Alright! What a great post. Best thing I've read in a few years. If I
were still doing the Grote Poll, I would have to move NC State up just for
this post. This Keller kid obviously has what it takes. Well done, my
friend, well done.
Grote
adiRP
----- Original Message -----
From: David Aaron Keller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Track-Fans <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; malmo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, October 09, 2000 2:45 AM
Subject: Re: t-and-f: More Testicular Fortification (with permission)
> Sorry to ruin your post, but I've been trying to get off this e-mail
server
> forever. I've heard the only way is to string together an unbelievable
number
> of obscenities. So here it goes: fuck you you you lobster sucking
shitbag.
> Eat a pile of my steaming shit. You manually masterbate female otters for
> artificial insemination. You all suck donkeys for cash and prizes. Blow
me.
> Sorry if this offends anyone, but eat my shit. So long suckers. Peace. .
.
> I'm outta here. No really, truly I'm sorry.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> K-dogg
>
> Go pack.
>
> P.S. Stanford rules.
>
>
>
>
> On Mar 1, 4:00pm, malmo wrote:
> > Subject: t-and-f: More Testicular Fortification (with permission)
> >
> > Games Olympic People Play
> > Rounding up the usual suspects
> > by Charlie Francis
> >
> > On some levels, it somehow seems a shame to reignite the flame of
scandal so
> > soon after the Olympic flame has been extinguished. Of course, it's not
our
> > nature to bury our heads in the sand, and the only way that the
integrity of
> > the Olympics can be regained is to expose its weaknesses, to shine a
bright,
> > cleansing light on the crud that grows on its belly.
> >
> > Hence this report on Olympic drug scandal, Olympic politics, and Olympic
> > pettiness written by perhaps the world's greatest track coach, Charlie
> > Francis.
> >
> > Read it and you'll have enough dish to be the hit of any locker room
> > conversation.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> > ----------
> >
> > Pulled hamstrings, falls, viruses, upsets, surprise non-qualifiers,
pre-game
> > departures amidst claims of death threats, allegations and accusations!
> >
> > What in the wide world of sports was going on in Sydney?
> >
> > The drug story took center stage early in the games with the revelation
that
> > CJ Hunter, the current World Champion in the Shot Put and husband of
sprint
> > phenom Marion Jones, had previously failed four separate drug tests for
the
> > anabolic steroid nandrolone in various European competitions prior to
the
> > Olympics.
> >
> > The press had been following up rumors to this effect for weeks prior to
the
> > games, but had been met with denials all around. "There are no positive
> > tests being processed," announced the U.S.A.T.F., America's track
governing
> > body in response to reporter queries. "Bullshit," said Hunter/Jones
agent
> > Charlie Wells in response.
> >
> > The aforementioned stuff hit the fan shortly afterward when the
> > International Amateur Athletics Federation's (IAAF) Chief Doping
Officer,
> > Arne Ljungqvist, made CJ's positive tests official. The USATF, who had
said
> > no positive tests were being processed, was caught in a blatant lie and
> > scrambled for cover behind Clintonesque legalisms. They pointed to a
> > definition of "positive" [drug tests] that was more narrow than the
> > President's definition of "sex."
> >
> > The IAAF then added fuel to the fire of scandal by announcing that there
> > were 15 more American positives that the USATF had covered up.
(Actually,
> > the press has been following up on eight cases for the year 2000, 17 for
the
> > year 1999, and more from 98, 97, and 96.)
> >
> > A press conference was hastily arranged by the Hunter/Jones camp to try
to
> > limit the damages and allow Marion to go on with her quest for gold in
> > peace. Enter Johnny Cochran of OJ Simpson fame. Cochran had previously
> > represented Jones (successfully) in 1992 during a random drug testing
> > controversy.
> >
> > CJ Hunter then issued a tearful pro-forma denial. He had reason to be
> > tearful, for while the test results were no surprise, their release to
the
> > public outside the USATF's control certainly was. He would ordinarily
have
> > expected the positive tests to go away as he would have known that USATF
> > doping panels have been routinely dismissing nandrolone and Testosterone
> > positives out of hand, claiming them to be scientifically insupportable.
> >
> > Without the list of names, the IAAF would have been powerless to
overturn an
> > USATF decision, even though they routinely did it elsewhere.
> >
> > The press conference achieved one of its two objectives by isolating
Marion
> > >from the damage, but failed on the other. Hunter was vilified and
ridiculed,
> > "How Could He Do This To Her?" cried one American paper. "Beauty and the
> > Beast" cried another. His "iron supplement defense" was laughed at,
although
> > not with the side-splitting hilarity that greeted American sprinter
Dennis
> > Mitchell's "sex and beer defense."
> >
> > Hunter was condemned in the court of public opinion and branded a cheat
> > without a hearing. In true Johnny Cochran style, the press conference
ended
> > with CJ saying: "I don't know what happened, but I'm going to find out."
An
> > investigation by Hunter and his associates as to how the USATF veil of
> > secrecy was lifted will reveal something other than a triumph of
> > investigative journalism. After all, the press had been following up on
> > numerous cases, including a positive test for Testosterone on one
prominent
> > female competitor. Why then was Hunter exposed and no one else?
> >
> > The answer, as usual in this sport, lies deeper and is more unpleasant
and
> > centers on a clandestine phone campaign launched by a member of a rival
> > thrower's entourage. This same person also had a much earlier
relationship
> > with Marion Jones and the failure to profit from her current success may
> > have been further motivation.
> >
> > Additionally, US Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey's earlier attacks on the
IAAF's
> > doping control program made the organization anxious to retaliate when
an
> > opportunity arose. Perhaps it's not coincidental that Britain, the
IAAF's
> > most vocal critic, had its track team decimated by a series of leaked
> > positive drug test results against its top athletes.
> >
> > IAAF minions began leaking confidential lab results on Hunter to the
media
> > and when reaction to the news seemed favorable, ever-cautious Arne
> > Ljungqvist waded in.
> >
> > The soap opera continued with the United States Olympic Committee,
anxious
> > to distance itself from the USATF, sent out Anita de Franz to criticize
the
> > USATF's "lack of transparency" in its testing process.
> >
> > The International Olympic Committee (IOC), ever vindictive, and recently
> > stung by having it's leader Juan Antonio Samaranch dragged in front of
the
> > US Congress over the Salt Lake City Olympic bribery scandal, decided
that
> > this was the perfect time to stick in the knife by introducing the whiff
of
> > additional scandal.
> >
> > Prince Alexandre de Merode, the head of the IOC medical commission,
> > announced that five Americans "who may have been gold medalists" in the
1988
> > Seoul Olympic had failed drug tests at the 1988 US Olympic trials and
that
> > US authorities had covered them up.
> >
> > One IOC member, a former medalist in the Winter Olympics, said "There
> > appears to be one rule for the Americans and another for everyone else."
> >
> > An International media drug frenzy ensued (though NBC remained silent on
> > everything but Hunter) where drug allegations past and present were
> > addressed. During an interview conducted from a beach in Malta, Ben
Johnson,
> > who had had his gold medal stripped in those same 1988 Olympics,
demanded
> > that the IOC make amends. "Give me my gold medal back!" he shouted.
> >
> > Back in Australia, the Aussies took offense at the allegation that drugs
had
> > been involved in the swimming events of the 2000 Olympics. "Ridiculous!"
> > screamed the headline in an Australian Tabloid referring to doping at
the
> > pool.
> >
> > American women swimming joined the fray with a venomous attack on their
> > multi-gold medalist rival from Holland. Hey! Why not? It worked with
> > Michelle Smith, didn't it? Their attack was short-circuited when a US
Swim
> > coach admitted that the top American women hadn't been random tested in
two
> > years, and as such, had no right to their indignation.
> >
> > Events were now getting out of hand and concern must have been replacing
> > revenge as a motivator at the IOC. After all, it didn't take a genius to
> > figure out that the story of the 1988 positives would inevitably lead to
> > such questions as, "What did you know and when did you know it? Didn't
this
> > testing outrage bother you during the 12 years before congressional
> > hearings? How did these same Americans pass the test in Seoul - or did
they?
> > (The additional unnamed positives from the 1984, 1988, and 1996 Olympics
> > would fuel speculation.)
> >
> > How would NBC, the NBA, and the NHL - where some of these athletes now
> > play - react to such a severe blow to their respective products? With so
> > much at stake, could they even permit the possibility that it would come
to
> > light?
> >
> > The IOC sources began to backpedal. The story being circulated to the
media
> > that 3 of the Americans who tested positive in 1988 in Seoul accounted
for 5
> > gold medals was adjusted downward to become 2 athletes who had won 3
gold
> > medals. Perhaps one of the Olympic champions was too important to the
> > Olympic movement to be sacrificed with the others. (The original story,
> > complete with all the names, was submitted to one of America's foremost
> > newspapers in 1989 and even cited sources from the lab, but was killed
by
> > the editorial board.)
> >
> > Dick Pound, the Executive Vice President of the IOC shifted the focus
back
> > to the safer ground of the unfortunate CJ Hunter. Pound ridiculed his
iron
> > supplement defense saying, "He'd be a rusty man by now," and Hunter's
> > coaching credentials were revoked. This was an about-face for the IOC,
which
> > had long maintained that doping infractions outside the Olympics were
not
> > their problem. Hunter's positives occurred in IAAF competitions and he
> > wasn't even entered in the Olympic games.
> >
> > In the Byzantine world of the IOC, there's always an angle. By hammering
> > Hunter - someone who'd already been named - they appeared to be tough on
the
> > USA, without the unpleasantness that would surely follow if an American
> > athlete tested positive in the games themselves.
> >
> > Anyway, as the dust settled, the IOC returned to what it does best -
> > rounding up a few positives and defending the sanctity of the Olympic
ethos
> > >from the threat posed by an 16-year-old, 80-pound Romanian Gymnast.
> >
> > Though the rapidly proliferating drug scene has punted performance
standards
> > clear out of sight; the IOC will put a positive spin on positive tests
to
> > convince you that they're winning the war against drugs in sport. Don't
> > believe it!
> >
> > If drug testing were truly effective, you would have seen between 2,300
and
> > 6,100 positive tests in Sydney.
> >
> > How can I make such a statement? Let's do the math. The Olympics had
> > approximately 11,000 competitors, with about seventy percent or 7,700
> > competitors in sports influenced by power and endurance related drugs.
> >
> > At the Dubin Inquiry, I testified that the general consensus was that 80
> > percent of the track and field athletes used drugs at the Olympic level.
> > This was disputed by John Holt, the General Secretary of the IAAF who
> > claimed that only 30 to 40 percent used drugs. A similar range of
figures
> > can be expected over the other afflicted sports.
> >
> > Using Holt's figures, that means there were between 2,300 and 6,100 drug
> > users in the games.
> >
> > It makes singling out CJ Hunter all the more preposterous.
> >
> >-- End of excerpt from malmo
>
>
>
> --
> David Aaron Keller
>
