The world would be a better place if you didn’t immediately make it about race. After all, the most vilified doper of all time was a white male (and he first confessed to a Black female).
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OK if you look at what I was saying I mainly comparing a woman from UK who finished 7 min behind the men’s winner and a Kenyan woman (I should have removed the “white” part in describing Radcliffe). But I would say the media outcry is remarkably different relative to the performance of a Kenyan woman, a British Woman and this year a Slovenian man tearing the world apart in cycling.
As for the media and Lance they treated him pretty well like a hero for a solid decade until they didn’t. The Kenyan woman is getting the pile on fairly early and yes, she HAS taken 10 minutes off her 2021 winning time between 2021 and 2024, so it DOES beg some scrutiny too. Ruth would have won Chicago 4 years in a row if not for Sifan Hassan’s “second fastest all time” 2:13 last year. So for sure her progression bears scrutiny
Just looking things up, between 2002 and 2003, Radcliffe went 2:18, 2:17, 2:15 between London 2002, Chicago 2002 and London 2003. So Paula’s performance was much “tighter” relatively so the press would have less reason to question much (and this was all before all the big cycling doping busts too, so we tend to be more critical now). So I am trying to present a balanced view of why the media at the time would question Paula less than Ruth now (just to be fair).
Maybe there is a difference between Kenya and Slovenia (or wherever Pogacar hangs out), as in “one is proven to be a doping paradise and a close second behind Russia, the other isn’t proven to be”.
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This is all a fair point in that decent runners in Kenya can climb out of poverty with doping just like inner city kids in USA can get juiced to get a Div 1 basketball or football scholarship and uplift their personal economics. Not saying it is right, but this is a decently low risk ticket to a better living than farming for example.
Having said that the lineage of the team that the Slovenian in question rides for goes back to team Lampre all thru the 90’s. Take that for what it is worth, but yes the media will view it like a British premier league team sponsored by a middle eastern entity not coupled to the Lampre era.
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Kenyan government goes after letsrun founder for accusations:
Chelsea Burns (former collegiate runner and top 30 ranked short course triathlete) on her Chasing the Burn podcast, for what it’s worth: “obviously a doped up result”.
Here is an article in Letsrun (I don’t go there, it popped up as a top item in a google search), responding to the Kenyan govt picking on “their boss”
Here is another one (In Canadian Running) covering the controversy:
Her last few tries in Chicago, were to aim for the world record and she faded in the second half because even sub 66 minute first half pace was too hot for her (even with pacers). The question is if between pacers, shoes (alpha vs vaporfly), fueling and a better build up after spring injury gets someone there and can someone like Hassan or Asefa do the same.
Is 2:09.5x with pacers equivalent to Kipchoge’s 1:59.5x with pacers? It seems to be a lot better which is the question at hand too.
I will say this; @runningmagazine.ca is picking up some actual journalistic cred, unlike the hacks at @runnersworld
They were out front of Camille’s Wikipedia nonsense, too
Is this verified, true? if so, then I am shocked that there are not more questions about the performance.