A long way from being "shocking" news though. "Russia's doped athletes 'sabotaged' the 2012 Olympics and should be banned from future competitions until the country cleans up its act, a bombshell report has found. A landmark investigation published this afternoon claims Russian athletes competed in the London games despite strong suggestions that the country was running a 'state-supported' doping program. Amid a string of explosive allegations, the 323-page report recommends Russia is declared 'non-compliant' with anti-doping rules, meaning it will be unable to compete in the next Olympic games unless there are significant changes. It also calls for lifetime bans for five Russian middle-distance runners, including Olympic 800m champion Mariya Savinova-Farnosova and bronze medalist Ekaterina Poistogova. Crucially, the report also accuses the Russian government of complicity in the widespread allegations. Releasing the report this afternoon, co-author Dick Pound warned the revelations were simply 'the tip of the iceberg'. The revelations included: Five coaches and fours administrators were so involved in doping that they should receive lifetime bans; The Moscow testing laboratory director Grigory Rodchenko ordered 1,417 doping control samples to be destroyed, three days before investigators arrived on site; The events could not have taken place 'without the explicit or tacit approval of Russian governmental authorities'; Russian Sports Ministry Vitaly Mutko issued direct orders to 'manipulate particular samples'; Agents from Russia's intelligence service, the FSB, infiltrated anti-doping work at the Sochi Olympics; Staff at the Moscow lab thought it was bugged and there were regular visits from an FSB agent; Interpol will now coordinate an investigation into widespread doping in track and field." www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3310332/Athletics-faces-darkest-day-drugs-investigators-publish-bombshell-report-accusing-sport-s-chiefs-extortion-doping-cover-ups.
Doping is a huge problem period regardless of nation. The Olympics, FIFA, and others are corrupt organizations. The NFL with the latest with Dallas is a joke. McGuire and Sosa were a product of their times and weren't really discouraged. The Olympics are dying a slow death anyway. Brazil? Really?
Not that surprising though I had the belief/hope those practices had been cut back, so it's is still pretty shocking, must admit it hits me less than the stories of some child athletes that that were turned into "record breaking machines" before reaching the age of consent.
Maybe they should arrange competitions for those who can use doping freely and those who compete without any doping... Sometimes you wonder how on earth some "clean" athletes can beat by a mile a number of competitors who were caught from using doping...
I'm not surprised by the level of doping. Having mingled some with professional athletes, I saw widesoread use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). Professional cycling is not an anomaly, rather it is the norm for most sports. Even professional snooker is rife. The only surprising thing in this article to me is that for some odd readon Olympic representative Dick Pound doesn't go by Richard as his first name.
Sometimes you wonder what all they do and it´s not always the athlete wanting it. For instance the Juventus football case some 10 years ago or so, the players were injected with "vitamins" although I am sure the players doubted what they were getting but still "had to accept" because they were paid their salary by the injector. At least Baggio seemed amazed about what all they had been giving him through the season...
I am not interested in sport and never watch it. I have seen too many childhoods ruined by parent's obsessions. A great deal of money and time is invested by the family striving to get their child to the top. Very few make it - so all that effort ends in failure = childhood lost. My 6 year old grandson has been taken 'on trial' for training by a soccer team. He was invited by scouts looking for future stars. His parents were wary but say he can continue as long as he is enjoying it. He loves it! I am ,of course, proud that he is so committed but also aware about how intense it may become. I do trust my daughter's judgement, so maybe I am being an old fretful Grandma. Far too much money is involved in 'amateur' sports these days, hence the use of drugs. My son was a top skateboarder in Scotland and he was sponsored by several companies. They made a whack of money and he got 'free' boards, clothing and shoes then got dropped like a hot brick when the next new talent came along. Sporting, it is not.
#5...hahahaha Yeah, I'd choose Richard as well. Recalling the 70's when Olympic women from USSR and China looked like some kind of Frankenstein experiment.
