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Olympic blood doping

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  • July 26, 2012 at 7:18 am #16434
    SideBurn

    I heard that 9 athletes have been caught doping; I wondered if any were cyclists…no 🙂 An article went on to say, “The biological passport measures changes in an athlete’s blood profile and is already used in professional cycling. It will be utilized in testing in track and field, swimming, cycling, rowing, modern pentathlon and triathlon at the Olympics, the World Anti-Doping Agency announced in a news conference at Olympic Park”. Two things struck me. Biological passport measures have been in cycling for some time (years?). But many sports have chosen not to bother with it; why not? When reports are made of cyclists doping, no mention is made that cycling is pioneering new measures? Cycling gets dragged through the mud time and time again but it seems that other sports have their heads in the sand. But of course, who from these 6 sports are going to put in an inexplicably poor performance! Or take a chance?

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  • August 1, 2012 at 12:01 pm #693695
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    notfastenough

    An alternative
    An alternative view:
    http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/chinese-swimmers-flippers-and-blowhole-suspicious-says-top-official-2012073136323?utm_campaign=01082012&utm_source=emailCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=

    “The 16-year-old Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen, who smashed records in the 400 metres medley, was last seen heading out to sea at speeds of over 80 knots with her coach on her back.

    Olympic official Roy Hobbs said: “We’d hesitate to accuse a young girl of cheating when she’s achieved something so special, but we do need to take a look at her blowhole at some point.

    “A younger swimmer can often improve dramatically over a short period of time without recourse to mindbendingly strong steroids but even the strongest attack of puberty doesn’t usually cause somebody to start communicating via a series of clicks and squeaks.

    “I’m not being cruel about her looks, she’s far prettier than Frankie Boyle. But when a search of the changing rooms reveals a bucket of sprats and a zip-up rubber costume with a human face, something has to be done.””

    😀

    August 1, 2012 at 11:19 am #693693
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    notfastenough

    I wonder what the tickets
    I wonder what the tickets cost for that badminton session? You would be mighty pissed to have paid a few hundred quid for a few seats, only to see that.

    August 1, 2012 at 9:33 am #693691
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    Bob's Bikes

    I like a few others on here
    I like a few others on here first read the report and responded (tongue in cheek in my case) but have now come back to see reactions following not only the swimming (I hope for the sport she is clean) but then we have the farce of the Badminton teams. my personal view on this is that it is clearly cheating and the teams involved should be disqualified.

    August 1, 2012 at 7:08 am #693689
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    drheaton

    The most telling quote I’ve
    The most telling quote I’ve heard is from Ian Thorpe who said that his own times dropped by 5 seconds in a year in order to win his first Olympic gold as a teenager.

    Plus, let’s remember, Ye Shiwen’s time dropped by 5 seconds from her pre-Olympic best which was set in the 2010 Asian Games so really it’s dropped 5 seconds in two years.

    That’s no longer so dodgy.

    August 1, 2012 at 3:06 am #693687
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    SideBurn

    It is quite depressing that
    It is quite depressing that we are discusing the possibility that a 16yo athlete may be doped…I hope she is clean and is proven to be clean; but a 4 second gain in swimming is huge. If she has doped (or been doped) then the latest testing protocol could already have been compromised.

    July 31, 2012 at 9:20 pm #693685
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    OldRidgeback

    Nope, I think the Chinese
    Nope, I think the Chinese want to win, but not at all costs in the way the Eastern Europeans did in the 70s and early 80s. Yes, they pick out children with potential at a young age and begin training early. But I think using performance enhancing drugs would be considered a sign of failure by the Chinese. It’s a cultural issue as it’d be a loss of face to use illegal measures. I would expect the Chinese authorities to have stronger rules against the use of drugs or doping than the IOC. Yes, the Chinese probably have leading edge sports science, but that’s allowed in the rules. let’s face it, one of the reasons team GB beat the Australians in so many cycling events in particular in the Beijing Olympics was because our sports science was better. That got up the noses of the Aussies every bit as much as the fact that Chris Hoy came back with so many gongs. But we don’t refer to the sports science Team GB used then as cheating, do we?

    July 31, 2012 at 3:07 pm #693683
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    drheaton

    notfastenough

    notfastenough wrote:
    Interesting viewpoint. I’ve been thinking the opposite, because they seem intent on demonstrating national power in the way the Russians used to.

    Maybe you’re right, but I would be utterly unsurprised to find a state-backed doping programme, sufficiently well-researched to avoid the testers.

    Alternatively, there’s always the old-school Chinese training programmes where they get the kids as little more than toddlers, full time in a martial arts/acrobatics/theatre etc school. Not very nice methods though.

    I was going to say exactly the same. Either state backed doping or extremely brutal training regimes in place from early childhood would not surprise me.

    July 31, 2012 at 1:59 pm #693681
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    notfastenough

    Interesting viewpoint. I’ve
    Interesting viewpoint. I’ve been thinking the opposite, because they seem intent on demonstrating national power in the way the Russians used to.

    Maybe you’re right, but I would be utterly unsurprised to find a state-backed doping programme, sufficiently well-researched to avoid the testers.

    Alternatively, there’s always the old-school Chinese training programmes where they get the kids as little more than toddlers, full time in a martial arts/acrobatics/theatre etc school. Not very nice methods though.

    July 31, 2012 at 1:16 pm #693679
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    OldRidgeback

    I have to say that I think
    I have to say that I think Chinese athletes are probably a lot less likely to be involved in the user of performance enhancing drugs than most. Sport is seen as a symbol of national pride in China and is pretty closely governed by the authorities, more so than in most countries. The Chinese want to show the world that they can win on their own terms and definitely without the use of blood doping or drug use or anything that would undermine their credibility. The Chinese have a very different view from, say, the East European regimes of the 1970s and the way they regarded drug use for athletes. As she’s won a medal she will be tested. I’d be very highly surprised if she tested positive. I think it was either bad grace or blind ignorance on the part of the American to speak out and I hope he apologises if (as I expect) the tests show she’s clean.

    July 31, 2012 at 11:41 am #693677
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    notfastenough

    Ah, fair enough Paul, cheers.
    Ah, fair enough Paul, cheers.

    July 31, 2012 at 10:47 am #693675
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    Anonymous

    “…if none come back
    “…if none come back positive we have to assume she’s innocent and just very talented.”

    I agree. At least, until she becomes a millionaire, has a celebrity lifestyle, starts a charity…

    In other news, Caster Semenya.

    July 31, 2012 at 10:45 am #693673
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    Paul J

    She didn’t swim faster than
    She didn’t swim faster than “any of the men”. She swam a last leg that was *nearly* as fast as the last leg of a man, who was “cruising” on the last leg: 58.68s for Ye vs 58.65s for Lochte. Lochte’s overall time for the race was still over 23s faster than hers (4m28.43s v 4m05.18s). Ye had actually gone quite slowly on her first 3 legs, and obviously had a lot in reserve for the final leg.

    It was an eye-brow raising performance alright, but she didn’t swim faster than the men. It doesn’t per se mean she doped, just suspicious – another young Chinese swimmer tested positive for EPO earlier this year. She may quite plausibly just have gotten her pacing completely wrong – in which case, it means she’s likely capable of a better overall time by going faster earlier, and ending up slower in the last leg.

    Source: Science of Sport blog, http://www.sportsscientists.com/2012/07/london-day-2-quick-thoughts.html

    July 31, 2012 at 10:28 am #693671
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    drheaton

    I didn’t see it but for a
    I didn’t see it but for a 16yr old girl to swim a 50m freestyle faster than Ryan Lochte is pretty impressive. Was it clean? We may not know for a few years. IOC is now keeping samples for 8 years in order to back-test samples when new tests are perfected or new doping techniques discovered.

    As it stands she’ll have been subject to any number of tests since arriving at the Olympics, and a fair few after winning her race, so if none come back positive we have to assume she’s innocent and just very talented.

    July 31, 2012 at 10:07 am #693669
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    notfastenough

    Right, so I came back here in
    Right, so I came back here in light of the accusations surrounding Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen, to check that swimming is listed above. (If you don’t know, she is 16 and has just swam quicker than any of the men, leading to comments from a US swim coach of ‘disturbing’ performances).

    So far Olympics officials appear to be backing her – given that swimming is included in the blood passport programme, one would assume that she has been tested and confirmed clean. Thoughts?

    July 26, 2012 at 11:33 pm #693667
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    bashthebox

    Tennis definitely has a
    Tennis definitely has a problem. Without wanting to get into libel territory, I’ve chatted to a lawyer who was working on behalf of the LTA, I think, to – and I’m not sure if I’ve got this the right way round – keep the tennis players out of the headlines. Nxxxl has been mentioned, but apparently it went back a long way too… Sxxxras, Rxxxxski, many many more. Testosterone, I think. I bet there was more. But I’m sure tennis isn’t alone. Cycling has got the toughest tests because it’s probably the sport where you can get the biggest advantage, so doping was utterly rife. Other sports, the edge is more subtle. Except athletics. Which is clearly dirty as fuck still, from some nations.

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