Timely Thoughts

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.

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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.

Put 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."

The star of the party in Helsinki 2005 returned to the top podium with a commanding performance today at the Beijing Nest.

In 2005, Rashid Ramzi grabbed the superb double of 800 / 1500m at the Helsinki World Championships on this occasion he temporarily sought to achieve the amazingly ludicrous idea of a treble - 1500 - 800 - 5000 before it being downscaled to a 'simple' 1500 / 5000 double and after today's victorious 1500m Gold few could doubt the ability of the athlete to accomplish his chosen double.

In today's race he did everything correctly even if he needed to nudge his team-mate, Belal Mansoor Ali, out the way with 400m to go, so as to gain a clear run approaching the final 350m.

Kenya's Asbel Kipruto Kiprop did everything to win the race by being recorded as the leader through 400m - 56.48 and handy at 800m - 1:56.06 and 1200m - 2:53.67 when compatriot Augustine Choge led, however they simply did not do enough to break the will of Ramzi and on the day I doubt whether there could have been any other winner besides Ramzi, such was his roll over the last 400m.

Try as Kiprop may he simply could not come alongside to place pressure on the eventual Gold medalist as he thrust himself towards the finish.

The scramble for Bronze was simply superb and New Zealand's Nick Willis was the eventual recipient not before receiving a scare from France's Mehdi Baala who found a way through on the inside and almost stole 3rd from the Kiwi who was well on his way to Bronze before the late challenge of Baala.

The Frenchman again let himself down by never really imposing himself on the rest of the field by remaining buried in the pack without really looking like a Gold medal contender, come the less important Golden League in the following weeks and Baala will no doubt be to the fore when it is no longer of consequence, this is what Championship racing is all about, Gold.

South Africa's Juan van Deventer can feel happy with his performance and hopefully he can go on to crack the previously elusive National Record over the forthcoming meetings, his 3.34.77 his something to be proud of in a Championship final.

Britain's Andrew Baddeley failed to be in the shake up despite being handy with 400m to go however I feel this athlete has the making of the real deal with a little more experience and a touch more confidence against such fields.

Day 6 beckons and Ramzi has another job to do, The 5000m heats

Women's 5000m heats

Such has the level of Women's 5000m running improved that a 3:05 km looks positively slow for the competitors these days, not to mention that a 15:15.87 finishing time was not sufficient to qualify you for the final which comprises of 15 athletes.

The first heat had the already crowned 10000m and 3000m Steeple Champions in the form of Turinesh Dibaba and Gulnara Samitova-Galkina, one would need to speculate which of the two athletes had the harder of the journeys to this stage, the heat / semi of the 5000m.

The contrast of the tactics was incredible with Galkina happy to be in the kitchen, in the heat of the front, while Dibaba bid her time at the rear of the field.

Galkina took the lead with 1km to run and the last kilometer was delivered in 2:46 with Dibaba again to the fore with her powerful surge down the backstraight and all the way to the line, whereas Dibaba looked at the bottom end of a mild acceleratio, Galinka looked at her top end probably more due to fatigue than anything and I suspect come the final she may be the one at the front delivering an honest pace.

In the 2nd heat, Meseret Defar, looked superb as she took the line honours as she merely stretched her legs to the line in an impressive qualifier winning time of 14:56.32.

The first 6 across the line and automatic qualifiers all dipped under 15 minutes and due to the fast winning time compared to 15:09.89 finish of heat 1 the next 4 finishers all achieved fastest qualifiers with canada's Megan Metcalfe recording a PB of 15:11.23 and a place in the final.

Spare a thought for Eritrea's Simret Sultan who records a National Record breaking time of 15:16.25 but still finds herself out of the final lineup.

An intriguing final awaits us come Saturday night

Further event reporting to follow