Doping In Sport



I still hold the view that London 2012 was probably the dirtiest games we’ve ever had. The incredible increase in medal haul by the host nation competed to Beijing 2008 has never been fully explained (despite plenty of hearsay, missed drugs tests etc.) but this goes a long way towards it.
 


I still hold the view that London 2012 was probably the dirtiest games we’ve ever had. The incredible increase in medal haul by the host nation competed to Beijing 2008 has never been fully explained (despite plenty of hearsay, missed drugs tests etc.) but this goes a long way towards it.


The ‘incredible’ increase of 14 medals? Just one quick check shows that it was less than the 17 increase in Australia‘s medal haul from 96-2000 and miles less than the massive 49 increase for China from 2004-08.

The dirtiest Olympics ever? East Germany used to pump their athletes so full of drugs some of them literally changed gender.
 


I still hold the view that London 2012 was probably the dirtiest games we’ve ever had. The incredible increase in medal haul by the host nation competed to Beijing 2008 has never been fully explained (despite plenty of hearsay, missed drugs tests etc.) but this goes a long way towards it.


Ketone, for you, explains the difference in medal hauls? It's a very grey area.
 
I'm not going to pretend that I fully understand Ketone, but reading that story, and Nick Harris's replies to people on Twitter I'm utterly convinced he has absolutely no idea about it either.

In fact, I'm pretty convinced even he doesn't think it's much of a scoop given he's pushing the bad faith 'oh well if they did this then what else did they do line?'. I dunno, Nick, isnt that your job as a journalist to find the evidence if you think there's a story?
 
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Fastest man in the world since 2017 Christian Coleman getting done for multiple missed tests:



Looks like he was totally blase about the testing regime. Liked Dai Greene's response:

 
He's basing that on official disqualifcations, more accurate to describe it as a games when the testers beat the dopers.

Well, yeah, arguably every games since the advent of PEDs has a claim to the ‘dirtiest games ever’ tag as the vast majority of athletes are up to their tonsils with the stuff every single renewal of the Olympics.

It still doesn’t alter the fact that more athletes were caught in London - retrospectively or otherwise - than any other games we’ve ever had. In fact, up to now, London has more rumbled drug cheats than Beijing and Athens combined... and they’re still not finished catching them.
 


I still hold the view that London 2012 was probably the dirtiest games we’ve ever had. The incredible increase in medal haul by the host nation competed to Beijing 2008 has never been fully explained (despite plenty of hearsay, missed drugs tests etc.) but this goes a long way towards it.


Follow-up thread:

 
Shelby Houlihan: American middle distance runner blames burrito for positive test

American middle distance runner Shelby Houlihan has been banned from athletics for four years after testing positive for a prohibited substance - which she blamed on a burrito.

The 28-year-old says she was told in January the anabolic steroid nandrolone had been found in a doping sample.
Olympian Houlihan said it may have come from eating a pork burrito, which she said could lead to a false positive for nandrolone, the night before her test.

She has denied ever doping.

The Athletics Integrity Unit confirmed she was handed the four-year ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Friday, backdated to 14 January.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/57480597

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Check your burritos, people!
 
Being a weightlifter, Sonny Websters ban was an interesting one. He was a decent lifter, went to the Rio Olympics but was never a threat to medal there or in a European competition.

He tested positive for Ostarine in May 2017, was offered a 2 year ban if he admitted taking a substance but spent his life savings fighting the charge. End up receiving a 4 year ban which should have expired 2 days ago (now aged 27), however he refused to stop coaching athletes (banned athletes aren't allowed to associated with federation member athletes, so no training them, or even being in the same gym as them). This resulted in a further 3 years being added to his sentence and he'll be nearly 31 by the time he could compete again, the age most elite lifters looking towards retiring.

In the end he ran off to Australia (he has New Zealand citizenship through family) and coaching Crossfitters in person and online.