Having read a lot of allegations between Mo and Gebresalasie before the marathon and re digging of some of his dubious coaching relationships, anyone else worried that mo has got some worrying stuff to hide ?
Or am I just copying malicious rumours and unfounded gossip.
There have been rumours about Mo for some time.
He has connections with known doping coaches and drug cheats, but has never failed a drugs test.
Kenyan and Ethiopians can easily access EPO with the correct connections and quite a few are now getting caught. The testing in these countries are poor and the testers have been known to take bribes....
Mo has a big media team who manage him very carefully and manipulate the press.
There have been rumours about Mo for some time. He has connections with known doping coaches and drug cheats, but has never failed a drugs test.
Kenyan and Ethiopians can easily access EPO with the correct connections and quite a few are now getting caught. The testing in these countries are poor and the testers have been known to take bribes....
Mo has a big media team who manage him very carefully and manipulate the press.
thats what it feels like. first glance, the hotel stuff seemed like Mo had been wronged but further reading makes you think that it was a lot of "he said, she said" stuff as taylor swift might say (my daughter is a big taylor fan).
But the drugs stuff is worrying and it is hard to think no smoke without fire.
There have been rumours about Mo for some time. He has connections with known doping coaches and drug cheats, but has never failed a drugs test.
Kenyan and Ethiopians can easily access EPO with the correct connections and quite a few are now getting caught. The testing in these countries are poor and the testers have been known to take bribes....
Mo has a big media team who manage him very carefully and manipulate the press.
It is really hard to know in these sports which are purely a test of will and physiology whether any improvement in performance by any athlete is real. I have really fallen out of love with athletics and cycling but cant for a minute claim that where there is so much to gain in other sports that the physiology of athletes is not regularly enhanced by drugs. The resources going into testing are inconsequential compared to the salaries paid to players, managers, agents etc... it is not in anybodys interests to police it.
Given the fiscal reality of coming first over twenty first and the general levels of poverty in the countries many marathon runners come from, in the balance of probabilities drug taking may well be endemic and the advantages less significant so perhaps we are seeing a fairly even physiological contest. We will only really understand the extent and sacrifices the athletes have made as we monitor them into late middle age.
-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Tuesday 30th of April 2019 08:52:59 AM
Whatever Mo is or isnt doing, I saw he had Sir Mo on his shirt as his name on Sunday, which felt a little conceited and arrogant. Losing respect for the guy.
There have been rumours about Mo for some time. He has connections with known doping coaches and drug cheats, but has never failed a drugs test.
Kenyan and Ethiopians can easily access EPO with the correct connections and quite a few are now getting caught. The testing in these countries are poor and the testers have been known to take bribes....
Mo has a big media team who manage him very carefully and manipulate the press.
Do you think Mo is hiding something, Paulisi?
No idea.
Something changed when he became double European champion in Barcelona(I was there). From being a nearly man, he became unbeatable.
It could have purely been having the confidence that one can compete at that level.
An interesting comparison is the step up in performance of Dina Asha-Smith an elite junior in full time school, went to university full time (well sort of; history) progressed to elite European sprinter and then something happened, ie she graduated, became a full time athlete and world class. That is a much more reassuring pattern of development.
Whatever Mo is or isnt doing, I saw he had Sir Mo on his shirt as his name on Sunday, which felt a little conceited and arrogant. Losing respect for the guy.
These things things are decided by the race organisers who use the publicity of top athletes to attract sponsors etc. I remember back in the day Paula always used to have "Paula" on her vest when everyone else had their surname, so I don't think you can necessarily assume it's Mo being arrogant. I'm also a bit worried about the "no smoke without fire" comment, as the drugs issue is so bad that whenever anyone puts in a good performance in athletics or cycling they always having the doping charge levelled at them regardless of any evidence. I'm not saying there's nothing behind the rumours as obviously I have no way of knowing, and I have lost some of my long term interest in athletics because of all the scandal. However, I still get a bit uneasy at how keen the press are to try and dig up dirt and tarnish the reputation of athletes when there's no concrete evidence. I totally agree that the best solution would be to put more resource into drug testing, but I'm pretty sure someone of Mo's standing will get more than his share of out of competition tests.
-- Edited by SuperT on Tuesday 30th of April 2019 11:23:55 AM
Whatever Mo is or isnt doing, I saw he had Sir Mo on his shirt as his name on Sunday, which felt a little conceited and arrogant. Losing respect for the guy.
These things things are decided by the race organisers who use the publicity of top athletes to attract sponsors etc. I remember back in the day Paula always used to have "Paula" on her vest when everyone else had their surname, so I don't think you can necessarily assume it's Mo being arrogant. I'm also a bit worried about the "no smoke without fire" comment, as the drugs issue is so bad that whenever anyone puts in a good performance in athletics or cycling they always having the doping charge levelled at them regardless of any evidence. I'm not saying there's nothing behind the rumours as obviously I have no way of knowing, and I have lost some of my long term interest in athletics because of all the scandal. However, I still get a bit uneasy at how keen the press are to try and dig up dirt and tarnish the reputation of athletes when there's no concrete evidence. I totally agree that the best solution would be to put more resource into drug testing, but I'm pretty sure someone of Mo's standing will get more than his share of out of competition tests.
-- Edited by SuperT on Tuesday 30th of April 2019 11:23:55 AM
Hi SuperT, you are right and I also have no way of knowing. No smoke without fire is probably a little disingenuous of me, I do think though that the whole charade around last week with the furore around the hotel and what happened, plus concerns over Mo's coaching relationships (both Salazar and the Ethiopian coach) probably meant they were poorly advised to use things like Sir Mo. I noticed journalists like Stu Fraser ( I think, may have been Briggs) tweeted video clips of Mo being interviewed about those relationships and it does feel that press are pushing harder on this one.
Hi Jon. Yes I agree about last week and I did find the story about the hotel incident very bizarre. Mostly I felt it was a big distraction when Mo should have been focussing on his race preparations, and his performance on the day would seem to confirm that. I have a feeling we've seen the best of him and that he'll struggle to replicate the level of performance we've come to expect from him either on the road or the track.
