I saw this on letsrun and thought it was interesting:
Kinda makes all the statements on chinese swimmers etc seem pretty hypocritical, although USADA seems to claim this is just a response by WADA to the criticism levelled at them about the chinese swimmers.
I think if we want clean sports we have to accept that having dirty athletes on side is a necessary evil. An obvious consequence is that clean athletes will be disadvantaged and will not get the credit they deserve when they win, but the approach of catching one at a time and banning them has been / is ineffective
How do we know about all the sophisticated methods taken. New tricks. Test confounding drugs to look for?
Surely it’s from informants.
That said, the fact that it is all in private is concerning from a potential for bias point of view. Some athletes get popped and held to the fire while others get a deal. We just don’t know, which introduces the opportunity for corruption.
I don’t think, necessarily, it’s hypocritical – they’re different cases, IMO.
But it sure does seem to me that Tygart’s willing to put his thumb on the scale to go after who he deems the appropriate target of his investigations. Which, well, has been Lance’s argument about the Reasoned Decision.
What I did find interesting, while rolling through all of the TRH case stuff, was that USADA has exclusive control over USOPC bodies (so, USAT), yet World Triathlon is partnered with the ITA (who IM uses). It’s all a patchwork.
Kinda makes all the statements on chinese swimmers etc seem pretty hypocritical, although USADA seems to claim this is just a response by WADA to the criticism levelled at them about the chinese swimmers.
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Must only be the Chinese Americans
I saw this on letsrun and thought it was interesting:
Kinda makes all the statements on chinese swimmers etc seem pretty hypocritical, although USADA seems to claim this is just a response by WADA to the criticism levelled at them about the chinese swimmers.
Where does it say that the athletes were Americans? You should probably edit the title.
I don’t think, necessarily, it’s hypocritical – they’re different cases, IMO.
But it sure does seem to me that Tygart’s willing to put his thumb on the scale to go after who he deems the appropriate target of his investigations. Which, well, has been Lance’s argument about the Reasoned Decision.
What I did find interesting, while rolling through all of the TRH case stuff, was that USADA has exclusive control over USOPC bodies (so, USAT), yet World Triathlon is partnered with the ITA (who IM uses). It’s all a patchwork.
So, just out of sheer curiosity, what was Lance’s argument about the “Reasoned Decision”??? Somehow I missed that part of the long and involved series of Lance chronicles. 
Scapegoat, singled out, gave sweetheart deals to informants, etc.
Which, well, yeah: you’re the biggest name, of course that’s how it works. The problem being that USADA had a boss, too – and apparently the boss does not approve of their methods now.
Scapegoat, singled out, gave sweetheart deals to informants, etc.
Which, well, yeah: you’re the biggest name, of course that’s how it works. The problem being that USADA had a boss, too – and apparently the boss does not approve of their methods now.
Ah, I see now, thanks for the explanation.
when i read that it struck me as a pathetic an amateurish attempt to deflect by WADA. here is a non-partisan legislative push i think everyone in america should be able to agree with: the US congress should forceclose on any attempts by the salt lake organizers to neuter USADA in its criticism of WADA. the list of good winter olympic venues is shrinking. SLC is a great get by the IOC. let them put the olympics elsewhere if they want.
in my 20 years of covering this i’ve found travis tygart and USADA to be much(!!!) more ardent and effective than WADA when it comes to doing the doper catching work. yes, i’ve been frustrated by tygart’s willingness to give george and levi a ban from thanksgiving to easter while giving lance a lifetime ban across all sports. one was too harsh, one was not harsh enough. but i respect the commitment to anti-doping. USADA is the best friend WADA has, and if it refuses to recognize that then that invites scrutiny into WADA.
Next, people are going to want to ban USADA employees from betting on their known doping athletes. (Pink)
Americans: “We’re the good guys just trying to catch drug cheats, relax”
The rest of the world: WTF
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Americans: “We’re the good guys just trying to catch drug cheats, relax”
The rest of the world: WTF
i do honestly appreciate some of the nuanced takes above, but i also have to wonder how they’d react if they read that the chinese or the russians or the spaniards were doing the same thing.