate of tolerating doping.
No objective person with knowledge of different sports would seriously deny that.
 
Apr 18, 2010
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I am not saying that Spanish do not dope, what I am saying is that French sports culture is going down the drain. By the way France has never had a dominant sports program, in the same way as Germany or England. He is just being ethnocentric. Why he did notcomplain when France bested Brazil in 1998. Noah wasn't that great, if it wasn't for his don I would not had heard of him.
 
L'arriviste said:
Colleague of mine bumped into Noah at a Brussels casino a few weeks ago. Really nice bloke, apparently. :)

He has to be a nice bloke, considering that he has been for a number of years the preferred public figure in France.
http://www.staragora.com/news/perso...ick-noah-roi-soleil-le-classement-2011/430152

But even his own mother says that sometimes he can be pretty irrelevant.

Non French (or French-resident) forumers might not know that he is a big singing star in the French speaking (singing) world as well as ex-Roland Garros winner. Also, his son, Joachim is a big name in basketball (NBA). Of course, we have not yet heard what Joachim has to say.

Now, Yannick Noah can be very provocative. In his heydays as a tennis player he would give interviews where he would just answer what the journalist wanted to hear, mostly about drugs and sex.
 
robertocarlos said:
.............
Noah wasn't that great, if it wasn't for his don I would not had heard of him.

son I would not have heard of him:) ?

So, I guess you don't know about Yannick's father either, he was a pro football player in the 60's.

Although Yannick wasn't that great by your standards, he is still probably the best in the Noah family. He chose tennis, but he would have excelled in many other sports : without specific training he could run 400 meters in 50sec.
 
Noah is right. Cudos to him for having the balls to say this. Mentions tour de France as a sport too, and its rare for cycling to be mentioned along other sports.

And he was at the TDF presentation with Badger.

Anyone speak French want to right a letter of thank you to Yannick which posters can then sign?
 
Apr 18, 2010
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Le breton said:
son I would not have heard of him:) ?

So, I guess you don't know about Yannick's father either, he was a pro football player in the 60's.

Although Yannick wasn't that great by your standards, he is still probably the best in the Noah family. He chose tennis, but he would have excelled in many other sports : without specific training he could run 400 meters in 50sec.


I was able to run 48.7 on the 400, and got my **** kicked by kids running 46.7 and 47'a while going to college. Any young athlete of his height should be able to do as good. Maybe in France that is a great time, but in the USA he would be beaten in some high school meets. I heard of Becker and I do not even follow tennis. Now what are the sports in which France has dominated Spain
I will give you cycling
But soccer?
Track and field?
Probably swimming, and gymnastics.
Neither has Spain dominated sports.
 
robertocarlos said:
I was able to run 48.7 on the 400,

Now what are the sports in which France has dominated Spain
I will give you cycling
But soccer?
Track and field?
Probably swimming, and gymnastics.
Neither has Spain dominated sports.

48.7 without specific training?

As for France vs Spain, I really don't care, but basically until ~20 years ago, apart from football and cycling, Spain was pretty bad in most sports, they never had the long tradition of the UK, Germany and northern european countries.

Anyway, I like Y. Noah, but he is talking nonsense on that issue.

PS : you didn't answer about Roberto Carlos.
OOPS : wrong thread, sorry
 
Apr 18, 2010
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Well in my first meet I ran 51.8 and xc is way different than track sprints
I would say that at least in club level Spain has been better than France. In the hispanic world every world cup in the last 12 years could have gone to Spain.
 
Jul 22, 2009
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Le breton said:
48.7 without specific training?

As for France vs Spain, I really don't care, but basically until ~20 years ago, apart from football and cycling, Spain was pretty bad in most sports, they never had the long tradition of the UK, Germany and northern european countries.

Anyway, I like Y. Noah, but he is talking nonsense on that issue.

PS : you didn't answer about Roberto Carlos.
OOPS : wrong thread, sorry

Hey, is it true Bretons are considered ½ French? Being that you guys are very nationalistic and all...
 
Dec 30, 2010
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Just a note :

I got kicked off the "Tennis.com" boards for agreeing with Noah.

Although they left my thread up, they deleted all of my postings (although you can read some of them as quotes in other forum members postings). They even deleted my link to the story, even though they had a news item on the same story themselves. The result is, I can no longer defend my position. You end up with the fanboys all agreeing with each other ("they all do it", "it's just a cycling problem", "Andynonomous is just a troll with multiple IDs").

http://www.tennis.com/messageboards/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=19815&start=1

(above thread has been deleted)

The Omerta in tennis goes on.
 
Aug 8, 2009
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Andynonomous said:
...Did they discover some avant-garde techniques or training facilities that nobody before them had imagined ?...

I know of one possible explanation. When someone enjoys success, it can provide a huge confidence/motivational boost to anyone around them, or even anyone who feels a distant connection with them, i.e. countrymen.

I've seen examples of this in science. In one case a guy achieved something absolutely remarkable because of his (incorrect) belief that someone he knew had already done it.
 
Jul 22, 2009
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Le breton said:
you guys

A majority among racist people prefer to hide that aspect of their personnality.

Lost in translation buddy!

Noah's comments are way out of line. And Le Monde seems to put a lot of umph (happily submit) in lending their newpaper space to people with uncorroborated opinions.

I, for one, would like to hear any of these noveau François criticize countries with biggers doping problems, like the USA. Of, that's right! He'd get his a$$ handed back to him.

I have ZERO respect for Noah now.
 
Oct 30, 2011
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What about the evidence that tennis stars and footballers were protected during OP? That pretty much corroborates with this. What about the fact that Eufemanio Fuentes said that if he said what he knew, La Liga would be in trouble?
 
Oct 30, 2011
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Le breton said:
What Yannick had to say about doping.
http://www.ina.fr/media/entretiens/video/I00014145/yannick-noah-a-propos-du-dopage.fr.html
That was 21 years ago and ... in French.

My French is too poor, especially to hear the interviewer. Yannick's actually quite good for a foreigner to listen to, very slow, helps a lot. Still, as ever with doping discussions, a lot seems to be in metaphors and skirting around the truth, which is a bit much for my French.

Could you do a brief summary, please?
 
Andynonomous said:
I believe that Christophe Rochus (retired Belgian tennis player) is agreeing with Noah.

http://www.lanouvellegazette.be/sports/tennis/2011-11-21/christophe-rochus-yannick-noah-ne-fait-que-dire-la-verite-919182.shtml

Anybody out there that can translate Wallonian ? :D

Thankfully it's straight French. I wouldn't even try to translate Wallon. ;)

Rochus said:
Oui, il ne fait que dire la v&#233]

Yes, he said nothing but the truth... If you remember well enough, two or three years ago, I said then that there were dopers on the [tennis] circuit, which got me into trouble with the ATP. But there needs to be an end to the hypocrisy. It's not only the Spanish who practise sports at the top level and why are they suddenly being brought up now? Let's stop trying to make out that sport is clean. It's daft. We have to empower athletes because there are real dangers behind all this talk of doping.
 

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