Doping Cases and Bans 2020 Thread

[mrv86 3,265]

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

Absolutely, investigate everything that's not done on skates, immediately!  

Like they didn't now it before Rio... in an age when every nude picture by celebreties is leaked, and every conspiration document is revealed by "hacktivists"

[phelps 8,695]

1 hour ago, LDOG said:

I'm convinced every summer olympics' top 10 medaling nation (+Norway for WOG) has similar secret programs. 

I can tell you for sure Italy hasn't...anymore...

 

we had such kind of program until halfway through the Nineties, when Gianni Petrucci took over as our NOC President (January 1999, but he was operating since mid 1998, after the end of the Olympic cycle with Nagano 1998 as the finish line)...

 

since then, we lost basically more than 80% of our funding system (thank you, mr. Tremonti and mr. Berlusconi for that) and moreover Petrucci is very close to the Vatican City and the old Democratic Christian party, which led him to a different philosophy than his predecessor...

 

in fact, after the high of Lillehammer 1994 (WOG) and Atlanta 1996 (SOG), we started our decline, losing medals Games after Games (especially in those 2/3 traditional disciplines where doping counts more than talent, Cycling -we almost disappeared from the Track scene until the raise of Elia Viviani in the last 8/10 years...and we're not even close to the powerhouse we once were- Flatwater Canoeing and Athletics)...

 

and right now, we're definitely too poor to even think about such kind of program...tbh, in the next 5 or 10 years I expect Italy to almost disappear from the sports map, except maybe for 2 or 3 sports that still have a lot of boys and girls practicing and a national federation that somehow works well (Fencing, Swimming, Judo...maybe Shooting, but in this case we don't have a good number of youngsters, just a good "school" in shotgun shooting)...

[phelps 8,695]

52 minutes ago, dcro said:

Yeah, exact same nations would be top 10 with or wirhout any secret programs. Medals and economy go hand in hand.

GBR at Atlanta 1996 = 1 Gold Medal...

 

so, I'm not so sure they can get the same glorious results they started to record since Beijing 2008 without massive "help"...

 

other Nations...well, some of them are somehow truly "regular" in their performance...so, I guess those Countries will always shine in any case, but some others...

[Monzanator 5,112]

2 minutes ago, phelps said:

GBR at Atlanta 1996 = 1 Gold Medal...

 

so, I'm not so sure they can get the same glorious results they started to record since Beijing 2008 without massive "help"...

 

other Nations...well, some of them are somehow truly "regular" in their performance...so, I guess those Countries will always shine in any case, but some others...

 

Yeah, Steve Redgrave & his streak.

 

However that 1996 spanking made GB transfer the lottery funding into sports thereafter. It's funny they didn't do it before. Probably Thatcher's strict fiscal policy had something to do with it but someone more familiar with the topic could elaborate. Poland used national lottery money to fund sports even during the communist era.

[Olympian1010 8,297]

1 hour ago, dcro said:

Yeah, exact same nations would be top 10 with or wirhout any secret programs. Medals and economy go hand in hand.

That’s the most beautiful thing about Athletics, it often breaks that rule. Though now we’re just seeing the richer nations buy better athletes from poorer ones, so...

[phelps 8,695]

1 hour ago, Monzanator said:

 

Yeah, Steve Redgrave & his streak.

 

However that 1996 spanking made GB transfer the lottery funding into sports thereafter. It's funny they didn't do it before. Probably Thatcher's strict fiscal policy had something to do with it but someone more familiar with the topic could elaborate. Poland used national lottery money to fund sports even during the communist era.

we used to do it until the mid Nineties...

 

then mr. Berlusconi became the Prime Minister and mr. Tremonti his Financial Minister...and they started to open up the betting system in Italy and invented our current main lottery, named Superenalotto, which give away a lot of money and basically killed the good old Totocalcio, which was the only true National betting game before that and used to give our NOC a lot of funding (it was about 35% going to the weekely prize money, 20% to the NOC and the rest to the government as a tax)...

the new games instead are about 60% to the prize money and the rest to the government, with no more funding for any other activity...

so, our golden age of sports was soon over...

now it's up to a pre-determined anmount of money given directly by the government to the NOC and the many small local sponsorships that every federation can find...

[Olympian1010 8,297]

I’m pretty conflicted about this whole scandal. I’m going to continue educating myself before really coming to an opinion.

[LDOG 2,477]

Everyone that wins a lot in: athletics, swimming, cycling, Weightlifting, Canoeing or rowing is very suspicious to me. Sorry.

[Olympian1010 8,297]

Here’s my biggest take away from the reporting I’ve seen: UK Sport asked WADA to clarify if what they wanted to do was legal, WADA said it was legal. Now, they may have not been fully honest to WADA, but WADA said the substance in question was legal under it’s laws, so...

 

There are clearly multiple ethics issues here, as well as a debate around the substance in question. Plus it continues the argument about technology/science in sports, and the disparity between rich and poor countries. 

Let’s not pretend that every country isn’t developing dietary, medical, and technological advantages for their athletes though.

 

I am definitely disgusted by the way UK Sport handled this, and that WADA never really seemed to investigate the issue further after London 2012. This makes me question WADA even further, as yet another scandal has undermined their ability to keep sport clean. I am definitely worried about the health of athletes who tried this substance. This only adds to the compounding issue of athlete abuse around the world. Plus, it sets a dangerous precedent for countries to continue to research into questionable methods of helping their athletes gain an edge.

[mrv86 3,265]

7 hours ago, dcro said:

Yeah, exact same nations would be top 10 with or wirhout any secret programs. Medals and economy go hand in hand.

That doesn't mean it's fair for the other competitors.

 

For me, it's no so much as the amount of medals, but the deliberate attempts to cheat and find "legal" means to do so (Norway with their asthma medication is another example), depriving the world of a honest competition.

 

I know cheating has always existed and will continue to do so; but isn't WADA's legal battle against Russia precisely the State's cover up of cheating?