phelps

hey, the judge's decision came after a 4 and a half-year trial, with many research and studies being conducted to find proofs about his innocence or not... it's not that the judge woke up 2 mornings ago and said: "oh, what? today I'm gonna say this man is innocent and that other one is guilty"... it's not the judge's fault if the German lab and a German judge tried every trick and said false things about the samples (and that's been established well beyond any reasonable doubt, with the samples' carriers testifying the illegal stop at the Border, the fact that they had to leave the samples without any surveillance for a few hours -in order for the people who had to manipulate the samples to play their part- and all the remaining illegal procedures)... and it's not the judge's fault also if WA and WADA tried to break all the Italian law procedures to get a couple of biased doctors testifying false and ludicrous interpretations of the internationally recognized data about the natural human values of urine chemical and biological structure... and in the liberal democracy, a trial court is the only institution authorized to declare people innocent or guilty... here you're right... but still, the law is quite clear...once you've served your sentence (and Schwazer did it), you can get back to your life and do whatever you want (possibly without breaking any law anymore)... there's no way people can accept what happened 5 years ago, building a plot like that to exclude someone from sports competition without a reason is a lot worse than finding an athlete cheating... I used to be a Schwazer fan, then I became his toughest opponent when he was caught... but now, I'm supporting him in any way to make justice...and the only justice in this case is to destroy WA and WADA for what they did to him (and most likely to other athletes who haven't been brave and determined enough to go on with their fight)... I've never been a WADA fan, but with their behaviour in the last few years (this case, but also the full coverage they granted to GBR and USA, to the Spaniards of the Operacion Puerto and the punishment which is a no punishment to Russia...just to name the biggest scandals, but there are others of course) made it clear to me that they are the worst enemy of the sports, more than labs and athletes cheating all day long, even more than the AIBA and IWF of this world... that's why this time I'm ready to put my principles aside... therefore, Schwazer coming back and winning in style the last 50km race walk in the history of the sport (once again, thanks WA and IOC for this stupid decision) is the perfect punishment for WA and WADA...seeing all of their machinations being cancelled like that, priceless...

he was indeed...and in fact he was caught before London 2012 (probably he was already cheating in 2010 and 2011, but not before...and the 7000* re-test of his samples of Beijing 2008 are there to show that at that time he was clean and still dominating the 50km race), he admitted his fault** (even in the trial court, not only in the sports process) and he accepted his 4-year suspension... and it's just because in the first process (after he was caught in 2012) he did reveal all the mafia behind the race walking (the Russian "owner" of that world, Viktor Chegin, his followers -the Damilano family and their Chinese armada, dr. Fischetto as the man in charge for IAAF to perform the doping tests and his full coverage granted to all those Chegin said he wanted to be covered -not only Russians and Chinese), that he was targeted once he came back stronger than ever after his ban (in the last process mails sent to Schwazer asking him to keep a low profile and not even try to win a medal in any race by more than one IAAF and Italian NF officials have been put among the acts)... *just to say a high number, not that they really performed 7000 new tests...of course (before some smart user comes here to say: "hey, how do you know how many tests have been done?" )... **and he explained that he started his doping program because he wanted to double-up the 20km with the 50km... he actually felt that he didn't need any help from the outside to win the 50km, but at the same time he didn't have any chance to shine in the 20km because he hasn't a natural speed peak nor a change of pace that are absolutely becessary to win international medals in that discipline... he just became too ambitious, greedy and he paid a big prize for that...but it doesn't mean that he deserved what happened 5 years ago...

because of what he said about Schwazer in the last 5 years... he's only en envious poor man...a loser if there's one in this world...

I think he's going to retire at the end of the season...that's why he went down like that...as a farewell...

it's not unprecedented... however, what FIS thought yesterday before taking this decision is irrelevant...today's results (and all of the previous days' too) are there to show the great job of the snow crew, by far the MVP of the championships (because if we look at the organizers choosing the slopes and at FIS making the course design for the speed events and that farce named parallel slalom...well, they have been the true disaster of these 2 weeks)...

as if there have been many, so far...

in Oberstdorf, they should hire the Cortina snow crew... despite those temperatures, they've been able to keep the tracks working perfectly (and yesterday's top time in the 2nd run by Liensberger and today's Vinatzer's 2nd time in the 1st run with no.17 are there to show that, before someone is going to say something)...

yessss! Vinatzer!

there's nothing great in having such an idiot walking around...

watching the game right now... wonderful location (it's hole #18 of the local golf course, with the clubhouse acting as the main stand for the few invited spectators/press on site)...

Italy are going to Budapest with almost a full squad (despite the chances to qualify somebody are very slim, maybe just Abraham Conyedo in the men's Freestyle -97kg class)... what's interesting, we are launching at senior level our (very) young hope Simone Piroddu in the men's Freestyle -57kg class, which is very unusual for us... this is the full list of our wrestlers flying to Hungary next month: women's wrestling Carmen Di Dio (-53kg) Aurora Russo (-57kg) Sara Dacol (-62kg) Dalma Caneva (-68kg) Eleni Pjollaj (-76kg) men's Freestyle Simone Vincenzo Piroddu (-57kg) Simone Iannattoni (-86kg) Abraham Conyedo (-97kg) men's Greco-Roman Jacopo Sandron (-60kg) Ruben Marvice (-67kg) Luca Dariozzi (-77kg) Fabio Parisi (-87kg) Nikoloz Kakhelashvili (-97kg) Luca Godino (-130kg)

Larissa Iapichino (Fiona May's daughter) strikes again! At the Italian indoor Nationals, earlier today she jumped 6.91m long, new senior Italian indoor record (tied with her mom), new World Limit in 2021, qualifying standard for Tokyo 2020 also for the Italian federation (we usually have higher standards than the WA qualifying marks) and above all, new Junior (U20) World Record, improving Heike Drechsler 6.88m from 1983... all this, at the age of 18 (she turns 19 next July)...

they do really fear to be sued by the athletes not making the cut if they don't give them theoretical chances to qualify... actually, they fear many probable protests in all the disciplines using rankings when not stated at the beginning of the qualifying process... if the Games go on, it's gonna be fun...there will be a lot complaints from many sides and many sports by all those who miss out on qualification...

not so unexpected... De Aliprandini was our secret weapon, we've been good at keeping him hidden enough until today... jokes, aside...obviously he wasn't among the favourites today, but he has shown more than once that on a given day he's capable of being a top GS specialist... unfortunately for him, he was never capable of doing it for 2 consecutive runs in the same day...but today finally it was the good one, he kept his heart rate at a reasonable level between the 2 runs and eventually got the podium he was only close to more than once in the last few seasons... luckily, it happened at the home worlds (and even more after his teammates have summed up epic fails in series so far)... p.s this is the 1st ever Silver medal in the men's GS for Italy (after 4 Gold and 3 Bronze medals)...

and I want Britons to be cancelled, instead... you should stop trolling around... this is a sport forum, made mainly of true sport lovers who want the Games to go on...so, it really looks that this is not the right place for you...

I didn't expect anything different... they even tried to produce false studies by some improbable biased (corrupted) doctors to support their plot... All WADA people, from their boss to the last bathroom cleaner, must be sent in jail for the rest of their life... they are just a criminal organization, worse than the worst mafia gangs around the world...

Justice has been done! (partially, there are things that will never be back in any case)... Alex Schwazer has been finally sentenced NOT GUILTY of doping in 2016, as the urine samples used to frame him were clearly manipulated by the people supposed to preserve the integrity of the sport... right now, news are only in Italian...but I think soon they'll hit the headlines also outside our Country... https://www.repubblica.it/sport/vari/2021/02/18/news/atletica_il_tribunale_di_bolzano_assolve_schwazer_nel_2016_non_ci_fu_doping_-288154560/?ref=RHTP-BH-I286519397-P1-S3-T1 https://www.corriere.it/sport/21_febbraio_18/schwazer-doping-gip-accoglie-richiesta-archiviazione-caso-chiuso-non-ci-sara-procedimento-penale-7850db80-71e5-11eb-893c-20b27ab3b588.shtml

betrayed...I just feel betrayed...

a 4th place, rather...

this is a well known (and old) sad and controversial story (not to say directly a farce)... we've discussed about that quite a lot at the time of the last world champs and of the following months (when all the script happened)...

why do you say that? I didn't check the online player, but Eurosport2 was live from 9.50 to 11.30 for the first run (they were live until no.50 more or less, before switching to the player online only)... and now they're live on Eurosport1 since the beginning of the 2nd run...

to end the perfect day, just look at the photo in the post #408... keep in mind that the time keeper had Bassino and Liensberger tied...

so, we (Italians) can call ourselves the lucky side in this case... our Eurosport commentators are by far the best I've ever listened to...and I have switched in the past 30 years or so from different Italian TV networks (public and private) to the German public TV, from the German Eurosport crew to the British Eurosport crew and occasionally also the Austrian ORF, the Swiss (Italian speaking) TV and the French guys on L'Equipe21 (not counting Czech and Slovak public networks, since I don't understand almost anything except for the numbers and very few words)... long live Dario Puppo and Max Ambesi...

no way... let's start the party!

and congrats to Faivre...he deserves today's gold...he's been basically the only one having decent runs also on the blue course...well done...