Seems they are not as concerned about process, I have to say, I like their “sunlight is the best disinfectant” type attitude. The scream it out on their homepage and aren’t afraid to take on American athletes.
Quote Of The Day
“The real issue is two of the most prominent track and field athletes in America - World Champions Carmelita Jeter and Jason Richardson - have been proven by their own tweets and photographic evidence to have been associating with a man who was intricately involved in the BALCO scandal. Only three Americans won individual gold at Worlds last year on the track and two of them by their own admission are associating with a doper leading up to the London Olympics. This is a story the mainstream press needs to pick up on in London. …
So far at the Games, the mainstream press has grilled 16-year-old Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen about performance-enhancing drugs because she’s improved a lot and comes from a country with a less-than-stellar reputation when it comes to doping in swimming. We hope the press is fair and honest - not just xenophobic - as there are two athletes from the US who have improved a lot, come from a country with less than a stellar reputation when it comes to doping in the sprints, and are openly associating with a convicted doper.”
LetsRun.com writing about how US Track and Field World Champions** Jason Richardson** and Carmelita Jeter have associated themselves with convicted doper Mark Block all year long, all across the globe.
Pretty much exactly how I feel. I have little faith that the American sprinters are clean esp the ones associated with Block now or in the past. Add in Gaitlin and it’s a pretty dirty bunch. American media will gloss over it though…
Lets run is pretty crazy sometimes but their anti-doping stance is very commendable
I’ve never seen a definition of what a 10 year ban (or any ban) means for a agent or coach. I’m almost certain that Block can’t be fined or put in jail so all that can happen is a ban with no teeth can be extended.
Unless they ban athletes for associating with him a ban is purely symbolic.
so they associated with a doper so what? That’s doesn’t incriminate them as dopers. You can’t just expect people to disconnect their social relationships for every little thing.
A fast girl from china who came out of “nowhere” is a doper by association but Jeter who also came out of nowhere (well past her prime) admits association with a guy that’s banned for doping and gets uneasy when asked about it is clean.
So the fact that there is no enforcement mechanism for the ban makes it Ok these athletes are associated with him?
And I said this where? I think its bad that the athletes are associated with him. It certainly puts them under a cloud and now that its in the open they can’t hide from it. I’m just curious what the rules are. I don’t think anything can happen other than baning Block for a longer period. I think that the rules should include a ban for the athletes if they can prove money changed hands with Block.
I agree and they may. They issued a statement that he wasn’t invited to the NIKE box and came as a guest of someone. He isn’t welcome at NIKE sponsered events anymore. I would imagine they would warn their athletes about it also.
i have no problem with letsrun’s behavior on this. i think in the same way they’re pointing out the association between athletes and a tainted coach, it was fine to point out the association between cyclists and ferrari. i always felt it was very bad judgment on behalf of athletes - lance included - to associate with ferrari, if preserving a reputation as a clean athlete is the goal.
what you cannot do here, on this forum, is take the next step, which is to call jeter (or any athlete in a like situation) a doper, simply based on your own best guess and nothing else.
At the Olympics, the medalists are tested for doping. I believe if the Olympians aren’t found guilty of doping, the press or anyone shouldn’t be allowed to speculate or raise doubts of doping. The testing should be all the Olympians should endure during the Games. Anyone found accusing an Olympian should be sued for defamation of character.