Tyson Gay and now Asafa Powell both test positive for banned drugs

[Lord Camomile]

This could be pretty big

Not as big as while I momentarily thought Powell was Johan Blake, perhaps

Hasn't Powell been in trouble before?

 

[weltweit]

Yes, I heard about this earlier. Naughty sportsmen indeed!

 

[Lord Camomile]

Hasn't Powell been in trouble before?

Wiki would suggest not. Sorry, buddy.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Not as big as while I momentarily thought Powell was Johan Blake, perhaps

Blake has already served a doping ban, although nobody ever mentions it even as they pillory the likes of Gatlin.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

It will be interesting know how and where Powell was popped. Drug testing in Jamaica has a rather, well, dubious reputation.

Simpson apparently tested positive at the Jamaican nationals. In and of itself that's a bit bizarre as getting caught at an in competition test generally indicates stupidity in this day and age.

Campbell Brown, yet another elite Jamaican sprinter and Olympic Gold medallist, got popped in May, also at an in competition test. I can't find any details on where the competition was though.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

And apparently Nesta Carter, the second fastest man in the world this year, and a member of Jamaica's Gold winning relay team, has also just been done.

Did someone somewhere decide to give the Jamaicans the same sort of targeted testing that's just caught dozens of Turks? Did the Jamaican doping authorities suddenly up their game?

On another note, you now have to go down to Maurice Greene's best time at number 28 on the list of fastest 100 metres times to find one that wasn't set by either Bolt or somebody with a doping positive.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Being reported now that Powell's test at least was administered by USADA, as, more obviously, was Gay's.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Only a matter of time before they re-write all those Jamaican records.

 

[Balbi]

I will be gutted if it turns out Usain's dirty

 

[Lord Camomile]

That's where all this leads, isn't it? Were they all doping to try to catch him, or is he just the Jamaican Armstrong.

Really hope it's not as bad as it could be. Did note that Bolt hasn't run many of this year's fast times, though have no idea how to interpret that.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Did note that Bolt hasn't run many of this year's fast times, though have no idea how to interpret that.

As I understand it, Bolt, at least in recent years, takes the Serena Williams approach to performance: ie only gives a shit about the big events.

 

[Sirena]

It is sad to read about Asafa Powell, because he seems quite a reserved, modest man. But then, I suppose, so was Ben Johnson. And, I have to say, Asafa Powell was looking a bit huge when he was interviewed after one of the recent events on the European circuit.

If Bolt is using substances (and I don't think he is) then he's an idiot. He's been a phenomenon since his early teens and, if one person doesn't need them, then it's him.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Other than Bolt, that's pretty much all the currently active big-name Jamaican sprinters who have had a positive at some point or other. At least that I can think of. I'm probably forgetting a few, as there are so many Jamaicans at the top level. [edited to add: Michael Frater has never tested positive. There are probably more]

To be fair, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the women's 100m Gold medalist, actually has one of the few genuinely believable excuses in pro sports. She was popped for an opiate pain killer, which she says she took on advice from a coach to deal with a toothache. I tend to believe her, because I just can't see what possible role the drug she had in her system could have as part of a sprinter's doping programme.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

If Bolt is using substances (and I don't think he is) then he's an idiot. He's been a phenomenon since his early teens and, if one person doesn't need them, then it's him.

Would he really be an idiot to dope if it was the difference between being a very good sprinter and being an enormously famous, fabulously wealthy, sports superstar?

 

[Nigel Irritable]

On another note, you now have to go down to Maurice Greene's best time at number 28 on the list of fastest 100 metres times to find one that wasn't set by either Bolt or somebody with a doping positive.

Actually, Bolt and Greene are the only men with times in the top 50 not to have a positive. Outside of the top 50, we start hitting people like Bailey and Surin, but the top half century of the list is a real freakshow.

http://www.alltime-athletics.com/m_100ok.htm

 

[The Boy]

Colour me unsurprised. Interesting that it is USADA that seem to be behind it. Empowered by their battles with Armstrong perhaps?

 

[Sirena]

Actually, Bolt and Greene are the only men with times in the top 50 not to have a positive. Outside of the top 50, we start hitting people like Bailey and Surin, but the top half century of the list is a real freakshow.

It's sad, isn't it? I used to run and I've kept a lifelong love for athletics because I always thought it was the purest of sports. I wasn't really bothered by the gradual change-over of the sport from amateur to professional (with the use of 'trusts') but I suppose the huge money available nowadays inevitably brings huge corruption...

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Apparently a poster over at Letsrun said yesterday that a major US sprinter would have a positive announced today. The same poster says that tomorrow there will be a bunch of positives for distance runners. Could be bullshit, of course, but if true track and field is really in a mess.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

It's sad, isn't it? I used to run and I've kept a lifelong love for athletics because I always thought it was the purest of sports. I wasn't really bothered by the gradual change-over of the sport from amateur to professional (with the use of 'trusts') but I suppose the huge money available nowadays inevitably brings huge corruption...

Yes. I tend at this point to assume that pretty much all professional sports are riddled with doping at the top level. Maybe darts is clean?

 

[The Boy]

Maybe darts is clean?

Riddled with beta blockers, guv.

 

[Lord Camomile]

I was about to say, it really doesn't seem to be limited to cycling or athletics. It's really hard to know what's true and what's not; you want to believe people wouldn't dope, but more and more it's too easy to believe the alternative.

Which must be doubly frustrating for clean athletes - not only are they not competing on a fair and level playing field but their own achievements will be tarred by the same brush.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Riddled with beta blockers, guv.

Ah. That makes sense, given snooker's issues with the same.

 

[Sirena]

Riddled with beta blockers, guv.

Cigarettes are beta blockers and they never used to ban those....

 

[Nigel Irritable]

I was about to say, it really doesn't seem to be limited to cycling or athletics.

It's appallingly likely that cycling is amongst the cleanest pro sports currently. The risk/reward calculations are less enticing than in the vast majority of sports, where you'll barely be tested and the money is much better.

 

[Sirena]

It's appallingly likely that cycling is amongst the cleanest pro sports currently. The risk/reward calculations are less enticing than in the vast majority of sports, where you'll barely be tested and the money is much better.

Is there a reason why they don't do hair tests? Or would that only find out some (not all) substances?

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Is there a reason why they don't do hair tests? Or would that only find out some (not all) substances?

I'm not actually sure. They do urine tests, even though they only catch a subset of the substances they can find in blood, because they are cheaper and easier, so that probably isn't the reason. Hair tests could be problematic with shaven headed athletes?

 

[The Boy]

Is there a reason why they don't do hair tests? Or would that only find out some (not all) substances?

I'm far from knowledgable, but much of modern testing seems to be more about looking for the effects of a substance/doping method rather than the detecting the substance itself. Testoserone/Epitestosirone ratios, reticulocyte counts etc. Imagine that wouldn't really work with hair samples.

But someone who knows what they're talking about will be along soon, no doubt.

 

[Lord Camomile]

But someone who knows what they're talking about will be along soon, no doubt.

This is the internet, after all.

 

[Silva]

Colour me unsurprised. Interesting that it is USADA that seem to be behind it. Empowered by their battles with Armstrong perhaps?

I wouldn't say "empowered", but they're probably taking the opportunity to clean up the image of the usage of PEDs on US sports, that has been rotten for as long as I can remember (the whole steroid wars of the 80s, ignoring the BALCO scandal until there was no way of covering it anymore, being completely left out of pro sports and their rampant drug abuse and allowing Lance to completely trample them regardless of solid leads since at least 2005 and so on). It's now clear the american public opinion love winners, but hate cheaters.

 

[Balbi]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jul/14/jamaican-sprinters-fail-drugs-test

Aw shit.

Although there has been no official confirmation, according to the Jamaican Gleaner a total of four athletes – two throwers and two sprinters – returned the adverse findings following the tests conducted at the national trials that were held from 20-23 June.
The revelation comes on the day that it was revealed that the American Tyson Gay had failed a drugs test and potentially leaves the 100m at next month's world championships in chaos.
Dr Herb Elliott, chairman of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission, said he had not yet received any information on any adverse finding.
The Gleaner reported that a representative of one of the sprinters declined to comment and that the other pulled out of racing in Europe this weekend.