i finished the doping article in the current issue of Outside magazine a few days ago. The author of that article was on the full buffet of "supplements". He mentioned that it was probably costing him about $1000/wk (the articles at home, I'm going from memory, so could be wrong here).

This article from Testosterone mag, talks about the state sponsored programs. Maybe I'm naive, but I find it hard to believe that USAT has the cash to "feed" their athletes that well.

Bobo, you've made comments (http://www.xtri.com/...?id=720&offset=1) in the past about triathlon not being squeaky clean. Do the pro's have more money than I've been lead to believe (obviously a bit of a generalization), or is this stuff cheaper than I thought?

One of the reasons I've been willing to accept that triathlon was likely cleaner than other sports, is because there just isn't much money to be made here. Though perhaps an unlikely consequence of the Lifetime Tri will be that it makes it more compelling for a pro to consider juicing up for a specific event.

What do you think keeps USAT from "...grow[ing] a pair, [and] test[ing] SERIOUSLY..."? Is it simply that it isn't cheap to do the testing?

Great article.
Can everyone really be so dirty?

It makes me not want to watch or know anything about pros.
Just go out and enjoy my own run or bike ride for myself.

Even stopped using HRM. Just want to enjoy moving.

Brad-

USAT isn't doping our athletes, but that doesn't mean other countries aren't/won't. Remember, 2008 Olympics will be in China, land of large husky-talking women swimmers. Place your bets.

And you're right, I believe, that the huge differences in prize money, like 250k to 50k (1st-2nd) at Lifetime, and 100k-30k? at IMH, could be very tempting to a person who believes they can make the jump to the top spot with just a little help. Sort of like the guy who dropped a dime in the toilet when he was pulling his pants up, and contemplated if it was worth reaching in the crap for 10 cents. So he pulls out a quarter, throws it in, and says, "For 35 cents I will."

And testing isn't cheap, but in the past, I think some events just didn't want to run the risk of scandal. DQing the winner is bad TV.

The guy in the Outside Mag article was clearly paying full-blown retail for all the junk, plus the MD. Without much searching, you can find hGH on the internet, legal to buy, from overseas companies based in places like the Channel Islands, and for much cheaper than through a Doc. Just don't come crying to me when you grow a Neanderthal brow amd your Carpal Tunnel shuts off.

EPO is all over the place. Know a RN in a renal care ward? Mexico? Just don't come crying to me when you're laid out in the middle of Alii Dr. with sludgy blood.

I have a friend, a former "money making" pro, who had EPO pushed at him by his agent. This makes sense in a ruthless kinda way, as the more the athlete wins, the more he's worth, and the more he's worth, the more the agent gets. I was with another friend (who had the same agent) and we were in Kona at the King Kam thinking about how to pop the huge Tinley inflatable that was outside our window. I said, "If we only had a big pin we could tape it to toilet paper tube, and make a big dart." He said, "Will a syringe work? I've got a bunch of those." It didn't work on the Tinley thing, but the question remains...

I honestly think our sport, while not clean, is one of the cleanest of endurance sports. That's probably because the money is still Mickey Mouse compared to, say, pro bowling. Clean guys can still compete with dirty guys because no one has yet figured out REALLY optimised training programs for Ironman racing, IMHO. In 5 years, it may be different, and it'll be like pro cycling.

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"What's good for me ain't necessarily good for the weak-minded."

Bobo,

Definitely an interesting article...I would like to see what some of the protocols are for other sports like football and basketball. I agree with you that our sport is probably one of the cleanest, however I think more top athletes than we realize are using synthetic enhancement.

The fact that there is so little money makes it that much more important to finish on top!

Good points.

A few of the things that might be "protecting" triathlon from the scourge of drugs are:

1. The fact that many of the top people train on their own. Drugs are most often seen used in group/team settings such as some of the top sprinters all working with the same coach or a pro cycling team that uses a certain "doctor" for supplements. You don't oftn see this in triathlon. Many of the top people do much of their training on their own and are self coached and don't really have a big entourage around them.

2. Lack of money: I am told that using the top drugs can be expensive and otther than the very top people in the sport, the money earned drops off dramatically. I doubt that many can afford the these drugs or the services of the "doctors" that administer them.

3. Low stakes: Until recently the stakes in the sport where not that big. That is changing with prize purses at IMH growing in a big way and Olympic Medals on the line every four years. Now the latter does not have dollars directly associated with it, but I have heard it said that an Olympic Gold medal in a sport with a decent profile is worth about $1 million dollars if you know what you are doing.

However, we would have our heads buried completely in the sand if we hoped that drugs have not been used in triathlon or that their is no use now.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Fleck,

I agree that the factors you presented are some of the main reasons that drug use is not as bad in Tri, however, a lot of these top athletes do train with groups. Plus they don't just train with any old groups they train with some top athletes in other sports.

That said I would think that this is where the exposure to the drugs resides. If your training with a group of cyclists trying to make it to the next level...they are connected with so and so...it doesn't take to much of a stretch to see how it is possible to get the drugs and know how to use them. Plus they may even introduce them to the doctor that will help with their problem.

When winning is your utlimate goal and you do it for money you will find a way to dig up the resources to pay for it IMO.

careful, michaelg, there are clearly amateur triathletes out there using drugs, sad is that is. it's not just the pros. in fact, given the lack of prize money available to pros and the relative income levels of amateurs compared to pros, i wouldn't be suprised if more amateurs than pros were dirty.

It was a very interesting article, but in my opinion, he didn't go all the way. I would like to have seen him establish benchmarks (say a 40 K TT) and then see what kind of times he was clocking as the "gear" took effect. As it was, the results of his odyssey seemed to fall short of the premise.

Other than that, the readibility of these drugs is alarming. Makes you wonder if any age groupers are juicing, doesn't it?

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No sidewindin bushwackin, hornswaglin, cracker croaker is gonna rouin me bishen cutter!

Good point

Reason: After about the 7th or 8th place Pro athlete I would suggest that most age-groupers at Hawaii have way more disposable income than pros below this level.

If the demographics are right many triathlon age-group house-holds have an incomes close to $100,000 or more. A good many Pros are wondering how they are going to pay their next months rent.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I was a huge critic of the Chinese women's swim team in the early 90s. But oddly enough, I think that team, at least, will be relatively clean in Beijing. The country lost a ton of face in the sport when they got caught trying to smuggle HGH into Sydney. (and their consequent disappearance from the top level of the sport for a couple of years)

The Olympic stakes are high, but I think they've got too much to lose by getting caught again in a sport that's ready to tar, feather, and ban them from international competition if there's systematic evidence that there's doping going on again with their women's swim team. And the testing agencies are seeming like they're actually learning how to get one step ahead of the cheats in some cases these days.

China's performances in Barcelona were good, but not suspicously too good. Be interesting to see what lies ahead, and how the samples retested from FINA worlds turn up.