You are assuming that everyone would do a search. As I have said,Karas is a conman and a liar with all the tools needed to make an impressive resume and sponsorship pitch,and again,not everyone is like we are here on ST. The triathlon world is surprisingly ignorant when it comes to Ultra’s and the people who live in that world.
That’s cool but team Bahrain has to be ok with that they are associated with a drug cheat and giving somebody a platform they should not have given it .
And atheltes have to not only think about sportswhashing but do they want to be associated with a team that supports drug cheats .
Yes I know why this all started and the reason for the number 13. It’s just that in my long history of being in and studying the history of sport, no good has come from mixing politics into the decision making of the people that try to make a living off of it. I fully support your take on this however, and can emphasize with it. I just dont agree that it is the athletes respobisbilities to police govt. miss deeds.
As I said, if that were the case then who could we accept sponsorships from? China and other Asian countries are putting many $$'s into our sport, in my day there was South Africa and many others that made headlines. And now the US seem to be in the crosshairs of most the world, and dont kid yourself that people are not dying from some of the actions of our administration who otherwise would not be.
I lived through and had many, many friends get screwed by Jimmy Carter when he used the sports top athletes to punish Russia. It went horribly then, just as it does now. How many golfers from pro to ametuer are boycotting their associations and golf courses? That is an infinitely bigger deal than triathlon, as well as international football teams(soccer to us), and just about every sport you can find Middle East money a part of.
You can think badly about the athletes who are just trying to eek out a living in our sport, but to me it is not on them to make a big political stand. Its ok to take a personal one of course, that has always been the case. And I think by now the google search of that 13 has been long wiped out and old news, so going forward I really do not think that is their primary intention anymore. Someone there loves the sport and has decided to put their money to it, just like some Russian Oligarchs doing the same. Are the pros just not supposed to race or be sponsored in your world? And who gets to be the arbiter of who is worthy or not to spend dollars in our sport??
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Just replying to the last post not to PK.
Were Stapley and Waugh expecting to be dropped?
Robert Karaś went on breakfast TV in Poland to announce he will give up the Polish colors and from now on represent the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Heartfelt thanks to Robert for ditching the Polish flag. We have another Robert to support 
, an actual pro triathlete, who does appear to have the balls and the ethics and the character to make his nation proud and not disgrace it.
According to Robert Karaś:
- he doped for MMA, not for triathlon (never doped in the run up to a race or during prep)
- his Bahraini sponsors don’t care if he races or not
- he will be doing “challenges” from now on
- he’s supported by the Kingdom of Bahrain and a royal family member who wants to use him to promote the country
- he’s proud to be representing Bahrain and doesn’t regret doping because he would otherwise not be there
- he won’t appeal the USADA ban to try to get a shorter suspension because he doesn’t need to race.
Well done Bahrain.
I don’t think so, it was a bit surprising since the team was slowly introducing her getting her to the team events leading up to Bahrain 70.3 last year and his partner Stapley has good potential there. Maybe they didn’t expect to sign Van Riel, Geens and Knibb and need to make some room but it’s strange that Neumann continues on the other hand…
Edit: they have just removed Javier Gomez from the athlete alumni or simply forgot to reupload?