Damn these people! Perhaps some of the elites can explain at what point an athlete's morals fall by the wayside and winning takes presidence. I love this sport and, as a result, these athletes piss me off to the nth degree. They may think that when they take PED's it only effects them, but they are effecting the future of the sport for all the young athletes.

Sorry, but I must swear here...Fuck'n pricks!

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Adrian in Vancouver

If she did admit to it kudos, but admitting to something AFTER you get caught is not really being truthful.



Casey's right. She's only copping to it to lessen the impending punishment that she's going to receive, not because of any remorse that she felt for doing it in the first place. As C. says, if that were the case, she wouldn't even have toed the starting line if she were that eaten up with guilt.

At best, her candid admission will be a mitigating factor in any sanctions being contemplated. As far as the pressure, I don't think her NGB or the ITU or WTC will consider that an extenuating factor. I feel sorry, though, for any athlete who succumbs to that pressure to win at all costs.

K

Does this mean the winnings and the IMH title get transferred to Badmann?

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Adrian in Vancouver

Why can't races as important as Kona test before the race? Or is this silly due to cost or time it takes to recieve the results?

OK, this might sound 'meow' but when I showed my husband (former body builder) her picture, he said immediately that she looks like she uses steroids. She has the face of a 60 year old - it was quite shocking the first time I saw her. It's hard to imagine someone doing something like that to themselves, but I'm certain the pressures must be enormous.

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A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is just putting on its shoes.
- Mark Twain

If having the face of a 60 year old is proof of using steroids, PNF has overdosed on them.

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"Remember: a bicycle is an elegant and efficient tool designed for seeking out and defeating people who aren't as good as you."

--BikeSnobNYC

Believe me, I've had the same thought. I don't know if it is a side effect of steroids or not - I would say that their features and skin look 'coarsened' as well as very lined.

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A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is just putting on its shoes.
- Mark Twain

It could also be caused by years and years of training in the sun. Let's not start rumors, especially when there's no way for PNF to defend such an allegation. No need to drag her down just because another athlete tested positive.

Very sad about Nina.

D.

I know Nina quite well. She lived with us in Oz in dec. to feb 2001.
I can tell you that first, to say she looks old, when you probably looked at a picture just after the race, so she must be on steroids is quite silly...

What I know though is that even though the sun in Oz is pretty hard, I never saw her put sun screen once...never...that would certainly explain better why she looks older (apart from the pic. being after the race...)

besides, now she admitted she took EPO, no need to start rumors that she may be on steroids based on tenuous facts.

Well, to be fair, there are a heck of a lot of other pro women who have spent hours and hours training in the sun and still look their age, although I realize some are more suseptible to skin damage than others.

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A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is just putting on its shoes.
- Mark Twain

NBC is set to air a two hour special on the Hawaii IM on November 20th. I wonder if they will shift their focus to more age group stories, instead of following the race leader.

She apparently admitted to the use of EPO (according to a german webpage this will be in the newspapers tomorrow). Her main drive for using it was based on the tremendous pressure to succeed

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thanks
tri2b

I disagree. I think she was dominant this year because of EPO. Look at the cross country skiiers who have been busted. They blew everyone away, then got caught, now they are proven human and finishing back in the pack (after the suspensions have been served).

Kraft would have benefited throughout her training from the drug in terms of recovery and oxygen carrying capacity. Hence, her IM Germany victory is also "dirty". She should be permanently banned from the sport. The authorites are doing a much better job in the "War on Doping". Keep up the good work. Eventually, only the truly stupid athletes will risk getting caught and law abiding people will be given a fair playing field to compete on.

give name, and then give your proof...
did you use your X-ray vision to analyze their blood?

I am not naive enough to believe this has never happened, but saying something like this is just spreading rumors on the grounds that 'no one can go that fast'

What, you mean someone hasn't dropped/frozen the B sample yet? What is the doping owrld coming to?

Well, I didn't say she was on steroids, I was speculating. Just like everyone here who thinks Lance uses PEDs. I don't think it is silly to say that it doesn't look to me like whatever she is doing to herself is healthy. If someone will use EPO, they will likely use other things as well, 'cause inappropriate EPO use will kill you even faster than steroids.

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A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is just putting on its shoes.
- Mark Twain

Come on Francois you know who it was...? :-) And don't bring up Allen drafting Thomas. :-)

Cheers!

Got to get back to work for my French company. :-)

She was tested for steroids at IMG: Negative

Ironically at IMG they did not test for EPO. Neither did they at the other races she did this year.

Regarding the "rampant" drug use in Triathlon:

There is only limited sponsor money. There are a lot of good athletes out there and it mostly comes down to who has the best race at that specific day. What do you think was going to happen?

I TOLD YOU SO!

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adrialin

(BOMK, racing drug and supplement free since 1985)

You know, I'm pretty cynical when it comes to athletes and drugs. I'm not surprised Nina tested positive. I must confess that when I saw how both Nina and Normann dominated their respective fields, the first thing that popped into my head was, "I wonder if they're on something?" Looks like in Nina's case, she was.

RP

"Anyway, I'm sure that for other keen observers of IM racing like myself, her performance in IMH was pretty impressive, to say the least. Now we know why."

I know there is anecdotal evidence from tour riders to the effect that "no one not on rhEPO can keep up with those that are", and i could see that if you dope up on coke and amphetamines you might be able to put in a super-human effort (and then blow up your heart), but don't the few medical tests that have been done on effect of elevated HCT on endurance performance in fact show that the performance gains from taking rhepo are much less clear, and can vary greatly from person to person? Also, remember that even assuming that Nina was the only one taking rhEPO, many others would have been on IHT or altitude training - and legally would have gotten the same "benefit" as Nina may have from taking the rhEPO (i.e., elevated HCT levels).

So, in my mind, if true, this is a sad commentary on the pressures placed on elite athletes in a commercialized world. Also, just really stupid. Get a frickin altitude tent!!!! But I wouldnt be so quick to say that she only blew the field apart because she took rhEPO. She is a stunning and talented athlete with the work ethic I imagine of a horse, and this year may just have been her year. So the sad irony is that she may not have needed to take the illegal substance in the first place!

Just for the record, if medical science gets to the point where it can allow individuals to tinker with their HCT WITHOUT RISK TO THE ATHLETE, then I would support legalization of such methods. To me, it is all about the health of the athlete. But of course rhEPO is illegal, so if Nina took it then she is a cheat and a stupid one at that. Very sad.

the whole idea that a dominating performance is automatically steriods is absurd. How many people posted on this site post IMH with statements like "that performance is impossible" or "no one wins by that much of a margin", "must be drugs"... NONE.

Now that NK has tested positive everyone comes out to say - "she's too buff", "she looks to old to not be on drugs" and "she won by too much, it can't be true". That only deminishes the performances of everyone else who has taken a risk on the bike and won big.

I agree that doping is becoming more and more of an issue in this sport (and all endurance sports). the international federations need to get more organized and quicker about penalties.

I say Positive A call the athlete make them come within 48 hours

Positive B - you are banned for 2 year. Appeal if you want to

If the appeal is overturned - go back to racing. Yes there are some false positives, but waiting for 6 months to make a decision is unbelieveable. I like Tyler too, but come on - 2 positives - he's banned until he proves he's innocent.

Most sports, including triathlon for those athletes that are on the ITU circuit, have out-of-competition testing, which is where some one shows up on your door step unannounced and takes a urine sample from you. This can happen anytime of the year. It has the effect of hopefully detering the use of certain type of PED's that are used specifically duing the heaviest training, which is often far away from the actual competition. Competition testing is a given, so only the unwisest athlete who knew they would factor in the results would show up for a major competition on something or, the authorities have ramped up the testing to test in such a way to stay ahead of the athletes - something that I think is starting to go on.

Now, I am not clear on this, and I hope that someone who knows more will chime in, but I am guessing that a triathlete who focusses exclusivly on Ironman may fall into a bit of a grey area with their national federation and hence the ITU and may not be subject to any out-of-competition testing. I also, am not clear on what the exact relationship between the WTC, national triathlon organizations, the ITU and WADA is as it pertains to drug testing. Any one know?

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

does anyone know if suspended athletes are still subejct to random out-of-competition testing? If not, what prevents them from using PEDs with long-term advantages (e.g., those sllowing you to sustained an increaased training load and recover from it like HGH, testosterone) during their suspension if they intend to race afterward? Just curious.