Sam Laidlow Announces ITA Investigation

Triathlon Forum
241

This thread is an absolute shit show! We’ve had a couple of big races on today which no one is arsed about, just speculate on whether someone is doping or not.
I wonder how much of this is tribalism, cos he’s pissed off two of the more popular triathletes!A couple? Well how did those 4 races go for you?
I had IM Portugal on Outside and after the first few ravens, I brought ST up to keep me sane(r) and see whether the speculation was flagging. Counter-intuitively the Outside commercial breaks were a godsend.
The Challenge race was on their difficult to manage splits page and was good to see a real fight there.
During Portugal’s Pierré and Madsen/Stratman/Lewis ride off I could get first the women’s and then the men’s SL Neom races (which I could pause unlike ‘Outside’) and enjoy the Enduro format (bravo to Beaugrand and Bergère), interspersed with seeing how Heemeryk and Magnien chased down that front 3 and whether Lange could/would and whether Brownlee would remain ‘in it to win it’ (he didn’t).
So close in Stade de France. We woz robbed.
Who is the other “more popular triathlete”? His dad?

Robbed? England didn’t get close to scoring a try. Last 15 minutes were good but England play such boring rugby

242

Replying to no one in particular…

Just read Von Berg Sr’s reply to Sam…

If, as Sr says, this is simply about an email that was accidentally shared with Sam, then how did it get to the ITA as a complaint/tip?

243

I have no opinion on Sam-thats what the investigations are for, but at the same time people instantly labelling anyone who performs as a drug cheat is just pathetic.

This sport has a history of rejects transitioning across, even LCB isn’t a pure triathlete. she was a ‘failed’ swimmer. Its only recently we have had kids who have trained specifically from a young age for this sport like Blu, Iden and Laidlow, and people are shocked that there are performance increase?? FFS its hilarious that people can’t bridge the gap between years of specificity versus a late age reject crossover.

Even the ‘tri gods’ of Mark Allen and Dave Scott have been saying for years the times were too slow. People start actually gong faster and people lose their minds…

244

This thread is an absolute shit show! We’ve had a couple of big races on today which no one is arsed about, just speculate on whether someone is doping or not.
I wonder how much of this is tribalism, cos he’s pissed off two of the more popular triathletes!A couple? Well how did those 4 races go for you?
I had IM Portugal on Outside and after the first few ravens, I brought ST up to keep me sane(r) and see whether the speculation was flagging. Counter-intuitively the Outside commercial breaks were a godsend.
The Challenge race was on their difficult to manage splits page and was good to see a real fight there.
During Portugal’s Pierré and Madsen/Stratman/Lewis ride off I could get first the women’s and then the men’s SL Neom races (which I could pause unlike ‘Outside’) and enjoy the Enduro format (bravo to Beaugrand and Bergère), interspersed with seeing how Heemeryk and Magnien chased down that front 3 and whether Lange could/would and whether Brownlee would remain ‘in it to win it’ (he didn’t).
So close in Stade de France. We woz robbed.
Who is the other “more popular triathlete”? His dad?

Robbed? England didn’t get close to scoring a try. Last 15 minutes were good but England play such boring rugby

England should have gone for the corner a few times…BUT. Ben O’Keeffe robbed France and he robbed England. He was okay ish until the last 5 minutes when he started giving the Boks every call. That last scrum penalty? Should have been against South Africa, George’s knee was not on the ground. Andrew Porter should call up World Rugby and get everything back from last week if that is how we’re interpreting the scrum.

But the worst insult? You cannot call a mark when you’ve stepped over the 22. Where was the TMO? What a shambles of two matches from that guy. But at least Barnes gets his final and there will be no referee idiocy next week.

245

This isn’t going to do the sport any good at all, especially when we’re now triathlon is getting a lot more investment and big races.

In your opinion, if the investigation results in a ban of the reigning world champion for doping, is it good or bad for the sport?

I would say good. I don’t think anyone thinks the sport is totally clean, so it would be good to catch a cheater. I know if I was a clean pro I’d love it anytime a cheater got caught.

The interesting thing will be IF he is found guilty will IM strip him of his title and bump everyone up a place.

246

An Irishman sent me this before the match:

"Lord Nelson wore a red tunic so if he were shot in action his troops would not see his blood and become demoralised.

In a kit change announced for Saturday evening, England will wear brown shorts."

Not a rugby fan, but thought it was funny.

247

This isn’t going to do the sport any good at all, especially when we’re now triathlon is getting a lot more investment and big races.

I would say good. I don’t think anyone thinks the sport is totally clean, so it would be good to catch a cheater. I know if I was a clean pro I’d love it anytime a cheater got caught.

You know what would be even better? Being a dirty as shit pro competing with dirty as shit pros and causing a firestorm over having another pro investigated for violations you all but know to be true. All while getting away with it yourself.

I’m not uncertain that triathlon is a doping cesspool. But I wish we could just become a sport more like weightlifting where everyone talks about their gear and progress and encourages another. Triathlon is too competitive for doping rings, which is why we have “mates” turning when things get bitter among childlike athletic stars

248

The drugs that triathletes use are too dangerous to be unregulated like bodybuilding though. You can die from high amounts of red blood cells. They at least need to pass the tests even if they’re allowed to talk about it and do it so the dosages don’t become outrageous

I also wonder what happened for Sam to get on everyone’s bad side.

249

This thread is an absolute shit show! We’ve has a couple of big races on today which no one is arsed about, just speculate on whether someone is doping or not.

This isn’t going to do the sport any good at all, especially when we’re now triathlon is getting a lot more investment and big races.

I wonder how much of this is tribalism, cos he’s pissed off two of the more popular triathletes!

This!

The only thing he’s proven guilty of is to ‘bandit’ a swim in 2022 and to write a harsh post in his defense yesterday.

Wait & sit guys, we’ll know more as soon as practically possible.
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ST is a funny place…Sam wins the Ironman World Champ’s and there has been barley any interest and discussion about his performance that day or since. There is a hint of doping thrown his way and suddenly ST is all over it. Maybe we should throw some shade at Rico Bogen so people here will finally talk about him as well.

Talk and conversations are usually about what went wrong so for Sams race in Nice you can’t really say anything negative. hence why Lionel gets so much coverage, he labels his own mistakes on youtube. same as the Dallas cowboys.

I would like to discuss the use of rugs at finish lines??? WHY do we have them Nooka tripped today and I hate running on them never trust a lump underneath.

Also Rico has two tough weeks feel of his bike last week into T2 and no proper bike gear of his own this week, due to baggage but off the bike with the lead and ran solid into 3 rd.

It seems like we have a group that all see each other every race in USA, lang, jackson, sanders, foley, etc.
and then a group now in Europe. rico, ali, funk and mathis. etc

Lange also made a big mistake in t2 today not finding his bike rack or something lost 5-6 min he said??? usually they take your bike so , not sure how this happened.

Ok all caught up back to

250

This thread is an absolute shit show! We’ve has a couple of big races on today which no one is arsed about, just speculate on whether someone is doping or not.

This isn’t going to do the sport any good at all, especially when we’re now triathlon is getting a lot more investment and big races.

I wonder how much of this is tribalism, cos he’s pissed off two of the more popular triathletes!

This!

The only thing he’s proven guilty of is to ‘bandit’ a swim in 2022 and to write a harsh post in his defense yesterday.

Wait & sit guys, we’ll know more as soon as practically possible.
.
.
ST is a funny place…Sam wins the Ironman World Champ’s and there has been barley any interest and discussion about his performance that day or since. There is a hint of doping thrown his way and suddenly ST is all over it. Maybe we should throw some shade at Rico Bogen so people here will finally talk about him as well.

Doping is like a drama thriller lol

251

I also wonder what happened for Sam to get on everyone’s bad side.

Who is ‘everyone’? RVB’s family?

252

So close in Stade de France. We woz robbed

——

Funny. If Farrall kept his mouth shut with the ref England win. But he didn’t. Cost them 10 meters. Put SA into penalty kick position for 3 points. World Cup semi final these things matter.

That said, what a bloody amazing test match.

Back to triathlon. Its good 🍿 here….keep going ST. .

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I also wonder what happened for Sam to get on everyone’s bad side.

Who is ‘everyone’? RVB’s family?

The entire sport, or at least anyone who matters. Hence this thread. Almost nobody is defending this person online. Nobody is supporting him and jumping to his defense. Folks are silent. It looks really really bad.

254

When your sport is in the olympics, IE WADA anti doping policies; (even though LC is a separate event vs ITU), you’ll never be able to go that route. Even if the testing is no where close to what it should be. Again even though what the ITA doesn’t really do itu athletes I dont think, you’d never be able to regulate itu and then unregulate other disciplines of the sport, when there is still a lot of cross over.

I also think you lose “credibility” as a professional sport if you threw your hands up with allowing doping (even if your sport’s anti doping basically isn’t really that credibile…but what actual WADA sanctioned sport has an “credible” program that works??)

255

I also wonder what happened for Sam to get on everyone’s bad side.

Who is ‘everyone’? RVB’s family?

The entire sport, or at least anyone who matters. Hence this thread. Almost nobody is defending this person online. Nobody is supporting him and jumping to his defense. Folks are silent. It looks really really bad.

Geezus, so we are at a point where someone not posting support means they are saying they are guilty? Grow up, what exactly is ‘the industry’ supposed to say? Maybe they are acting like grown ups waiting to find out what in the fark all this means before sharpening their pitchforks…

256

Fair points and good points all around. I had to laugh when I saw the news flash up that ADA officials had boarded Conor McGregor’s yacht twice to dope test him. Which is just so insane given he’s allegedly raped so many women without repercussions. On the pantheon of evils, let the guy juice just keep him away from all of femalekind.

Is the UFC credible? Incredibly successful, for sure, with more money and resources than this triathlon thing. I don’t know, I’m just spitballing here but I think you’re right about the Olympics. You can’t be a doping sport and an Oly sport at the same time

257

You don’t think the boys should rally to his defense? It’s pros v. Laidlow, given the silence, not RVB Sr…v. Laidlow

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You don’t think the boys should rally to his defense? It’s pros v. Laidlow, given the silence, not RVB Sr…v. Laidlow

No, why should they? Its not a team sport, and what have they got to gain by getting involved in this sh!t?

Same response would happen if Frodo was being investigated, mature people mostly sit back and wait for more details.

Mind you this all appears to have come about from a salty father and a second hand comment that was clearly a joke. There has been ZERO suggestion of failed tests etc.

But as for people jumping to his defence, its an individual sport, Chartier was living with Lionel-did he have any idea he was doping? No one knows, so why get personally involved on a topic you have NFI about?

259

If I was in his shoes I’d have all my homies on the offensive. Triathlon is perhaps the most tribal sport there is. Pros are a tribe. Sometimes members of the tribe get skinned. That’s Laidlow atm

260

If I was in his shoes I’d have all my homies on the offensive. Triathlon is perhaps the most tribal sport there is. Pros are a tribe. Sometimes members of the tribe get skinned. That’s Laidlow atm

All your ‘homies’…oh my…lol didn’t realise it was school holidays already.