Salazar banned for four years

[asindc]

In USA Today, Christine Brennan said today that this is the reason no one follows T&F anymore, because it is full of cheaters. Not to disparage her, but has she even seen an NFL player? In the Major Leagues they levy a minor fine on a player for doping, and he has to sit out for part of a season. Bill Belichik (sp?) was trying to explain today how knocking a man unconcious with your own head should be okay.

Our sport finds more violators of PED policies because we not only look for them, we actually try to stop them.

But as disappointed as I am with this most recent news, and I have been in a funk all day over it, I will continue to follow this sport. Because of the simple beauty of people running as fast as they can to see who will win. Because of the way that almost all vaulters support one another even in competition. And because someone of the caliber of Dina Asher Smith takes the time to walk back up the track and check on fallen competitors.

I may be a dinosaur, but I still get excited watching a bunch of kids race over 50 yards during an Elementary School field day. Knowing how they feel dashing along over the grass, reminds me of the joy that I felt.

I tell people all the time that if testing and reporting were as rigorous in football and baseball as they are in T&F and Cycling, then the violation rates would be quite similar.

[KevinR]

Amen, asindc. And even when they do catch someone along the lines of ARod (although it took them until the end of his career and over $500M in earnings) there seemed to be little stigma for him. The money in those sports is too big for them to risk losing a star. They learned that from the Balco affair.

[tandfman]

I tell people all the time that if testing and tereporting were as rigorous in football and baseball as they are in T&F and Cycling, then the violation rates would be quite similar.

The violation rates in those sports far exceed the violations in T&F now. Better testing and reporting would increase the detected violation rate. It might also deter some violations and decrease the actual violation rate.

[polevaultpower]

I'm confused why you all are convinced the announcement was strategic. Yes, ideally the decision date for the arbitrators would have been different.

But I don't see any evidence that either side chose this date. I think it just worked out that way.

Salazar's ineligibility starts immediately. How is USATF/IAAF going to quietly kick him out of Doha? It is an ADRV for the athletes to work with him in any fashion from that point forward. They have to give the athletes notice.

It was 100% not an option to allow him to coach the rest of Worlds and then announce.

If they had just... not announced... it would have leaked out. There's just way too many people involved for it to stay secret at that point. So then USADA would be roasted for not announcing.

[Conor Dary]

That all makes sense....once the hammer came down the authorities moved quickly...
...

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[Dave]

I'm confused why you all are convinced the announcement was strategic. Yes, ideally the decision date for the arbitrators would have been different.

But I don't see any evidence that either side chose this date. I think it just worked out that way.

Salazar's ineligibility starts immediately. How is USATF/IAAF going to quietly kick him out of Doha? It is an ADRV for the athletes to work with him in any fashion from that point forward. They have to give the athletes notice.

It was 100% not an option to allow him to coach the rest of Worlds and then announce.

If they had just... not announced... it would have leaked out. There's just way too many people involved for it to stay secret at that point. So then USADA would be roasted for not announcing.

I never thought it was strategic. I did think it was self destructive. But perhaps you are correct that there was no keeping it under wraps. Perhaps before the WC would have made more sense.

[Dave]

A visit to the Eugene campus a few years ago, for "academic purposes", naturally entailed a tour around campus. As a person who is convinced that the sharp downturn in educational institutions was driven by their treating everything for business purposes, I was disheartened to hear how Phil Knight had been dictating many things around campus for many years.

As a Doubting Thomas, par excellence, I have had serious doubts about double double distance winners for many years. As one who came to track interests in the fifties, I looked admiringly at single double distance winners of those days. (Yes, we do not know everything we need to about Kuts). Nice to live in "ignorance" and think that things were pure as the driven snow, 50+ years back. We do know many athletes tried or used steroids in quite a big way, but they were not illegal then.

I believe sports illustrated had a long piece on steroid use at the 1972 games.

[catson52]

I believe sports illustrated had a long piece on steroid use at the 1982 games.

And which Games were these? Oly in 80 or 84, or some Commonwealth or European Games? Though it would not stand up in a court of law, all of us know steroid use was rampant in the 72 and 76 Olys. Blood doping and probably other stuff too.

[OneWay]

I think our sport could help itself with better testing results management. Unfortunately, however, we have fed a culture where media frenzy and public ostracization are part of the norm of a positive testing result.

[Dave]

And which Games were these? Oly in 80 or 84, or some Commonwealth or European Games? Though it would not stand up in a court of law, all of us know steroid use was rampant in the 72 and 76 Olys. Blood doping and probably other stuff too.

Typo. It was 1972.