Mamma Mia!

[DoubleRBar]

Happy 57th birthday today (Tuesday) to an Olympic champion who competed in two Olympic Games.

Our birthday person won Olympic gold at the age of 25 and was also a gold medalist at the World Championships and the European Championships.

You don't have to worry about the hurdles when trying to come up with this person's event.

Can you name our birthday athlete for this first Tuesday in the final month of 2015? Please name this Olympic gold medal winner.

[Flumpy]

Alberto Cova

I got really confused by the title and spent 20 minutes looking up the female winners in 1984, none of whom also have a World title.

[DoubleRBar]

Very good, Flumpy. Happy birthday today (Tuesday) to Alberto Cova, winner of the 1983 World Championships and 1984 Olympic gold medal in the 5,000.

[dukehjsteve]

Alberto Cova

I got really confused by the title and spent 20 minutes looking up the female winners in 1984, none of whom also have a World title.

research, research, tsk tsk tsk....

[Bruce Kritzler]

Very good, Flumpy. Happy birthday today (Tuesday) to Alberto Cova, winner of the 1983 World Championships and 1984 Olympic gold medal in the 5,000.

I'd swear i saw Said Aouita win the 5k in Los Angeles.
Didn't Cova win the 10k, but later dq'ed for blood doping ?

[DoubleRBar]

Thank you, Bruce Kritzler. You did see Aouita win the Los Angeles 5,000 (I did too). Cova won the 10,000 in Helsinki (1983) and Los Angeles (1984). I don't believe Cova could have kept up with Aouita in the 5,000. I don't remember Cova being disqualified.

[Olli]

Cova was not disqualified for blood doping and couldn't have, since blood doping was not yet banned (I think at least). Martti Vainio, who originally got second, got disqualified for ordinary doping (testosterone, I think), causing an immense scandal here in Finland.

I think, though, that I have heard rumors that Cova later admitted to blood doping.

Moreover, I think I remember that an entire USA cycling team was also caught blood doping...

Above I wrote "I think" four times. So those with a better knowledge correct me if I erred.

[mump boy]

Didn't Vaino get caught because he'd been blood doping and it was the blood that he'd reintroduced that had PED's in ??

[Olli]

I have read about that theory several times in the Internet, but I don't know whether it has been confirmed. In fact, I don't remember that theory having been mentioned in the Finnish media (though there was no shortage of other purported explanations).

[LopenUupunut]

Martti Vainio, who originally got second, got disqualified for ordinary doping (testosterone, I think), causing an immense scandal here in Finland.

Vainio was busted for Primobolan (an anabolic steroid). He did also use testosterone; according to the man himself, he was caught because he intended to use testosterone, not Primobolan, and testosterone disappears from the system faster so he thought he'd be safe. (As noted above, there were other stories circulating; one was that a friend had accidentally injected him with steroids instead of vitamins.)

Part of the scandal was that the Finnish alphabet people had caught him in a test earlier in 1984 and knew fully well he was doping, but stayed mum about it apart from advising Vainio he'd tested positive. A couple of our head coaches got the boot over it.

[catson52]

Vainio was busted for Primobolan (an anabolic steroid). He did also use testosterone; according to the man himself, he was caught because he intended to use testosterone, not Primobolan, and testosterone disappears from the system faster so he thought he'd be safe. (As noted above, there were other stories circulating; one was that a friend had accidentally injected him with steroids instead of vitamins.)

Part of the scandal was that the Finnish alphabet people had caught him in a test earlier in 1984 and knew fully well he was doping, but stayed mum about it apart from advising Vainio he'd tested positive. A couple of our head coaches got the boot over it.

Since blood doping was not illegal in the 1970s, I am assuming this thread will not be "banned". What's the final word on the preparation of Viren and Vaatainen for big races? I recall that the latter started his career as a 400 m runner and therefore his final lap speed in Helsinki 1971, should not have come as a total surprise.