I'm not easily offended, but you keep saying this, and it keeps offending me. I don't care how naive I may be but if you think age groupers who are competing for ego and a Kona slot will take supplements like candy and PROS who WILL NOT BE TESTED IF THEY WIN AN IRONMAN and are competing for their livelihood wouldn't, then you're crazy. Do you want that Scott Molina quote again? The one about how Tinley had a closet so full of supplements that his wife couldn't find room for the groceries? Or the trace contamination cases of Spencer Smith, Rebecca Keat, Oliver Bernard, Kelly Guest, and Mike Vine? Or Francisco Pontano, who tested positive for a drug used to control the side effects of steroids and testosterone only to NOT be sanctioned? Michael,
All the examples you mention are elite level triathletes competing in
Ironman events - with the exceptions of Vine and Guest(I'll come back to these). Do you not think that
because these Pros knew that the drug testing was loose at best in IM racing and has been for years, that they could take all these supplements(all legal and OTC but maybe contaminated) and not worry about it. Contrast that with sports were there is a lot of testing - most endurances sports in the Olympic Games, and if those athletes are part of a national testing pool with their Fed, then they are advised to
really be careful with what they take, or best case scenerio -
take nothing! That's what I am saying.
As for Vine and Guest - Vine raced almost exclusivly on the Xterra circut, another race series which my, best guess is soft on testing. Guest, was caught with a positive test( subsequently strongly disputed and faught at a number of levels) I believe, as a result of being part of TriCan's national team testing pool. I will note again that until now, triathletes in Canada, who raced anything other than ITU races - that means, Ironman, 70.3, Xterra, and all other non-drafting tris, were
rarely if ever tested. Other countries, including the U.S. are similar.
Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog