USOC empty threat

[Saturday October 18, 2003 2:06AM
USOC wants USA Track & Field to clean up its act

CLEVELAND (AP) -- The U.S. Olympic Committee gave USA Track & Field an ultimatum: shape up or face the consequences.

The USOC's executive committee has set a Nov. 17 deadline for USATF to submit a plan for cleaning up doping issues, athlete conduct problems and the image of the organization. The USOC also created a three-person panel to guide USATF officials in the process.]


What a joke. The USOC are a bunch of bumbling hypocrites. There is a tremendous difference between an organization's athletes behaving badly and an organization's leaders. How humiliating for Masback to have to sit and listen to the USOC's regal panel of three. I guess with the new steroid bombshell they felt it was safe to chime in. Pathetic.

Re: USOC empty threat

"shape up or face the consequences."

ooooh - you're scaring me. Face what consequences? Decertify USATF? Then what? Get a puppet regime that's half as competent? The problem lies not in USATF, who SHOULD be defended its athletes. If an athlete is determined guilty, beyond a REASONABLE DOUBT, then USATF punishes. But until such time, I would hope to hell they represent their athletes to the best of their abilities. I totally agree with the hypocrisy comment above.

Re: USOC empty threat

>"shape up or face the consequences."

ooooh -
>you're scaring me. Face what consequences?
>Decertify USATF? Then what? Get a puppet regime
>that's half as competent? The problem lies not in
>USATF, who SHOULD be defended its athletes. If an
>athlete is determined guilty, beyond a REASONABLE
>DOUBT, then USATF punishes. But until such time,
>I would hope to hell they represent their
>athletes to the best of their abilities. I
>totally agree with the hypocrisy comment above.

Re: USOC empty threat

<What a joke. The USOC are a bunch of bumbling hypocrites. There is a tremendous difference between an organization's athletes behaving badly and an organization's leaders. How humiliating for Masback to have to sit and listen to the USOC's regal panel of three. I guess with the new steroid bombshell they felt it was safe to chime in. Pathetic<<

i agree with that totally. the usoc has had more scandals than enron ! the only thing the usatf can be accused of is falling asleep at the wheel.
but masback said he is all for punishing the offenders even if that means a weaker olympic team.
it definitely is an empty threat. without track and field and swimming, the usoc would be nothing.

Re: USOC empty threat

>the only thing the usatf can be accused of is
>falling asleep at the wheel.

Yeah, but if you fall asleep at the wheel and cause an accident, you are still accountable for your actions and can be charged with negligence.

Besides, USATF has a well-known history of half-assed treatment of drug infractions. Gotta make them act on this one without brushing it under the carpet.

[bhall]

Re: USOC empty threat

>Besides, USATF has a well-known
>history of half-assed treatment of drug
>infractions. Gotta make them act on this one
>without brushing it under the carpet.

Hulkster- You mean the Jerome Young case or the THG & Modofinil?

Re: USOC empty threat

>Hulkster- You mean the Jerome Young case or the
>THG & Modofinil?

Well, I was talking collective history. One instance of pro-active measures (modafinil) doesn't completely make up for past sins.

Since you mention it: the Jerome Young case took almost 3 years to surface (almost on the bring of the statute of limitations). The alleged names of two dozen other undisclosed positives has never been revealed, names of athletes who technically shouldn't have competed internationally. The Carl Lewis and co. positives from 1988 were themselves dismissed under somewhat questionable circumstances. etc...

Re: USOC empty threat

>>the only thing the usatf can be accused of is
>
>falling asleep at the wheel.

Yeah, but if
>you fall asleep at the wheel and cause an
>accident, you are still accountable for your
>actions and can be charged with
>negligence.

Besides, USATF has a well-known
>history of half-assed treatment of drug
>infractions. Gotta make them act on this one
>without brushing it under the carpet.


Suppose you were a member of Congress, and suppose you were an idiot. But I repeat myself . . .

Any politician who worries about the USA's image around the world has to really hate drug scandals. Our leaders use drugs as a pretense to invade and destroy other nations (such as Panama) yet our athletes have a bad reputation as drug users. I'm sure the USOC is painfully aware of this, and wants to remove some of the heat from D.C. by pushing USATF to crack down on drug use. I'm pleasantly surprised that the feds appear to be looking into this as a criminal matter. The typical Washington rhetoric about getting tough on drugs simply does not include this kind of stuff.

I have no sympathy for USATF since I really do believe they've looked out for the dopers in the past, although I understand they had nothing to do with the development or use of THG. But I don't have much confidence that any of these cheats would have been caught if USATF still did its own testing.

[bhall]

Re: USOC empty threat

Problem is that you're mixing apples and oranges. Young was a case under the jurisdiction of USATF. USATF is no longer in the testing and sanctioning business. Mododinil and THG are cases USADA is handling and will continue to handle. This has been the case since October 1, 2000 when USATF "transferred all of its doping control responsibility" to USADA. Personally, I think this is a major distinction many in and outside the T&F community simply don't understand. That is a shame. USATF gets a lot of crap for past doping issues, much of it deserved, but give them credit for handing off doping control resposibility to and indepedent organization.

For more background see http://www.usatf.org/about/legal/antido ... info.shtml

[bhall]

Re: USOC empty threat

Above message is in response to the Hulk. BTW, good to have him on the board. I was once a little Hulkamaniac :-)

Re: USOC empty threat

Thanks for the welcome! Just don't make me angry... You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

Actually, the most recent cases (modafinil and THG) were uncovered by USADA, as you pointed out. In that sense, it's curious how nothing was done about the problem prior to 2000. Good for USATF to hand off the responsibility to an independent organization, no question, but the past "negligence" of test result handling was under USATF jurisdiction.

However, think about this: the THG scandal would never have been noticed by USADA if someone hadn't set off the alarm. Is it reasonable to think that USATF knew that prior to the hand-off?

Not trying to be a conspiracy theorist, just asking a rational question.

[phil]

Re: USOC empty threat

>"shape up or face the consequences."

ooooh -
>you're scaring me. Face what consequences?
>Decertify USATF? Then what? Get a puppet regime
>that's half as competent? The problem lies not in
>USATF, who SHOULD be defended its athletes. If an
>athlete is determined guilty, beyond a REASONABLE
>DOUBT, then USATF punishes. But until such time,
>I would hope to hell they represent their
>athletes to the best of their abilities. I
>totally agree with the hypocrisy comment above.

THAT WAS BULLSHIT..... it is not the job of ustaf to represent immoral and illegal drug users.... the ustaf should guarantee the american fans that all athletes in its organization are clean or under suspension.... STOP HARBORING DRUG CHEATS!!!

Re: USOC empty threat

Relax Phil. The organization does not exist that can guarantee such things. Can Baseball gurantee all of it's players are clean? Don't cork their bats? Don't chew tabacco? Nope. As much as they wish they could, they can't. Basketball wishes none of it's players were thugs, and Track and Field wishes none of it's athletes were dirty. At some point all you can do is react to the messes your athletes make.

Re: USOC empty threat

there will allways be some joey bag of dounuts who wanna win and will do anything to win. and u see it comin out now. thats good they r gettin cought.

Re: USOC empty threat

?However, think
>about this: the THG scandal would never have
>been noticed by USADA if someone hadn't set off
>the alarm. Is it reasonable to think that USATF
>knew that prior to the hand-off?

Not trying
>to be a conspiracy theorist, just asking a
>rational question.

There's a bit of speculation if I ever saw it.