Track should use this approach for Drug Testing

[preston]

Re: 85 as the new approach?

Either FINA ain't trying that hard or the IOC [you mean IAAF?] is in full on PR mode.

Or the IOC/IAAF are calling their bluff.

If athletes think there is a good chance of being tested, possibly that will be enough for them to dial back on the PED's? If the athletes knew that only 85 tests would be carried out then they might take the risk, hoping that if they get called they can 'accidently' miss it, or have time to manipulate it?

Daisy, I'm almost positive (note the almost) that the IOC is fully responsible for testing at and around the Olympics. There were athletes who missed tests during the 2012 Olympics while in the village... and they weren't sanctioned, yet they're banning athletes from 8 years ago (because the BALCO politics were too much is my guess). The Olympics is the IOC's show. That is why they don't like positives announced before or during the games and we get these mystery positives months after they've concluded. I'm not that cynical or conspiratorial but I have to believe that the IOC is just not trying to catch that many drug cheats. Add, in that they tested 5% of the 2004 samples they claimed that they would test and ...well, yes ... it's a PR campaign to have the Olympics be the world show with little to no bad news - even if it calls into question the results. Especially, if it calls into question the results.

[Daisy]

Re: 85 as the new approach?

I'm almost positive (note the almost) that the IOC is fully responsible for testing at and around the Olympics.

Right, I was confused because your example was Daegu. But your point remains the same.

[mrbowie]

Re: Track should use this approach for Drug Testing

When I saw Kelli White win the sprints at the Nationals held at Stanford, I remember being amazed at the size of her thighs and wondered how a precocious high school sprinter had left all of her previous form behind as an adult.

When she was found to be doping, I personally felt cheated, because I had made an investment in my time and my emotions as a fan of track and field.

The reason doping must be stopped is that if it continues, there will be no more fans left to care.

I've seen it happen in other sports.

Purity in sports is a goal that is achievable and it is worth the effort.

For those that want to watch the NFL and don't care about cheating in any form, I say to them that they are the same types that cheered the lions when people were thrown to them in ancient times. That is not sport. Neither is NASCAR, where crowds gather hoping to see somebody get maimed or killed.

We have a sport and it behooves us to keep it as clean as possible.

[toyracer]

Re: Track should use this approach for Drug Testing

That is one heck of a sweeping generalization of NASCAR fans.