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Timely Thoughts

2009-04-29

Permalink 13:25:05, by timely, 378 words, 350 views English (EU)
Categories: Drugs-in-Sport, Olympic Games, France, Beijing

We have got to win this fight - Ramzi bust

Well it has happened, the one athlete that they have been suspicious about since 2005, finally had time catch up with him.

MANAMA, Bahrain — The Bahrain Olympic Committee says 1,500-meter gold medalist Rashid Ramzi has tested positive for doping at the Beijing Games.

The International Olympic Committee said Tuesday that six athletes tested positive for CERA, an advanced version of the blood-boosting drug EPO. The IOC has not named the athletes or the sports involved.

In 2005, Ramzi improved to such a great extent that the whispers and murmers used to follow his every performance, the telltale signs of infrequent racing and then sublime performances at the Helsinki World Championships; where he achieved the 800 and 1500m Double and then Gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, had the tongues wagging.

After the double in 2005, he attributed his significant performance improvement to higher mileage and more meticulous training, however this still did not damper the doubters and they will certainly be banging their 'Told You So' drum now and probably rightly so.

There were retests of 948 samples, for CERA (847) and insulin (101), once a reliable test method for the substances was
developed last autumn just after the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

=> Read more!

2008-11-18

Permalink 12:09:47, by timely, 373 words, 748 views English (EU)
Categories: Marathon, Australia, Olympic Games

De Castella added to Australian Hall of Fame

World marathon champion Robert De Castella and Olympic 400m hurdles champion Debbie Flintoff-King are amongst five of Australia's greatest athletes inducted into Athletics Australia's prestigious Hall of Fame.

This headline gave me imense pleasure and it took me back to a period of marathon racing in the 80's when racing over the distance was more than simple time-trials.

Robert De Castella was voted the premier marathon athlete of the decade and for good reason. It was during a period of the most intensive rivalry over the 26.2 miles the distance has ever known.

Don't get me wrong, marathoning is great these fine days however then it was about the athletes and not the times, though the times were still important, racing and beating your foe was the 'biggie'

When Derek Clayton put the marathon record into a different league in 1969 with 2:08:34, we had to wait an enormous 12 years for the record to be broken and on that occasion it went unrecognised when Deek ran 2:08:18 in Fukuoaka in late 1981.

=> Read more!

2008-09-03

Permalink 15:18:23, by timely, 525 words, 1106 views English (EU)
Categories: Drugs-in-Sport, Running News, Track News, Olympic Games, Britain, Beijing

Reed and UK Athletics controversy

Kate Reed and controversy seem to go hand in hand

And again, UK Athletics' fumbling, bumbling and mismanagement rise to the surface with an athlete bringing the sport into disrepute.

The mere fact that the ludicrous happenings which took place during the Olympics with 10000m representative, Reed, and UK Athletics, being allowed to go public is total mismanagement as well as journalists looking for something to stir the pot and nothing serves better than gripe when it comes to the British media.

Kate Reed and dancing with wolvesPut this on a plate and serve it warm to the public and we have a feast fit for scoundrels and a garbage press.

This episode will do the sport no favours and the handling of Dwain Chambers over the last year and the press brought about a scenario where Chambers was accused of bringing the sport into disrepute and now we have another situation and on each occasion there is one central figure that seems to be same. Therein lies the problem, which with a little bit of introspection and the way they handle their affairs needs to be questioned.

It is reported that the athlete Kate Reed was tested on no less than six occasions in 10 days in her build-up to the Olympic Games. Why you would ask? And it is due to what the athlete had allegedly said in conversation.

We know the athlete, a number of the running public know the athlete and her behaviour, yet it seems the persons who have the athlete representing her country, don't know the athlete and her personality at all.

The bottom line? What is the bottom line? Well, what's for dessert?

 

Part of The BBC report

The sport's governing body said Reed had an injury and had "intimated to at least two members of staff that she may take morphine to kill the pain."

But Reed, 25, told BBC Radio Bristol her comments had been misintepreted.

"I think I said words along the line of 'could you give me some morphine, perhaps that's the best thing. I could do with floating around the track'," said the Clevedon athlete.

"I never ever claimed that I was carrying morphine and the conversation in which it took place was a light-hearted one and it was quite harmless.

"If they have an issue I expect it to be addressed immediately and they should have immediately asked me about it. I said it in jest and assumed it was taken in jest but clearly it wasn't.

"I would never take a banned substance and was subject to six drugs tests in 10 days leading up to the Olympic Games."

Reed's accommodation was searched by British Olympic Association officials and she added: "I fully endorse the search and was quite happy to go along with it. It took two hours and the BOA staff found absolutely nothing.

"They reported back to UKA that they had found nothing but they then said they wanted to do another search which lasted another hour. At that point I felt I was being unfairly treated."

 


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