Chernova and Zaripova banned for doping by RUSADA

[Powell]

Were my comments Russian bashing? I guess they were. But it is hard not to make observations along those lines when, for example, everyone racing that day against Lashimova knew she was a banned drug cheat, every official at that race meeting knew she was a banned drug cheat, every Russian administration official who was involved in re-dating the Lashimova picture knew she was a drug cheat.

But the people who raised a stink about her competing were Russian as well, right?

[beebee]

One thing is for certain....

This matter is a pile of cockroach shit and is rising.

[norunner]

Were my comments Russian bashing? I guess they were. But it is hard not to make observations along those lines when, for example, everyone racing that day against Lashimova knew she was a banned drug cheat, every official at that race meeting knew she was a banned drug cheat, every Russian administration official who was involved in re-dating the Lashimova picture knew she was a drug cheat.

But you don't know if everyone there wanted to be involved. The politicial realities in Russia are similar to Moscow 80, it's certainly not a democratic country, so if someone with authority tells you to do something, you do it or you get into trouble. That's just my guess but it makes more sense than a country with 150mio cheats.

[beebee]

Here's wishing that every clean athlete boycott his or hers National Championship and thus this years World Championships unless the IAAF immediately bans and strips these cheats of their medals and moneys gained.

BOYCOTT BEIJING!

[polevaultpower]

But the people who raised a stink about her competing were Russian as well, right?

Not really. No Russian athlete has said a negative word about anything from Saransk and some have spoken in support of various athletes and situations there. Skirun.ru is the only Russian publication I've seen that has really been critical, the rest seem more sorry the walkers got caught than sorry they were cheating.

But you don't know if everyone there wanted to be involved. The politicial realities in Russia are similar to Moscow 80, it's certainly not a democratic country, so if someone with authority tells you to do something, you do it or you get into trouble. That's just my guess but it makes more sense than a country with 150mio cheats.

This. I have mixed feelings about the athletes who helped stage a cover-up in Saransk. I'm sure they were just following orders... punish them, but lifetime bans for every administrator/official/coach involved.

[mump boy]

Retrospective bans don't make any sense if they then allow people to compete in subsequent championships that they wouldn't have been able to qualify for if the ban had been in real time

'Chernova has her results annulled her results from 15 August 2009 to 14 August 2011 - a period that ended just 16 days before she won world gold in Daegu'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/31078095

So there is no way she could have competed in Deagu.

This kind of inconsistency makes these bans a nonsense.

Has there been any explanation of why there are these random ban periods ?

[norunner]

Has there been any explanation of why there are these random ban periods ?

A two year ban is random? I am much more curious why Zaripovas results were anulled for very specific periods only, June 20 to August 20, 2011 and July 3 to September 3, 2012. Were those the only periods where she actually ran?

[gh]

Here's wishing that every clean athlete boycott his or hers National Championship and thus this years World Championships unless the IAAF immediately bans and strips these cheats of their medals and moneys gained.

BOYCOTT BEIJING!

oh yeah, great idea…. let's make sure we convince every last soul on the planet that our sport is the dirtiest of them all. Sorry, but I see nothing but bad coming from a stunt like that. It's a move that might win the high moral ground, but that would be an incredibly hollow victory I'm afraid.

[Powell]

Not really. No Russian athlete has said a negative word about anything from Saransk and some have spoken in support of various athletes and situations there. Skirun.ru is the only Russian publication I've seen that has really been critical, the rest seem more sorry the walkers got caught than sorry they were cheating.

But someone made photos of her competing in Saransk and put them on line to alert the world of what was happening. I don't suppose they were foreigners?

[polevaultpower]

But someone made photos of her competing in Saransk and put them on line to alert the world of what was happening. I don't suppose they were foreigners?

False. A local athlete posted photos of the event on VK.com, which is like the Russian version of Facebook. An Italian blogger noticed Lashmanova. After a few days, the photographer/athlete claimed that the photos with Lashmanova were from 2012. The admins in Saransk claimed the photos were from 2012. The photog/athlete edited the original podium pictures to say they were from 2012.

The athlete who took the photos and posted them was complicit in the coverup, as was Elmira Alembekova who originally posted photos of herself on Instagram with her silver medal, later deleted the photo and re-posted with the gold medal.

http://dunfeewalks.weebly.com/canadian-tf-blog/the-beginning-of-the-end-for-saransk-and-russia

[beebee]

oh yeah, great idea…. let's make sure we convince every last soul on the planet that our sport is the dirtiest of them all. Sorry, but I see nothing but bad coming from a stunt like that. It's a move that might win the high moral ground, but that would be an incredibly hollow victory I'm afraid.

Yep, because business as usual has worked so well the last 40 plus years. Here in Chicago I've only seen Felix, Gatlin and Bolt doing any kind of commercials. I don't believe that Wall Street takes T&F serious. I also think that some form of protest by legitimate athletes is better than silence.

[Pakilo]

This article alleges that Lamine Diack personally asked the Russians to withdraw the athletes who failed drug tests from the 2013 World Championships. http://summer.sport-express.ru/athletics/reviews/53128/

The translation is a little rough...



Let's start with a few basic questions...

How did Diack know about these failed tests? Is he normally informed of these things before they are public?

If he knew about these problems over a year and a half ago, how was the process allowed to drag out in secret this long?

This just confirms a vast range of possibilities for officials to cover up the results. 'Oh we should be silent or maybe we shall announce it in near future'... We can only imagine how many positive tests never went public.

[bruce3404]

Yep, because business as usual has worked so well the last 40 plus years. Here in Chicago I've only seen Felix, Gatlin and Bolt doing any kind of commercials. I don't believe that Wall Street takes T&F serious. I also think that some form of protest by legitimate athletes is better than silence.

Sorry, but a boycott of Beijing would be disastrous for both the sport and the athletes, most of whose performance bonuses are tied to WC and Olympic results. Given how few of these athletes can actually make a living at their sport, taking away golden opportunities, along with the single time track and field will be in the world stage in 2015 just doesn't make sense. Better to find some other form of protest (black gloves on the podium, anyone?).

[John G]

Retrospective bans don't make any sense if they then allow people to compete in subsequent championships that they wouldn't have been able to qualify for if the ban had been in real time

'Chernova has her results annulled her results from 15 August 2009 to 14 August 2011 - a period that ended just 16 days before she won world gold in Daegu'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/31078095

So there is no way she could have competed in Deagu.

This kind of inconsistency makes these bans a nonsense.

Has there been any explanation of why there are these random ban periods ?

I agree - I would hope that the marks that qualified Chernova for Daegu are now rendered illegal, making her retrospectively ineligible to compete in Korea. I wonder what there is in the IAAF rule book about the results of competitors who qualified for championships with marks subsequently found to have been false, illegal, etc.

As for the ban periods - they are not random. Chernova's is 2 years from the date her sample was re-tested and the annullment of results covers a two year period starting from the first day of the Berlin Heptathlon, when the sample was originally taken.

[andyjgt]

I wonder what there is in the IAAF rule book about the results of competitors who qualified for championships with marks subsequently found to have been false, illegal, etc.

Three Romanian male field eventers (Tarus LJ, Vasilache HJ, Guset SP) were DQed from the 2003 WI in Birmingham after their qualifying marks were found to be invalid. They were not doping cases though.