The Athletics Thread (... but predominantly about Bolt)

[Buzzo]

It's a strange move if he's got nothing to worry about.

[RichC]

Farah pulls out of Birmingham race

An "emotionally and physically drained" Mo Farah has withdrawn from Sunday's Diamond League meeting in Birmingham.

The double Olympic champion wants "to go back to the US and seek answers" after a "stressful week" that saw a BBC investigation allege his coach Alberto Salazar had been involved in doping.

There is no suggestion Farah has done anything wrong but he is "angry" at his name being "dragged through the mud".

Salazar strenuously denies the claims made by the BBC's Panorama programme.

Mo Farah angry at 'being dragged through mud'
Farah spoke publicly about the allegations made in 'Catch me if you can' - broadcast on BBC One on Wednesday - for the first time on Saturday.

And on Sunday Farah, who had been scheduled to run in the 1500m in Birmingham, added: "This week has been very stressful and taken a lot out of me.

"I have not been able to focus properly on today's race and after the events of the last few days I feel emotionally and physically drained.

"I want to run well in the World Championships in Beijing (22-30 August) and have decided it is better for me to go back to the US, seek answers to my questions and get back into training.

"I apologise to the people who bought tickets to come and watch me race and ask for your understanding at this time."

On Saturday, Farah, who is the reigning Olympic and world champion over 5,000m and 10,000m, said he had spoken the day before with Salazar about the claims, and that the American had told him "it's just allegations".

Mark Daly has this exclusive report on doping claims
However, Farah insisted he wanted further assurances "as soon as possible".

The BBC investigation alleged that Salazar violated anti-doping rules and doped United States 10,000m record holder Galen Rupp in 2002 when the athlete was 16 years old.

Rupp, who would later become Farah's training partner, won Olympic 10,000m silver behind the Briton at London 2012. Rupp also denies the doping claims.

Salazar, Rupp and Farah's agent, Ricky Simms, were made aware of the BBC's allegations one month ago. Farah and his agent were together last weekend when he won the 10,000m in Eugene, Oregon.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/33039347

[dww]

It's a strange move if he's got nothing to worry about.

Not really, I can't imagine this crap puts you in the right frame of mind to train properly. That would apply whether or not you were involved in anything personally.

[paulg]

I've fallen back in love with athletics lately, I think the BBC have done a great job in getting more of it on the telly. They talk, at length, about the controversies too.

I feel for Farah, all he wants is to train and work but has to field the inevitable questions.

I feel Bolt's anger, too, about the American sprinters. Gay basically bought off his ban and Gatlin is back yet again, too. I really hope Bolt hands it to them in the Worlds.

I still don't get why Christina Ohuruogu is treated like an angel, while Dwain Chambers is demonised. Her missing tests is as bad as failing, under the doping rules, but there's very little outcry about her. He was treated like a pariah when he returned, despite serving his full ban and trying to make amends.

I was a budding sprinter in school, could have been a contender etc, so always have a soft spot for the discipline.

[Shaggy]

I was a middle distance runner...best at 800m, ran 1500m also and did cross country. Won a few regional long jump events too.

It's great - I used to love watching the meetings at Oslo, Helsinki, Zurich (Weltklasse!) etc....they should start showing the circuit again.

[Rich]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXn6fbdsFKM"]1985 - Oslo - Steve Cram WR Mile - YouTube[/ame]

[paulg]

I was a middle distance runner...best at 800m, ran 1500m also and did cross country. Won a few regional long jump events too.

It's great - I used to love watching the meetings at Oslo, Helsinki, Zurich (Weltklasse!) etc....they should start showing the circuit again.

They do now. BBC has highlights or Live coverage of all the Diamond League meetings. They were in Oslo at the weekend.

There's a mad annual event, right at the start of the season too. Think it's usually in Manchester or Newcastle. It's smack in the City centre and the sprint track and field events are on a raised platform with the spectators right alongside. You get loads of young athletes from round the world competing, along with some older heads too. Jessica Ennis-Hill started her comeback there this year. The atmosphere is mental and all the athletes love it. They even had a kids sprint event.

[Shaggy]

They do now. BBC has highlights or Live coverage of all the Diamond League meetings. They were in Oslo at the weekend.

There's a mad annual event, right at the start of the season too. Think it's usually in Manchester or Newcastle. It's smack in the City centre and the sprint track and field events are on a raised platform with the spectators right alongside. You get loads of young athletes from round the world competing, along with some older heads too. Jessica Ennis-Hill started her comeback there this year. The atmosphere is mental and all the athletes love it. They even had a kids sprint event.

Red button or something?

I remember ITV showing them at prime time on like a Friday night or midweek. Loved it.

[paulg]

No red button, on BBC 1 or possibly 2, on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. It's been really good the last couple of weekends.

[Shaggy]

Nice one

[Chazza]

Mo Farah missed two drug tests before London Olympics, putting 2012 double gold at risk

Farah's first missed test appears to have occurred in early 2010, six months before he broke David Moorcroft's British 5,000m record

The second test seems to have occurred once Farah had started working with Salazar, taking place at Farah’s home in Teddington

Farah contested it by appealing to the UK Anti-Doping Agency on the basis that he claimed he did not hear his doorbell

With the Olympics looming, Salazar warned Farah on May 5 2011: 'If you miss another test, they will hang you'

Farah won gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m at London 2012

Mo Farah missed two drugs tests a year before the London 2012 Olympics, Sportsmail can reveal.

At a time when the British distance runner’s controversial American coach Alberto Salazar and training partner Galen Rupp are facing a series of allegations, Farah’s own problems with the doping authorities reached a peak only a few months after he started training under Salazar in February 2011. The two missed tests put his participation at the 2012 Olympics, where he won two gold medals, at risk.

UK anti-doping rules state an athlete who misses three tests in any 12-month period can face up to a four-year ban. Britain’s Christine Ohuruogu was suspended for 12 months in 2006 after missing three tests and falling foul of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s ‘whereabouts’ system, which forces athletes to pick an exact location for one hour every day in case they are needed for testing.

Farah’s first missed test appears to have occurred in early 2010, several months before the double Olympic champion teamed up with Salazar and six months before he broke David Moorcroft’s 28-year-old British 5,000m record and became the first Briton to break the 13-minute barrier.

But the second test seems to have been scheduled once Farah started working with Salazar. It should have taken place at Farah’s home in Teddington, London, but the athlete appealed to the UK Anti-Doping Agency, claiming that he did not hear his doorbell.

As part of his appeal, Farah’s agent Ricky Simms submitted video evidence filmed in Farah’s house in which he tried to show that it was difficult to hear the doorbell from his client’s bedroom. UK Anti-Doping lawyers dismissed it as evidence. Simms also voiced his unhappiness at UK Anti-Doping, claiming they were ‘unreasonable’ and didn’t want to help Farah.

‘I can understand why your client remains frustrated, but that really is born out of the fact that he feels he is being punished for something that he did not intend to do,’ UKAD’s lawyers told Farah’s legal team in an email on June 9, 2011.

‘Intent and negligence are not the same thing, though, as I am sure you have advised him. The simple fact with this Missed Test is that your client says that he did not intend to miss the test, but it is clearly his own fault that he did.’

In the email, UKAD added: ‘We cannot “suspend” the Second Missed Test’. In a final remark UKAD said: ‘We remain of the view our collective efforts are best directed to ensuring that no further whereabouts issues arise between now and the 2012 Games.’

Farah was concerned that he could be hit with a sanction, judging by the correspondence between lawyers, Farah and Salazar in May and June 2011 seen by Sportsmail.

As Salazar warned Farah on May 5 that year: ‘If you miss another test, they will hang you.’

Farah won his first world title in the summer of 2011, storming to 5,000m gold in Daegu. He also set a new British and European record for 10,000m of 26min 46.57sec, and lowered his British 5,000m mark to 12min 53.11sec. Both times remain his personal bests. But Farah was living dangerously. As his legal representatives told UKAD in an email on June 8, 2011: ‘A possible Third Whereabouts Failure still is a spectre haunting him today.’

The same lawyer added: ‘As Mr Farah’s recent successes have raised his hopes for the upcoming Olympic Games, I hope you can understand his frustration regarding the Second Whereabouts Failure.’

Sportsmail sent Farah’s agent a list of questions in the hope of securing a detailed explanation for the two missed tests. Simms remained silent.

Farah seems now to be keeping his distance from Salazar, posting pictures of himself training in Font Romeu, France. He is likely to stay in the Pyrenees until he competes at the Monaco Diamond League meeting on July 17.

Salazar is still believed to be in Oregon, where the heat has been rising in recent weeks. On June 3, BBC Panorama made a series of allegations against him and Rupp. Among them, it is alleged that Salazar put Rupp on testosterone medication at the age of 16.

Salazar denied ‘all allegations of doping’ and said he would prove witnesses had made ‘false statements’. American Rupp, who finished second to Farah in the 10,000m at the 2012 Olympics, also denied the allegations. But there are now thought to have been 17 witnesses linked to the Salazar-run Nike Oregon Project who alleged the misuse of prescription drugs.

That was followed by revelations from Sportsmail that witnesses had seen unmarked vials of a clear, unidentified liquid and needles at two of Salazar’s altitude training camps in 2008 and 2011.

John Stiner, a sports massage therapist employed by Salazar for an altitude training camp in Park City, Utah, in June 2008, told US Anti-Doping that he found vials in the fridge and a bag of unused hypodermic needles in the bathroom of one of the apartments Salazar and Rupp rented. Stiner also said Salazar told him he would find a tube of testosterone gel in his room.

Stiner claims Salazar asked him to send the items to his home in Portland. He kept what he says was the shipping receipt for $150.

Three years later in July 2011, Rupp was in France training with Farah and others from UK Athletics at a camp also attended by Steve Magness, a young American coach and one-time assistant to Salazar.

Magness has also made allegations to US Anti Doping, claiming he found an unmarked vial in France that belonged to Rupp. Magness says he was in a hire car with another athlete from the Nike project, Australian distance runner Jackie Areson, driving to the airport where they intended to return the car when they found the vial.

The allegations against his coach have put Farah under pressure. He left the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham 11 days ago without competing and said he would demand proof from his coach that he was not guilty of any doping violations.

Farah added that he would only remain with Salazar if he was satisfied his coach was clean.

Sportsmail asked him if he had received such assurances, but again there was no response.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-3128695/Mo-Farah-missed-two-drug-tests-London-Olympics-putting-2012-double-gold-risk.html

[Chris]

Moped Farah.

The doorbell is easily missed I suppose, especially when you are blending one of your "special" juices/shakes.

[ChesterDave]

So in the 30 months from early 2010 to winning double Olympic Gold he missed 2 tests? 1 of which prior to working with controversial coach.

2 tests in 30 months doesn't sound like a lot to me, and is only really meaningful if we know what level of missed test is normal.

I am fairly sure that all gold medalists were tested in 2012 so he obviously passed those.

[paulg]

Especially when it takes 3 missed tests to get a ban. So he took tests following these.

Good old Daily Mail.

[BobTheCharmer]

Weird that it seems some people want him to be guilty. His golds were one of the highlights of London Olympics, something to remember and inspire. Yet its that good old British thing of building folk up and then watching them fall.