NYT Bolt article [Robles update]

[gcheves]

Mary Wittenberg? Gary, weren't you available to answer questions about doping?

[26mi235]

Re: NYT Bolt article

Mary Wittenberg? Gary, weren't you available to answer questions about doping?

It is the NY Times, she is in charge of the biggest running group in the US NYRR and they call her since they know her and, more importantly, their readers know her.

[gh]

Predictable article. Longman long ago lost interest about writing anything on track that didn't have a dope angle, no matter what the real news.

Can you imagine what the big ball leagues would say if they ran a similar hit piece on their sport? We've become a most convenient piñata (largely through our own doing, I do admit).

[mcgato]

Two things: First, I think the NYT was pretty screwed. Since they apparently don't report on anything that occurs after 11 pm, there was no mention of Bolt in Sunday's paper. They had to put something in Monday's paper, but they couldn't just straight report it since it was old news. Thus they put a slant on it, and the only slant they seem to know is PEDs.

Second, in the print version, right above the Bolt article is an article about steroids in horse racing, which is not illegal in most states. Thus most of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes fields are on steroids, including Big Brown. Kind of ironic.

[Walt Murphy]

Predictable article. Longman long ago lost interest about writing anything on track that didn't have a dope angle, no matter what the real news.

Can you imagine what the big ball leagues would say if they ran a similar hit piece on their sport? We've become a most convenient piñata (largely through our own doing, I do admit).

I couldn't disagree more(see a trend here, gh?). I've been one of Longman's biggest critics in the past, but I thought today's article was well-balanced.

While it was too late to make it into the print version of the Times(at least in the early editions), Longman's meet-story was posted on-line and made no mention of drugs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/sports/othersports/01track.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin

By the way, great coverage in Monday's USA Today--cover story and large photo, plus another article inside.

[gcheves]

Re: NYT Bolt article

Mary Wittenberg? Gary, weren't you available to answer questions about doping?

It is the NY Times, she is in charge of the biggest running group in the US NYRR and they call her since they know her and, more importantly, their readers know her.

Her organization consists of mainly recreational joggers who get together in Central Park for leisurely runs in the Morning.

[Walt Murphy]

Re: NYT Bolt article

Mary Wittenberg? Gary, weren't you available to answer questions about doping?

It is the NY Times, she is in charge of the biggest running group in the US NYRR and they call her since they know her and, more importantly, their readers know her.

Her organization consists of mainly recreational joggers who get together in Central Park for leisurely runs in the Morning.

Since the NYRR stages many major events (ING Marathon, 5th-Avenue Mile, 1/2-Marathon), Wittenb.erg also deals with many of the world's elite distance runners (mile on up)

[KevinM]

Re: NYT Bolt article

Mary Wittenberg? Gary, weren't you available to answer questions about doping?

It is the NY Times, she is in charge of the biggest running group in the US NYRR and they call her since they know her and, more importantly, their readers know her.

Her organization consists of mainly recreational joggers who get together in Central Park for leisurely runs in the Morning.

Many don't like the influence that the NYRRC wields, but whether it's reality or just perception, I see them as making more of an effort to promote the elite levels of the sport than any other group in the nation, USATF inclusive.

[gcheves]

Re: NYT Bolt article

Mary Wittenberg? Gary, weren't you available to answer questions about doping?

It is the NY Times, she is in charge of the biggest running group in the US NYRR and they call her since they know her and, more importantly, their readers know her.

Her organization consists of mainly recreational joggers who get together in Central Park for leisurely runs in the Morning.

Since the NYRR stages many major events (ING Marathon, 5th-Avenue Mile, 1/2-Marathon), Wittenb.erg also deals with many of the world's elite distance runners (mile on up)

How many world class sprinters does NYRR have?

[tandfman]

Disgraceful journalism.

Was Bolt himself legal?

Track and field has become so compromised by doping that any startling performance brings immediate suspicion.

Longman asks a question that nobody who has been following Bolt's career for the past five or six years is asking. Then he states that this performance brings immediate suspicion, even though the suspicion is being raised primarily by himself. And then the NYT sticks the headline on it "Doubts Rise as 100-meter Record Falls." even though the doubts are being raised primarily by their own writer, and not by the spectators who saw it, live or on TV, nor by anyone who knows the sport.

Is it possible that Bolt is not clean? Of course, it's possible. Anything is possible. But there is no particular reason right now to doubt the legitimacy of that performance. It's the Times's performance that is illegitimate.

[mcgato]

Mary Wittenberg was also at the meet and NYRR sponsored a number of the events, so the paper was correct to consult her.

[gcheves]

Mary Wittenberg was also at the meet and NYRR sponsored a number of the events, so the paper was correct to consult her.

Therefore, they would have been correct in consulting any of the representatives of the many stakeholders and/or sponsors who were present at the meet as well. Some of them even have some expertise in the sprinting events.

[gh]

..... I've been one of Longman's biggest critics in the past, but I thought today's article was well-balanced. ....

I've no objections about the "balance" of the article: it was the need to write it in the first place.

It would be, IMHO, like the SF Giants coming to town to play the Mets, Tim Lincecum (arguably the best pitcher in the NL this year) having one of his spectacular mow-em-down games and the next day the NYT having a story asking, "given the of MLB in general, and specifically because Barry B played for the Giants, one has to wonder if Lincecum is clean. It was only two years ago he was just a promising young college player....."

[AthleticsInBritain]

It is horrible that everyone immediately questions every brilliant performance. Unfortunately, it's the legacy of too many very high profile athletes, sprinters in particular, caught using, or admitting using PEDs. Don't blame the writers, blame the athletes.

To be fair, it's just that after Ben Johnson, Tim Montgomery and Justin Gatlin, as well as the rest of the BALCO and non-BALCO positives, people are naturally wary about getting too excited about someone, only to find out later that they broke the rules.

The fact that Marion Jones never tested positive (except for that A sample in 2006) means that in the eyes of the general public, it's impossible now to hide behind the never tested positive defence when it comes to being above suspicion.

Which leaves the sport with a bit of a problem, but it's one created by the people who took drugs, not anyone else.

[mcgato]

Which leaves the sport with a bit of a problem, but it's one created by the people who took drugs, not anyone else.

It could be argued that some national governing bodies aided and abetted the problem.