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I have put together a series of addresses, that, being the tip of the mountain, for your reading edification and to realize that all of this is the initial look at the condition of sport in the world. If it wasn’t for the German television’s looking into what they had suspected from top to bottom last year, they – the Russians – would still be out there doing business as usual.
Have a good read and I hope all of this will give you a good feeling for the depth and breadth of this doping monster.
WADA Report here.
This report is 323 pages and it will shock you as to the scope of it’s underworld type dealings. Remember MONEY is the root of all evil!
CBC’s The National here.
TheLipTV here.
RUSADA Press Conference here.
WADA Talks with David Howman here.
CNN Report here.
Russian Sports Minister here.
Biathlon Executive and Son Involved in Doping Investigation w/ Dr. Michele Ferrari here.
Talk to you soon.
December 3rd, 2015 at 3:20 am
Yeah, it’s really funny, that you focus on Russians not on US Doping Machine Monster.
Let me remind you some names
Marion Jones
Lance Armsstrong
Tyson Gay
want more Monsters?
December 3rd, 2015 at 10:27 am
Kamil–it is apparent that you haven’t taken the time to read any of the postings I put up, especially the first one which is the report of the investigation of the systematic program under the guise of the Russian track and field program for the years it has been doping it’s athletes.
I did not write these reports! I just am carrying them forward for people like your who need to realize the extent and depth of what the Russians are doing. Also, I do not write the rules and I don’t give out the penalties, but I did work in two international programs with clean athletes for over 20 yrs—I am proud of this as are these athletes proud of what they accomplished, but it could have been so much more if xc skiing had been a clean sport.
Do you realize for every doped Russian that takes a podium, an undoped athlete is losing that position, medal or podium for the rest of their lives.
If the penalty for doping was a life time sanction—doping would be a very short lived way of doing sport.
December 3rd, 2015 at 12:30 pm
Doping isn’t black and white/dirty or clean. There is a huge grey zone in which many athletes operate. The fact that Russia hasn’t dominated XC skiing even with an apparent state-sponsored program should be reason to cast a much wider net of suspicion across many programs.
How would you treat the Torino-8? High hematocrit doesn’t necessarily mean doping but all these athletes were dehydrated that day? Would you suspend them temporarily, life-time sanction or business as usual? What about skiers who disappear from the World Cup circuit but then show up at premier events in epic condition?
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SPORT/02/10/olympic.doping/
The FIS named the eight skiers as German Evi Sachenbacher Stehle, Sean Crooks (Canada), Sergey Dalidovich (Belarus), Jean Marc Gaillard (France), Alexsandr Latzukin (Belarus), Natalia Matveeva (Russia), Kikkan Randall (U.S.) and Leif Zimmermann (U.S.).
The tests did not prove any wrongdoing had taken place, as there are numerous potential causes for elevated levels of hemoglobin, the red blood cell that increases stamina.
One possible explanation is dehydration, but other athletes have used raised blood cell levels — through such strategies as synthetic hemoglobin or blood transfusions — as a means of increasing oxygen levels in the blood to achieving better endurance.
The FIS was quick to point out the suspensions were meant purely to protect the health of the athletes involved and was not a punishment.
December 3rd, 2015 at 5:29 pm
sporto1—whatever that is—-you answered your own query—they had not doped and their sanction fit the situation—and they could not race that day. WADA protected the HONEST athletes as they should for that day.
Test positive for your A sample and then test positive again with your B sample— and your crime will mean you have to do the time. And I want that to be a life time sanction—-the athlete that lost this place if there wasn’t detection, loses it for a lifetime. Think how lucky Beckie Scott was in 2002 in Salt Lake.
I can tell you every positive situation but one, I have read about or seen posted—the accused claim they are innocent—they lie. The only skier that fessed up was the Austrian Durr in Sochi, that I have read about.
It is interesting that all you people that write in are writing in support of the doppers and really don’t take a position in support of the honest athletes.
December 3rd, 2015 at 5:38 pm
We are not supporting dopers, we just want to see people like yourself being consistent with your anti-doping rants. You only assume that the Russians are doping. Who are the ‘honest athletes,’ in your opinion? Ones that don’t test positive? Ones from certain areas of the globe? Ones from certain sports? Who?
December 3rd, 2015 at 6:40 pm
Marty – the underlying issue is that it’s exceedingly difficult to separate the ‘clean’ from the ‘dirty’. That’s the classic ‘I never tested positive’ defence from Lance. In-competition testing catches the stupid – you don’t intentionally show up at an event still ‘glowing’. As such, frequent out-of-competition testing and ongoing biological passports are required to distinguish what is natural vs. enhanced within a given athlete. Problem is, it costs mega-$$ and is a logistical nightmare, especially for a fringe sport like XC skiing.
I don’t remotely support doping but suggesting North American skiers/athletes = clean and Russian = dirty is disingenuous finger-pointing and covers up the rot that persists in any sport that has money involved … which is all of them.
Athletes, coaches, organizers and federations all have a role to play – pointing at certain countries while ignoring others is a farce. The Finnish program was world-dominant until it was dismantled – they’re still rebuilding. Could you not pick out a few other programs that seem suspicious given their domination? Or is it just ‘training’ and ‘fast skis’ that no-one else can match on a consistent basis?
December 3rd, 2015 at 7:09 pm
Sporto1, you are right on. Look at the Germans and Italians. They were super tough not too long ago. Now they are stuck in the doldrums. Sure, there will be individuals, like Pellegrino for Italy or the occasional bomber results from guys like Tscharnke and Dotzler for the Germans, but not en masse, like the Germans had in the late 90’s and early 2000’s or the Italians from the mid to late 80’s up to Torino. Remember how Maurilio Dezolt won medals into his 40’s? Very much like Harri Kirvesniemi did for the Finns until he was busted (along with the entire Finnish team in Lahti 2001) and like Bjoerndalen is doing in biathlon right now.
December 4th, 2015 at 3:29 pm
I am dumbfounded by these comments. Maybe someone could explain to me how a thorough investigation of Russia’s demonstrable systematic doping regime is the functional equivalent of ignoring suspected doping violations. This is absurd. One can both believe Russia sport needs to be thoroughly investigated and also believe – once presented with demonstrable evidence of cheating – that other individuals and even national federations should be held accountable as well.
Marty did not make a single statement indicating he wanted to go soft on others. It seems to me – he is just saying – given the voluminous evidence of systematic doping in Russia — other sports besides track and field need to be investigated too. This is particularly true in light of the statements of one of the whistleblowers that she was told her doping doctor was too busy because he was working with other athletes including the cross-country skiers.
I am quite confident Mr. SportO that if concrete evidence of systematic doping in the Italian, German, Canadian or American ski federations was presented Mr. Hall would be equally aggressive in demanding accountability.
What is the alternative?
December 4th, 2015 at 4:13 pm
You want to be burned on this website as well, Mr. Galanes? You still don’t get it, do you? “Concrete evidence?” What kind of evidence do you need, exactly? I bet you were one of those people that thought Lance Armstrong was clean, right?
The Russian ski and biathlon teams have primarily been led by foreign coaches in the last 6 seasons or so: Isable Knauthe a German, who also coached the Swiss when Cologna won his first tour de ski and his first Olympic gold medal, coached Legkov and Chernousov to Olympic medals in Sochi. She, along with Reto Burgermeister (a former Swiss world cup racer and world cup medalist) have done great work with the Russians, and continue to coach top skiers like Ustyugov, Belov, Volzhentsev and Retivykh. Legkov has since moved to train under the guidance of Markus Cramer (a German, who also worked with Cologna and the Swiss, and the German development team with Jochen Behle). Chernousov (married Selina Gasparin, a Swiss Biathlon Olympic medalist last year) has worked with Vegard Bitnes, a Norwegian who also coached in clubs in Norway and later the Swiss biathletes like Gasparin and her two younger sisters.
The Russian biathlon team worked with a German, Wolfgang Pichler for a few years and got some great results, including a Sochi gold in the men’s relay. Now the National team is under another German, one of the top biathletes of all time, Ricco Gross.
The alternative, Mr. Galanes, is that if you and Mr. Hall and others want to seriously combat doping, you are gonna have to go against all medal winners, from all countries. That’s for starters. Then you are gonna have to ask yourself, if the Russians are systematically doping, and they get optimal training and have hordes of top talented athletes, and are still not dominating or even winning regularly, what does that tell you? Did you even read any of the above links? Are you so naive to think that the Russians are the only ones doping? If we take the top professional club leagues in the States along with Olympic sports such as Track and Field and Swimming, then I guarantee you that you will find the US is doping just as much, if not more than other countries, even Russia. It may not be government driven, but it’s doping nonetheless. Plus, since it is so widespread, you would think that the government would know at least something about it right? Yet they haven’t done anything. Remember in 2005, when a bunch of those roided baseball players went under oath? Nothing really happened after that. Why? Everyone disregarded the Mitchell report (very similar to the Lancer Armstrong and Russian doping reports) and Jose Canseco (say what you will about him, but he was a whistleblower himself) was shunned for breaking the omertà silence. If you can’t find evidence through mainstream American media, then you have to search for it yourself, which I know you and Marty won’t.
December 4th, 2015 at 9:38 pm
Oh XCskeir22 let me get some ice before I go much further. I am feeling blistered already. I agree there is likely lots of doping going on. And no I never believed Lance was clean. You are reading between lines that simple do not exist. I am as cynical as anyone. I suspect positive tests have been covered up in many settings including in this country. But I am not prepared to agree that open doping is a solution. For now – we have doping rules. I wish sport was better at catching cheaters. I acknowledge sport likely catches only the dumb ones.
Nonetheless, when presented with an opportunity because of a whistleblower to catch more — I am in favor of an aggressive investigation. Are you suggesting that since we can’t catch everyone than we should just let Russia off the hook?
I absolutely agree the use of PEDs is rampant in this country. I suspect you can find them in most any cross-fit gym. I think it is unlikely, however, that individuals at USADA are presently taking bribes to hide positive tests. And If there is some evidence that this is occurring I would love to see it publicized. (who knows what’s going on in american professional sports like football and baseball. they are surely not serious about doping and they have collective bargaining agreements to deal with it.)
I personally do not have at my disposal a drug testing lab nor the authority to collect urine or blood samples. So for now – I will leave that to the proper authorities. I do not have any personal relationships that would lead me to evidence of doping. And I unfortunately have a job – so no you are right I will not personally be investigating your world wide allegations of doping. You seem to have a lot of information – have you consider applying for a job with USADA or perhaps getting in touch with the journalists at Pro Publica?
In any case, I think you are either misreading or ignoring my point and I believe marty’s point. Neither of us suggested doping isn’t occurring. Only that given this opportunity it should be investigated, revealed and punished. If a norwegian, germany or american whistleblower comes forward with more evidence — glad to see it.
have a nice weekend XCSkier22.
December 4th, 2015 at 11:39 pm
I’m disappointed as my focus is the Russian sport of track and field—-not really mine—but those people who are in those positions that oversee those 2 sports, also RUSADA, the Russian anti-doping agency. If any of you were to read the Commission’s Report and a few more of the addresses as listed above, then we can talk.This a huge focal point and a very serious matter when you hear some of the rhetoric aimed at the whistle blowers.
I am sure that there are many other doping programs and individuals formally and informally that are doping and we need more whistle blowers to come forward, so that the proper agencies can investigate these situations more deeply. It’s as simple as finding a few names—that’s how German TV got it’s start.
Please read on-get caught up on the sickness of what is happening in Russia—please don’t keep bringing up old laundry it serves no purpose. All the accusations you make about this athlete or that program are no good unless you have evidence and want to inform WADA or the countries’ WADA organization or persons.
Sport in the world is in trouble.
PS Davor, love your new alias.