Michelle Smith Medals

sorry! hit that by mistake.
stomach complaint during that race, so she probably wasnt running at her best anyway on the day.
 
blueband said:
sorry! hit that by mistake.
stomach complaint during that race, so she probably wasnt running at her best anyway on the day.
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Not during the 1993 WCs where the Chinese filled the 1st 3 spots. It was at the 1996 Olympics that she had the stomach problems I think.
 

There is no proof or evidence that Michelle Smith engaged in anything illegal as part of her preparations for the 1996 Olympics. There is an information vacuum as to how she was transformed from the swimmer she was in 1992 to the one she was in 1996. In the absence of any plausible explanation to account for that dramatic and unprecedented rate of improvement, it is human nature to speculate. And when, in that 4 year period, she was being coached by Erik De Bruin who was, at best, equivocal about the use of performance enhancing drugs, that speculation centres on the basis for her rate of improvement.

As far as I can remember, no explanation was ever offered that was accepted by other competitors, coaches, sports scientists, etc. For someone with her level of achievement and PBs, in 1992, to improve dramatically to be not just an Olympic finalist, but dominant gold medallist, is unprecedented. To do so at a stage of life when she should be past her peak (and slowing down) is also unprecedented.

For Erik de Bruin to have transformed a good international competitor to an Olympic champion is remarkable. That should make him one of the most sought-after coaches in the world. To my knowledge, he is not actively involved, in any capacity, as a swimming coach.
 
DB74 said:
Not during the 1993 WCs where the Chinese filled the 1st 3 spots. It was at the 1996 Olympics that she had the stomach problems I think.
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The 3000m in 1993 WC was incredible. Sonia was the outright favourite and was beaten by 3 relatively unknown Chinese ladies who posted world record times. They rarely raced outside China and the Chinese authorities said they were testing them regularly but found nothing -they rarely if ever found Chinese drug-takers but were quick to find and publicise the foreign athletes!
Felt bad for Sonia at the time but she never really complained.
 
I think Lance was the best cyclist in the world at that time. He may have been taking EPO/Steroids but so was everyone else (apparently).

So they kinda cancelled each other out.
 
Birroc said:
Yeah that was the problem -they were all doing it.
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Which means they're taking the title from one cheat and giving it to another... whoop dee doo!

For all we know the best "clean" cyclist in the world is some guy who no-one has ever heard of, who's stuck in the middle of the peloton somewhere...
 
I hope Paul kimmage and David Walsh are drinking champagne tonight. They are a credit to their profession.
 
Sunny said:
I hope Paul kimmage and David Walsh are drinking champagne tonight. They are a credit to their profession.
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Absolutely agree.

They both stuck to their guns when the litigious Armstrong machine was ranged against them.
 
mandelbrot said:
Which means they're taking the title from one cheat and giving it to another... whoop dee doo!

For all we know the best "clean" cyclist in the world is some guy who no-one has ever heard of, who's stuck in the middle of the peloton somewhere...
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They won't award the title to anyone else. It's just going to be left vacant apparently.
 
The Sunday Times had an interesting article on it yesterday. They gave the top 5 finishers from each of the 7 tour de france titles that Armstrong won and most of them had a history of drug taking.
What's worrying is that Armstrong has been tested 500 times and never tested positive. I't hard to see how the sport has any credibility.

I was surprised to read the David Walsh was asking questions as far back as 1999.
 
Shawady said:
I was surprised to read the David Walsh was asking questions as far back as 1999.
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In 1998, the year the Tour was started in Ireland, a member of the Festina team was caught with a supply of performance enhancing drugs. After all of that had been processed, there was an expectation that the 1999 Tour would be slower than in previous years, i.e. all the riders would be 'clean'.

In 1999 the Tour was won by Armstrong in a time faster than in 1998. Many journalists accounted this improvement to better bikes, better road surfaces. David Walsh, and others, did not.

Lance Armstrong did not act alone. There are others who should be held to account for their actions, or inactions, in enabling and facilitating Armstrong's success.

It is naive to assert that the absence of a postive test for drugs means an athlete is clean. The science and motives for concealing cheating will always be ahead of those seeking to expose it.
 
TarfHead said:
It is naive to assert that the absence of a postive test for drugs means an athlete is clean. The science and motives for concealing cheating will always be ahead of those seeking to expose it.
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Indeed. Marion Jones never failed a drugs test in her entire career
 
i suppose its a very easy temptation because when you have given so many years of your life to the sport training and everything, that when you see it slipping away you get desperate. It makes you think about all the years that were given by other competitors and no medal at the end of it all. I dont think children should not be encouraged into ultra competitive sports, just sports for well being and fitness. I think it would have been better for michelle if she had been caught straight away like ben johnson, maybe she is afraid of letting down her family. The mistake she made was winning 4 medals, if she had just went for one she would probably have gotten away with it and a blind eye would have been turned
 
joe sod said:
... I think it would have been better for michelle if she had been caught straight away like ben johnson ...
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Caught at what precisely?
joe sod said:
... maybe she is afraid of letting down her family. The mistake she made was winning 4 medals, if she had just went for one she would probably have gotten away with it and a blind eye would have been turned
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She would have got away with what and to what would a blind eye have been turned, so to speak?

In 1998, 2 years after the Olympics, she was banned for 4 years for tampering with a urine sample by allegedly introducing whiskey into it.
 
I just don't know how you can tamper with a urine sample - they stand there and watch you go!
 
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