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

[Tee]

would anybody be surprised if Bolt failed a drugs test ?

No. Massively disappointed but not surprised.

Saw him live at the Olympics and still cannot get how he was just jogging almost in his heat and still won by about 10m. Was surreal.

[Chris]

would anybody be surprised if Bolt failed a drugs test ?

Nope. He'll get outed in a few years when he stops bringing in so much cash.

[Daniel 7]

There'll be a doctor working for Jamaican athletics who will get the blame. Usain will be cast as a wronged hero who didn't know what was going on.

[wiw]

Sonja McLaughlan @Sonjamclaughlan 1h
Usain Bolt's agent has told @bbc5live's athletics teamthat the sprint star is NOT one of the Jamaican athletes who've tested positive

[ChesterDave]

Campbell one of them presumably or is she already serving a ban?

[spud_gun]

this lot might as well take up cycling

[spud_gun]

They might as well just make doping legal in sports.

Just about every sports star who reaches the pinnacle of their chosen sport has had or will have the finger of suspicion pointed at them.

[Gibbo]

Messi?!

[Pablo]

A man with transplanted 100m long legs who just needs one step to win the race.

[Fredo]

Bolt will be found out as well.

[Neil Young]

They might as well just make doping legal in sports.

Yeah, let's have kids being encouraged to take drugs that weren't licensed after studies found they caused cancer in rats so they can get on in the wacky world of killing themselves for our entertainment.

[dom9]

[Daniel 7]

Works for WWE

There seems to be a huge level of ignorance from the athletes in relation to this. Surely if everything was more tightly regulated and they took a bit of responsibility for themselves then this would go some way to being solved.

[Daniel 7]

Again, here's the athlete might have unwittingly taken something explanation...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jul/15/jamaica-asafa-powell-positive-tests

Every so often, synchronised waves of happiness lasting a little under 10 seconds roll over Jamaica. And the island's hardships and tribulations, the grind and the gun, seem to soften and gently sigh. That is the spell Jamaica's most popular sport, athletics, can cast. Even the effect is as short-lived as a party trick.

Now, though, the spell risks being broken. When one of the country's most popular athletes, the reigning world 200 metres champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, was suspended last month after failing a drug test for a banned diuretic it was like a bolo punch to the nation's stomach. But to have five athletes – including Asafa Powell, the former 100m world record holder – test positive is the equivalent of being repeatedly hit over the head.

As Andre Lowe, the Jamaica Gleaner writer who broke the story, said: "Jamaica is in shock. There is a great sense of disbelief. Athletics has become the nation's sport in the past 10 years. Now people are grappling for an explanation and answers."

They are not the only ones. Whenever there is a positive drugs test it can be looked at two ways: that it shows that the system is working and the cheats are being exposed, or that the authorities are merely catching a handful of fish in a vast ocean.

In Powell's case – and that of Sherone Simpson, his training partner at the MVP (Maximising Velocity and Power) track club – there may be a third explanation: that they have unwittingly taken an illegal substance in a supplement they thought was clean. There are suggestions that they were provided with supplements by the Canadian trainer Chris Xuereb which they believed were "organic" and therefore OK.

A spokeswoman for Powell told the Guardian that the athlete's camp had arranged a search warrant with police to raid Xuereb's room and contacted the World Anti-Doping Agency to ensure that any supplements taken away for testing would be done so without contamination.

Even so, the fact that it is Powell – a god-fearing son of a clergyman who has been vehemently opposed to drugs in the past – who is in the spotlight is a shock to most Jamaicans. "He calls himself 'Jamaica's golden baby' and it's quite accurate," says Lowe. "Even though Usain Bolt is certainly the bigger star internationally, back home there is a sentiment and attachment to Asafa. Many people believe that he is the person who took Jamaica to the next level and started the dominance. He is probably the most loved Jamaican athlete."

Meanwhile the positive tests are adding up. On Monday the Olympic discus thrower Allison Randall became the third athlete to confirm a positive drugs test from the Jamaican trials in June. Two more names will follow in the coming days. The question is, how deeply does the country want to stir the pot and throw out what it finds?

The Jamaican athletics association president, Dr Warren Blake, insists the country is as strong-willed on tackling doping as any other. "We are redoubling our efforts and the results stand for themselves," he said. "People are being banned. If it means we have to erase some of the past records then we will. All these test results shows the world that you can go around trusting our athletes. They are among the most tested athletes in track and field."

In the past, criticisms of Jamaican athletes were seen as attacks on the nation's psyche and pride. But that is changing. Following Campbell-Brown's positive test, the Gleaner produced a withering editorial demanding the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (Jadco) do more.

"That Jamaica, five years ago, passed legislation to bring Jadco into existence was a declaration of the island's support for the fight against cheating in sports and a willingness to hold its own athletes to account," it wrote. "That is further underlined by the J$63.4m [£415,000] allocated to Jadco to do its work this fiscal year, in the face of the government's fiscal crisis and the IMF programme that demands economic austerity.

"What Jadco has, so far, failed to do is provide statistical analyses of its testing programme, generally, and say how often Jamaica's elite athletes are tested. Nor has it provided statistical comparisons between its efforts and other anti-doping agencies. Such data cannot be hard to collate. Jadco must do it as a matter of urgency, prepared to fix any gaps its findings might reveal. There would be no shame in that."

When the Guardian asked Dr Herb Elliot, the Jadco chairman, whether he knew how many out-of-competition tests had taken place in 2013 he insisted he did, but would not release the figures because, "I don't want our athletes to know whether it's 400 or 500 or whatever."

But sceptics believe the figure is nowhere near the numbers Elliot suggests, and that his lack of transparency suggests that words are not matched by actions. Elliot, though, disagrees.

"I know what we are doing is what is sensible," he added. "We are a small country. A poor country. It is very expensive to do tests but we did about 80 tests in our championships. The largest part of our programme is not testing, it is education. We have instructed our athletes to only take what is FDA [Food and Drug Administration]-approved in the US. The supplement industry is in a bad shape. There is no regulation there. And the label doesn't always reflect the contents."

There is a danger of generalisation when we talk of Jamaica. We have to remember that positive tests have come from different camps and athletes in different countries.

"We should not be quick to form conclusions that they knowingly take substances," warned Lowe. "I have spoken to quite a few athletes and it is getting to the point where they are going to be afraid to drink water. It is difficult for them."

But surely not that difficult. There is a simple solution: put your faith in hard work and genetics – not the lure of the magical potion.

[Chazza]

Sky Sports News @SkySportsNews
Italian police open investigation into Asafa Powell, Sherone Simpson and trainer Christopher Xuereb over allegations they broke doping laws