Not even close. She cheated in order to degrade someone else's position in the race (or eliminate them completely), and put that person's safety at risk in doing so. And if you yourself in fact grab people's ankles, you're a complete asshole and need to pick another leisure time activity.

what pressure is she talking about? She is not a pro so its not about the money, right?

Awful.

If you're going to apologise, just say sorry and don't list excuses.

If one of competitors cuts the course or dopes that undermines the hard training and sacrifice of all the other competitors in a race. Athletes who are found guilty of either are usually not banned for life the first time they are caught. Intending to cause physical harm to another athlete may be worthy of a lifetime ban, depending upon the specific act. Thinking more about it, I don't think this act is worthy of a lifetime ban, unlike what I wrote in the original thread.

Could elbowing a fellow swimmer or swimming over someone be considered an intent to cause physical harm to another athlete? I've done this more than once and my swim splits are MOP. My goal certainly wasn't to hurt anyone, but it may have given me a competitive advantage, however temporary.

Of course, there is a possible connection between an eating disorder and cheating. They can both be attempts to do whatever it takes to place higher in a race. We can all understand that mentality on some level.

Whoa. Heavy stuff!

what pressure is she talking about? She is not a pro so its not about the money, right?

Mental illness, is hard to understand and explain. People do things, that normal, rational people, really can't understand or fathom.

Why does, the successful person with the family, the great job, and home, ruin all of that and toss all of that away, with some form of drug or alcohol addiction and end up living on the street? You or I looking at it go "That's an easy choice - the street or the nice home, family and job" We'll ALWAYS go for the latter . . but we are not mentally ill!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

How about forgiveness and a permanent ban from triathlon?

I cannot help but feel for her. Yes, despicable action but she must have some pretty deep demons to feel the need to do that and perform. Unfortunate her being is wrapped up all into being a "successful athlete".. not uncommon in this sport. On lighter side, if she returns to racing, part of her penalty should be having to race on gatorskins every race here on out.

This whole debacle comes down to pressure of one sort or another..

Did you see the question marks? I was asking if you had now shifted your thoughts. Apparently not. You seem to be advocating a charge of attempted murder...seems a bit extreme. Maybe exit your soapbox for a bit and take in the real world.

I can see how it could have been impulsive. Not knowing that Sharon was going to be there seeing her and thinking "oh my God she's racing today! She might beat me! What can I do" and then just acting on that irrational panic. I also know that an eating disorder effects one's thinking. When your brain and body are starved logical and moral thinking will be lost. I have known wonderful moral women who when in the midst of this disease will lie, cheat, shoplift and look you in the eye as they deny everything.

I appreciate the admission of guilt and wish her well in recovery but would also support a ban.

If you think any of those things are even remotely comparable to tampering with another's person's bike, then maybe you should be banned from triathlon as well.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

You've intentionally elbowed or swam over someone?

Someone actually once intentionally elbowed me in a swim, cutting my eye. I was getting boxed in between two swimmers just after the start. The swimmer to my left clearly wanted to get on the feet of the swimmer to my right (who was a very strong swimmer and would likely lead the wave out of the water). The stronger swimmer to my right was a 1/4 body length ahead of me and as I was being squeezed into him by the swimmer to my left my right arm came down on his shoulder. As soon as that happened on his next left arm stroke he elbowed me hard in the eye with his left elbow. Such a douche move.

I never confronted him as I knew he would just apologise and deny it was intentional, but it clearly was. Sad thing is, we had never met but I had done him a favor a couple years earlier by getting one of his athletes (he's a local coach) a late entry to IM Florida as my company was a major sponsor at the time.

So all that to say, if you have really intentionally elbowed or swam over someone in the swim, that's pretty messed up. And FWIW, I consider the former much worse than the latter.

^this. Who the heck thinks it is Ok to grab someone's ankles during the swim? No- that is not what "all of us do". And if you do that- you suck.

Stating the obvious, when there's not enough space, relatively inconsequential contact is inevitable. Just like cycling and running on a track, that's how folks tell each other that they need more space. On the other hand, throwing an elbow hard enough to hurt someone is pretty unforgivable.

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"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart

does she think evidence of recovery from the eating disorder will cover her on the cheating problem?

hope she finds the rehab/help that she needs

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website/blog | Instagram

exactly! it's just a hobby after all (so my wife tells me)

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

I'm going to call bullshit on this one. I've never done any of these things. I've had almost all of them done against me at a race, ok, whatever.

Not one of these things is anywhere near what she did: in my mind the cowardly, passive-aggressive version of pushing your competitor into the weeds instead of competing with them fair and square.

-Eric

I totally agree. What about that story she gave attempting to further cover up her actions when she was confronted at the bike rack, saying she was helping her friend by putting air into the tire!? If she had just 'snapped' and let the air out due to mental issues, that's one thing. But she went even further to COVER UP her actions when called out...that's two distinct mental occurrences: one to do the deed, then another to cover it up when caught.

She should have stopped at the apology. Whatever else she is claiming as an "excuse" (if we are allowing excuses into this), is not carrying any water with me to lighten her penalty. Whatever mental problems she has, I hope she spends her time working through them, and not putting her energy into triathlon, as her participation in triathlon now has clearly eroded the community that was originally accepting of her.

Permanent ban sounds great. Forgiveness?? F that

Just look at this shit from front page! Would appear that her m.o when she gets caught (exposed) is to play the mental health card. Note how the committee gave 'little weight to her new submissions re mental health' and why's that ? I am member of the same college and trust me....they do their DD when investigating members on allegations of misconduct

And that 2nd infraction -using paid Family Care Days' to go off and race- is only further evidence of what we're dealing with here. (And NO, I have never done that:)

So 'mental health issues' ?? Nah... that's just offensive to actual sufferers.

1.She was arrested in 2014 for "fraud not exceeding $5,000” and “Possession of property obtained by crime not exceeding $5,000”, and pled guilty to the latter charge. A teacher by trade, she was the subject of a disciplinary hearing held by the Ontario College of Teachers stemming from the “possession of property obtained by a crime” incident and as a result of the hearing the Committee found that her, "dishonest and illegal conduct warrants a reprimand by her peers.” The Decision noted that "The Member sought to introduce new evidence during her submissions, in the form of a medical note from her physician dated May 1… the Committee gave little weight to these submissions about the Member’s medical history…”

2. Ms. Johnson, during April of 2016, falsified her attendance record; used paid “Family Care Days” when she was not entitled to do so; provided false information about the reasons for absence from work; was absent from school to participate in the Boston Marathon, without permission.”

Because an eating disorder is actually a symptom, not a cause. She seems to be implying that an eating disorder and poor decisions, such as the one to cheat this week, are symptoms of something deeper. Unless you've wrestled with those same types of demons yourself or been closely associated with people who have, it can be difficult to understand the thought processes.

I'm glad to see someone who appears to be taking the first step in acknowledging their demons and moving on to the next step towards managing them. I wish her well.

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Don Larkin
Reach For More
http://www.reachformore.fit/
USAT Lvl1 Coach, NSCA-CPT, NASM-CPT, BS Exercise Science

Look at the copyright of the picture in the story on the front page...the one of them in wetsuits before the swim. Copyright is victims husband I believe. Is the victim the one to the right of Kristen....if so, this would have been not very long after Kristen deflated her tire, and she is joking around with her before the swim?? Just making sure I am seeing this right. Ballsy.