Drugs in track and field!!???!! Shocking.

SFDutch

100m record holder Justin Gatlin tests positive for high levels of testosterone. Hmm... has he been hanging out with Floyd Landis? Or perhaps he has a naturally occuring high level of testosterone, too.

Alas, Gatlin "is coached by Trevor Graham, whose former pupils include Tim Montgomery and Marion Jones, both of whom have both been prominently mentioned in the BALCO steroids investigation. Several athletes coached by Graham have been suspended or banned for doping."

ESPN article

I just assume all these top sprinters, cyclists, etc., are doping now. We should really be having an argument whether it's even bad for their respective sport given that "cheating" is so widespread -- if everyone does it, then no one is getting an undue advantage.

What took so long to reveal the result of this test if it was taken on April 22?

Athletes are all macho, that's why they have "natural high level of testosterone"...

Now it's all a plot by a vengeful masseuse!! Accordimg to Justin Gatlin's coach, Trevor Graham, Gatlin tested positive because a grudge-holding masseuse had used a testosterone cream on Gatlin during a rubdown. Gatlin's attorney declined to comment on this rather odd theory, saying only that Gatlin would prove he was not responsible for the positive test.

Maybe the evil masseuse is the same person who slipped Barry Bonds some questionable "flaxseed oil." wink

~Adam

In talking about Gatlin and the vengeful masseuse, a friend brought up an episode of either "Man From UNCLE" or "Girl from UNCLE," in which one of our heroes (he couldn't recall if it was Ilya Kuriakin or Mark Slate) followed a THRUSH operative into a spa and, to keep his eye on the operative, got a massage on the table next to the villain. However, it turned out the entire spa was just a front for THRUSH and the masseuse used some sort of oil to incapacitate the UNCLE agent. Maybe Gatlin's masseuse was actually a THRUSH operative? wink

~Adam

Former sprinter Michael Johnson apparently doesn't put much stock in Gatlin's claim to be unknowingly rubbed down with a cream containing the illegal substance.

And he thinks that Gatlin's mere association with coach Trevor Graham (of the BALCO scandal) is itself incriminating. His punishment, if the illegal use is proven: ban Gatlin for life from pro competitions.

In the wake of Juston Gatlin's positive test for steroids, the International Association of Athletics Federations is going to attempt to become tougher on those who test positive for banned substances: a return to a four-year ban for first-time offenders. Lamine Diack, the IAAF chief said: "We cannot have doping. It's not a problem for us to go back to four years. This is the position of the entire IAAF family."

The IAAF had reduced its four-year ban to a two-year ban to match the penalty imposed in other sports; Daick went on to say that the IAAF would return to the four-year ban even if they had to act alone.

~Adam

The strange thing about Graham is that while he's coached a number of athletes (including Marion Jones's ex-husband, field athlete C. J. Hunter, who was also busted for banned substances), he's also the person who anonymously mailed in the designer steroid that got the Balco investigation going. It's so unfortunately that Gatlin is involved in this, but then again, even in track and field there's so much money to be made by being a champion as opposed to an also ran that I'm pretty much convinced even many decent people in sports will do whatever it takes not just to get to the top, but to stay on par with their peers. Pretty sad, but that's the way things are today.

^^ Sadly, Marion's life choices have put her in a bad light! I'm a track fanatic and the only reason I refuse to believe that she's on that stuff is because she was ICE-cold in high school (and skinny) PLUS she was a freak on the basketball court. Seriously... if anyone finds a positive test result for her, I will have to give up on track. :mad:

Trevor Graham shouldn't be allowed to coach. Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, now Gaitlin. All his athletes use drugs.

According to ESPN.com, Gatlin could escape a lifetime ban if he testifies against the coach. Gee I wonder what he'll do?

I didn't like that he could escape the ban at first, but in reading the article he could get 8 years. He is 24 years old. That's almost like a lifetime ban at his age and another person will get caught.

His first offense was due to some ADHD medicine he was on as a frosh @ Tennessee.

I hate that my fave sport is getting a BAD rap!! :mad:

Gotcha! Marion Jones tests positive. Bring on the excuses and alibis.

I'm not gonna bring on any excuses. If it's true, I'm gonna limit my interest to the high school level, where I coach, and the collegiate level. This is SO sad! (And very difficult to believe...)

Justin Gatlin has received an 8-year ban from the US Anti-Doping Agency, and though he avoided being hit with a lifetime ban, this 8-year ban will pretty much ends his track career. He can file an appeal to have the term of the ban reduced but cannot argue the validity of the test. What I find particularly odd is the the praise Gatlin's receiving for accepting this ban: the US Anti-Doping Agency general counsel, Travis Tygart offered, "To Gatlin's credit, it's recognition that the science is reliable. Instead of wasting a lot of resources attempting to create smoke where there's not any, he's acknowledging the accuracy of the positive test, and in exchange for his agreement to cooperate, we've recognized the nature of his first offense."

So we've now reached the point where we cheer the fact a cheater admits to it without trying to come up with saome lame excuse (inadvertantly took someone else's "vitamins," a vengeful masseuse, a shot of Jack Daniels, flaxseed oil....)

~Adam

And yet another runner coached by Trevor Graham gets bsuted. This time it's LaTasha Jenkins, who came out of a two-year retirement this season. An in-competition test from July showed evidence of nandrolone; the B sample test results are pending. Jenkins is the 11th (!!) athlete to test positive while being coached by Graham.

Lifetime ban for Graham, anyone?

~Adam

Justin Gatlin plans to appeal the eight-year ban, saying that he has absolutely no idea how any banned substances got into his body (amazing how many of these highly trained athletes seem to pay absolutely no attention to what they ingest!! wink ) and--here's my favorite quote from Gatlin--"Cheating, in any form, is completely contrary to who I am as an athlete and a human being. I will gladly continue to cooperate with the USADA and with their efforts to get to the bottom of this situation." Ummm...gladly?

Reports say he hopes to get the ban reduced to two-years.

~Adam

Seems Marion Jones' B sample has come back negative. Lots of people may owe her an apology.

Cleared!

Well, we don't have to believe it. I also was about ready to write off track, because I have always believed Marion Jones did not take performance enhancers and therefore could not believe this report. So I'm glad I can keep my Marion Jones posters up and didn't have to put my Evelyn Ashford posters back up.

It's a reminder that not everyone who succeeds is a cheater. Sometimes great athletes are so good they even beat cheaters. Ashford at the '84 Olympics, Janet Evans at the '88 Olympics, Carl Lewis at the '91 Worlds, to name a few,....and Marion Jones presently.

[ September 07, 2006, 11:24 AM: Message edited by: Good Hands ]

I beg to differ. All the B sample did was counteract the A sample, proving only that in this one patricular instance the test failed to prove Jones used banned substances. She remains under investigation by the IOC for using such substances during the Olympics in Sydney. And both her ex-husband, CJ Hunter, and Victor Conte have said Jones used performance-enhancing drugs.

I wish someone would explain how two tests, using urine taken at the same time, could produce contradictory results. How could the A sample have tested postive for excessive levels of EPO and the B sample not show the same levels?

~Adam

Yeah I don't really get it either. But all the TV talking heads are sounding like this B sample result exonerates her.

When the A sample and B sample results contradict each other, perhaps we need a C sample to break the tie.

Anyway, now Floyd Landis' attorney wants the case against Landis dropped, citing certain inconsistencies in the way the way the tests were handled. The lawyer, Howard Jacobs, says, "In our review of the documents detailing the tests on both the A and B sample, we have discovered numerous inconsistencies and evidence that supports our request for USADA to drop the doping charges against Landis." He declined to state what those inconsistencies are.

~Adam

In this case, being cleared refered to this test, when the A sample indicated something that was not supported by the B sample. But....being under investigation does not make one guilty. She must be found guilty, not proclaimed guilty.

How many tests has she passed....over the years...without having even the A sample come back positive? If accusations are going to be accepted, the track record of passing the tests should have some weight at least, imo.

My point, which I should have made clearer, was that this particular test did not exonerate Jones from all charges (as her attorney implied in his statements following the release of the B sample results.) As I stated, all the B sample did was contradict the A sample--and under the current rules, clear Jones--in this one incident.

I would still like to hear an explanation of how the two tests could have resulted in such differing results, since the urine used for both tests is taken at the same time and why the B sample results are considered more valid than those of the A sample.

~Adam

Was wondering the same thing about different results. Last week I heard a physician involved in testing of athletes in an interview on NPR. He did say that even as sophisticated as things are today, there's still a small chance of lab error, which is why in a rare occasion the B sample will not match the A. There might be other reasons also, of course. But, he said that in all due fairness if the B sample, which was taken at the same time, is negative, then the athlete should be presumed to have passed the test. To do otherwise would unfairly taint the athlete since the same urine, taken at the same time (B sample) shows negative.

He also said that this is why it is so bad for results from the A sample to be leaked prior to B sample testing. They are not supposed to be made public until being confirmed by the B test.

Sorry for the tardy reply... with the new board, I'd definitely forgotten about this topic...

The results for Marion's drug test (and Floyd Landis too) shouldn't have been released until AFTER the results for both samples had been available.

I still believe Marion is innocent but I am not naive enough to believe there isn't a drug problem in sports.