WADA Appeals Jenkins Doping Reversal

Story writen by Eric.

American sprinter Latasha Jenkins, who won an appeal in December to return to athletics following a drug ban, has had her ruling challenged by the World Anti-Doping Agency according to wire reports today.

Jenkins, 30, who trained under disgraced coach Trevor Graham, tested positive for metabolites of the anabolic steroid nandrolone at the KBC Knight of Athletics in Belgium on 2006-July-22, and faced a two-year ban from the sport by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Jenkins, a 200m sprinter with a 22,29 personal record, had never tested positive for any illegal substances under IAAF or USADA testing custody prior to this occasion. She agreed to begin the ban on 2006-October-23 following her "B"-sample notification.

A three-person North American arbitration panel ruled on 2008-January-25 against USADA on a technicality, exonerating Jenkins due to both European labs (Ghent, Belgium and Köln ("Cologn", Germany) -- which conducted the sample tests -- having violated international requirements that the tests be run by two different technicians.

USADA is the independent anti-doping agency for Olympic related sport in the United States. It was created as the result of recommendations made by the United States Olympic Committee's Select Task Force on Externalization to uphold the Olympic ideal of fair play, and to represent the interests of Olympic, Pan American Games, and Paralympic athletes.

This was USADA's first arbitration loss against 35 victories since the United States Olympic Committee created it eight years ago.

Jenkins has not escaped the issue of how the nandrolone entered her body, however, and it is a fact which WADA, the world's anti-doping body with higher reach than USADA, appears ready to have further considered with CAS - the binding decision-makers of arbitration cases in sport.

Jenkins had her findings set aside, because of the testing violations and USADA's inability to demonstrate that the breaches did not undermine the validity of the test results.

USADA had maintained that the Cologne laboratory's collaboration of Ghent's findings was strong evidence of a doping violation, but the panel was not satisfied insofar as both laboratories committed protocol violations in their discovery work.

According to Jenkins' attorney Michael Straubel, the lab in Ghent analyzed the sample with gas chromatograph/mass spectrometry, the basic method of finding steroids.

The Cologne performed a carbon isotope ratio analysis, used to determine whether the substance involved is naturally occurring in the body or from an external source.

At issue was that officials at both laboratories violated specific sections of the International Standard for Laboratories which would ensure that different people would carry out parts of the test which measure quantitative measures. The same analyst at the Ghent laboratory handled the "A"- and "B"-samples, and, moreover, the same condition occured at the Cologne laboratory.

Asked following the exoneration why both labs would have made the same mistake in using only one technician, Straubel said, "They thought the rule was unnecessary and they complied with it in what proved to be an inadequate way."

The nandrolone was initially discovered eight days after Jenkins' 125ml urine sample was express-shipped from the collection spot at the meet to the WADA-accredited laboratory in Ghent - a time frame within the universal protocols set in place.

The IAAF, who were immediately alerted of the positive "A"-sample analysis, requested the the reserved portions of the "A"-sample be tested as soon as possible, with the WADA-approved laboratory in Köln, Germany (the "Cologne" facility) to retest and perform an analysis.

The Cologne laboratory discovered a similar finding, and alerted IAAF on 2006-August-8 that Jenkins' values of norandrosterone indicated an application of nandrolone and nandrolone pro-hormones.

Six weeks following the "A" test, the Ghent facility performed analysis on Jenkins' "B"-sample, concluding after the three separate analyses done that Jenkins' urine did contain Norandrosterone which clearly crossed the "positive" threshhold.

Straubel expressed shock and concern that the case had been appealed, believing that the errors were of grave nature, and the exoneration mandatory.

Experts on hand during the American arbitration stated that had Jenkins' sample been tampered with at the Ghent laboratory during the derivitization stage, it would not have triggered a positive, adverse finding, because the urine at the Cologne laboratory came from a separate bottle, and preceded the Ghent testing.

Jenkins, who has not competed since being exonerated by the American panel, is one of 11 track and field athletes under Graham's guidance who have tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Graham, who is due to stand trial in United States Federal court in June for obstruction of justice charges stemming from an allegation he made false statements to investigators in the year-old BALCO scandal, has maintained that he has had no knowledge of any of his athletes using steroids - a claim which Marion Jones called into question when she confessed last October to using drugs Graham provided her.

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Trevor Graham-coached athletes who have been banned for steroid use:

• Michelle Collins: Banned for eight years – later reduced to four years – by a panel of members of American Arbitration Association and the North American Court of Arbitration for Sport. However, Collins was found to have used EPO, THG and a testosterone cream based on evidence collected in the BALCO investigation and presented to CAS. She reluctantly conceded her guilt after a fierce word battle with USADA. Collins surrendered her first-place finish in the 200m at the 2003 USA Indoor Championships, and also her 100m victory at the 2003 USA Outdoor Championships.

• Justin Gatlin: Proposed eight-year ban for second doping offence after testing positive for testosterone during Kansas Relays in April 2006. First offence (2001-June 16-17) was for a banned substance (an amphetamine) found in medication – a ban the IAAF reduced. Gatlin did, however, surrender his victories in the 100m, 200m and 110m hurdles at the USA Junior Championships where the positive test was discovered. Gatlin’s legal team working on “special circumstance” clause to prove Gatlin had drugs in his body without his knowledge.

• Alvin Harrison: accepted a four-year ban for drug violations, admitting to USADA accusations of him having used testosterone, THG, HGH and erythropoietin (EPO) between 2001-June-1 and 2004-October-18. He surrendered all his competitive results for this period, but not before stating that his attorney would file a lawsuit against USATF which upheld cheater Jerome Young’s doping appeal until it was overturned by CAS in June 2004.

• Calvin Harrison: Handed a two-year suspension by USADA for a second positive modafinil test, and was stripped of his 2nd-place finish in the 400m at the 2003 USA Track & Field Championships (2003-June-21). The first was a result of pseudo ephedrine usage as a junior athlete.
  

• C.J. Hunter: Banned for two years in 2001 after his announced retirement in 2000. Failed four tests for nandrolone in the summer leading up to the Sydney Olympics.

• Patrick Jarrett: Banned two years in 2001 after testing positive for Stanozolol at his national championships.

• LaTasha Jenkins: Tested positive for metabolites of the anabolic steroid nandrolone. Faced a two-year ban. A three-person North American arbitration panel ruled against USADA on a technicality, exonerating Jenkins due to both European labs (Ghent, Belgium and Cologne, Germany) which conducted the sample tests violated international requirements that the tests be run by two different technicians. WADA filed an appeal on the case to CAS on 2008-February-19.

• Marion Jones: Accused of taking EPO based on an “A”-sample test conducted in June, 2006. “B”-sample findings exonerated Marion Jones based on the discrepancy between the “A”- and “B”-samples.

• Marion Jones: Confessed in October 2007 of having taken drugs under Graham’s watch, with Graham having provided her drugs without her knowledge starting in September 2000.

• Dennis Mitchell: Suspended two years by a three-member IAAF panel which had ruled that a test of Mitchell’s urine had proved he was taking banned steroids. A United States panel had cleared him of the same charge.

• Tim Montgomery: Banned for two years without a positive test based on information released by the U.S. Senate to USADA, whereby he told the grand jury that Victor Conte gave him weekly doses of THG in 2001. He testified that he used the banned substance for eight months, part of the information of which was corroborated by information banned sprinter Kelli White provided in testimony during the BALCO investigation. Banned from 2005-June-6 to 2007-June-6 and was stripped of his world-record (9,88 seconds).

• Jerome Young: Banned for lifetime after a positive test for EPO in 2004-July-23 at a meeting in Paris. The EPO incident is not known to be related to BALCO. Young had been exonerated by the USATF Appeals Panel allowing Young to compete in the Sydney Olympics after Young had a positive test for nandrolone (1999 USA Outdoor Championships) overturned by the results of a negative test six days later, and negative tests 14 days before the positive. CAS overturned the ruling and Young surrendered all results from 1999-June-26 to 2001-June-25.

Can Conte Clean Up Athletics?

Story written by Eric

Victor Conte has worn a lot of hats in his professional life, but nothing like the larger than life one he's trying on at newspaper outlets near you.

Conte has also worn several labels across his chest of late, with the latest outing another peculiar one in which the former bass guitarist was seen bearing the letter "S" whilst seated with long-time adversary Dick Pound, the former head of WADA.

Conte, a former musician who turned into an overnight nutritionist, has been periodically called a liar, a cheat, a serpent and a thief by some very grown-up men within the United States government who wield powerful job titles and appear fuelled by a supply of natural, non-synthetic testosterone.

That's the mild version for the PG-13 readers.

I doubt Conte's life ambitions are to demonstrate how well he can squirm on his belly -- especially with his company, SNAC, raking in considerable amounts of cash and Conte reaping the benefits. So there must be another explanation for the label and hat Conte has been seen wearing with greater frequency over the past six weeks.

Consider that he's also been called a very bad man for luring unsuspecting athletes away from natural hard work and sweat into a life of lies, lies and more lies mixed together with a cover-up or two in an effort to level out a playing field in athletics he believes is littered with illegal drugs.

He's also been labeled self-serving and unappreciative of the spirit of true competition, and has been cast off as a bitter man whose true interests in sport are in plaguing the purity of the Olympic games.

So what does that solid-colored "S" planted above Conte's chest represent?

That "S" jumps out at a person very suddenly and without fail each and every time drugs controversy within athletics sprouts up and every conceivable tie between performance-enhancing drugs is made between an athlete caught for doping and Conte, the brain-child behind one of the most prolific and previously well-kept doping secrets in all of professional sport.

The phenominem occurs as though Conte, 58, has somehow mysteriously become omniscient, and he has been given an elevated, god-like status as a result of it.

Conte gets the call when a Dwain Chambers-type returns from a drug ban -- from using Conte's products, nonetheless, and gets on a black list rather than an "A" list within European meet organizers' athletics events.

He chimes in when a Marion Jones quacks for mercy in a courtroom only to be ushered off to six months of day-care 100 miles from her home instead of a slap on the wrists and probation.

It seems every time a track athlete is caught up in a moment of controversy and drugs are involved, Conte has his nose in everyone else's business but his own -- unless shedding light on the drug problem has become his business.

Conte was jailed in 2003 for improprieties relating from his illegal and immensely popular BALCO dealings with sports stars ranging from major league baseball players to track and field athletes, and professional cyclists to NFL stars.

He spent a total of eight months under lock and key -- four at a minimum-security prison camp, and four home-confined.

He stated to journalists after Judge Susan Illston sentenced him that he had hoped he could turn around the incredible amount of wrongdoing into positives for athletes and the fans who watch them compete, and even asked the current sitting President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, to intervene on his behalf so that Conte could make a concerted effort to help America send a "clean" team to Athens to compete in the Olympic Games.

"It is said that I have become the poster child for the wrongdoing in Olympic as well as professional sports," he said outside the court. "Ironically, I find myself as someone qualified to help solve this problem plaguing sports, precisely because I've been a major contributor to the controversy."

So does that make Conte, who has since moved on from BALCO and become a fixture within the sport, a savior, a sinner or a saint?

Try Superman.

Among the many labels Conte has had pegged on to his character, he has also been labeled an opportunist -- a man who rarely misses a step or a beat when occasion lends itself for him to capitalize and make good on his talent to sell.

Perhaps that is what Conte is now doing to whoever will sit and listen, namely selling them on a similar notion he asked former athletes to purchase for a price -- one which saw many of them lose honors, prizes and esteem once they were discovered to have cheated.

Conte's pitch today, however, isn't that one must cheat to win, rather that the current state of testing for performance-enhancing drugs is unacceptable, because the testers are completely off key in their pursuit of the cheaters.

Track and field is suffering a critical blow with a public which believes just what people like Conte are stating, and what scribes are printing, namely that superstar athletes compete dirty and will continue to do so until someone steps up to their calling and helps turn over all the stones where the athletes, their coaches and their distributors are hiding their stashes.

Conte believes he is just the one for the job, supported by the following story.

Conte has been an eyewitness not only to the effect drugs can have on athletes, but has keen experience hiding out and waiting for time to pass on, for drugs to pass through, and for athletes to pass tests over and over and over again to their heart's content and to his own personal satisfaction with helping enable the deception to have remained covered.

Conte made the following remark recently when Chambers recently made news for an over-blown story, which has embarrassed UK Athletics and the British Olympic Association.

"I still think there is rampant use of drugs out there. It can be cleaned up but they have to use people from the other side, like Dwain and myself, and use the knowledge we've gained. Then, when athletes truly believe it is much more difficult to circumvent the testing, you'll see far more performances by athletes who are doing it with hard work as opposed to chemical substances."

Indeed, athletes and coaches, trainers and even agents do know where the minefields are, and they know which steps must be taken in order to successfully navigate through them. Is it possible that such persons, working on their own initiative following drug bans, could be of use to anti-doping organizations in their fight to stamp out drugs in sport?

Perhaps they can, but in Chambers' case, his federation believes it can be done outside of the track and away from the field.

Is it likely that Conte, on the other hand, who doesn't lace up spikes to sprint down a track at breath-taking speeds, can be Superman in this story and help the World Anti-Doping Agency and the United States Anti-Doping Agency run faster than a speeding cheat and leap tall buildings to catch up to them?

Pound, who had ridiculed Conte in the past for littering the sport with druggies and copping out by not testifying in his trial about his affairs, met with Conte on 2007-December-7 to shed light on such matters.

According to both parties involved, the meeting they had was productive, and both men looked forward to sharing more as time elapsed and cards began to fall into place.

Conte has helped athletes cheat, and he has helped those athletes cover up their sins against the sport. He is a convicted criminal with a felony record, and has had his life temporarily interrupted by the Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons and the California Corrections, Probation Department.

He is also a man who says he is sitting on a wealth of important information, and he seems willing and ready to spread his sermon to whoever has the time, patience and willingness to listen.

Will track and field, which is scratching for respect, find ties with Victor Conte which positively bind and won't snap?

Stay tuned to find out.

Personal Space: Truly Needed and Hardly Granted

Story written by EPelle

Every so often I cross paths with a few specially gifted folks who live in different postal codes than do I - folks who are well-hidden in unlisted locations up in the mountains or outside of the country all together.

You've likely seen them in your neck of the woods, too, as they're the ones with two cars for each day of the week, and have a garage bigger than most of the local houses to store those prized possessions. If you haven't seen them, you've heard them speeding along through the forest at break-neck speeds in their powerful SUV's bearing stickers which state, "Loud Pipes Save Lives".

Whatever works.

Undoubtedly, we've all seen them on television at one time or another and have formed bonds with them... eaten breakfast with them... stayed up late with them... spilled beer over the sofa because of them... bought posters of them when we were kids. And the story goes on one newspaper clipping at a time taped into scrapbooks filled completely past their page limits and stuffed in some dusty box in our parents' atticks and basements.

They are champions - the ones who always seem to win gold, and never seem to lose.

Kids in our small little communities - even those under our own noses and under our own roofs - are doing the same things we did, and, to a certain extent, continue doing today.

Whether you're eight - or 28, you've likely worn your favourite's name across a shirt on your back (or have their names tatooed on your back!) and have had the same heroic figures gracing your bedroom walls - with the exception between you and a kid being the fact that your wives have at some point suggested that you grow up.

These folks whom we hero-worship, I believe, are called athletes - and perhaps one or two of them might reach god-like status along the way.

These superstars walk down a red carpet leading to and from an arena near you, and, deservingly, they are lauded for their efforts and given tremendous respect for putting both feet forward and accomplishing their goals. Most will remain strangers we love, and others will be enemies we bitterly despise and loathe.

Despite our attachments to them, however, we will never really be near enough to them to really know just how far we are from the people behind the achievements - the persons whose mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and old grade school mates know and call them by the names of Justin... David... Kajsa... Zlatan... Carro... Hicham.

You get the picture.

We watch, salivate and attempt to emulate some of the efforts these highly-trained and exceptionally paid athletes put up in their finest moments, but bemoan them and cast them into yesteryear when the intrigue runs thin... the clock runs out of time... the hero falls down and simply becomes a man... a woman... a person just like you and me - a metamorphosis which shows more sign of weakness than it does of heroism.

When heros fall down our knees buckle, our encouragement begins turning into disdain and our attention gradually focuses on the negative rather than the positives.

It is challenging to find positives when the media alerts us to an esteemed athlete's fall from grace, and even more natural to dwell on faults when we base our knowledge on the little bit of "fact" that we know.

We get stuck in a "negativity" rut and, as time passes along, we see the ultimate result once our previously respected athlete crosses the finish line in their race of infamy: Our children take down their posters from the walls and stuff them under their beds.

Or, in my case, an entire collection of trading cards ends up in a fireplace only to be saved by a mother who knew better and a father who counted the money they were worth.

Of athletes and fame, a couple of lessons I've learned over the years is that the folks who live in the estates overlooking my neighbourhood and several others within 60km of their hilltop views have one thing in common with me - as they do with you: they are simply people.

Yes, they have a few extra tax gurus, two or three more gas cards and a higher credit limit on the plastic they keep in their pockets, but they are still human beings who eat breakfast, occasionally skip lunch, and eat dinner with their feet up on the table watching sports highlights just like you and me.

That's about it.

Well, almost.

They also appear on television more often, stay in a few more hotels each week than I do, ride in a few more limousines on their way to work than do I, and have every word, action, statement and admission recorded for immediate and permanent playback whether they like it or not.

I believe that actually does about sum it up.

Most of that holds true for a man whom we call Gatlin, whose mother calls him Justin. Some school girls on his Facebook page call him "cute".

Justin Gatlin was a high school standout in Florida, an NCAA champion at Tennessee and stood on top of a podium in front of the biggest stage known to man to collect a gold medal he had earned following winning the Olympic 100m final in Athens four years ago.

Everything he put his mind to he accomplished, and his status among the elite in the world was as high as one could reach on this or any other planet.

Today, he's a man hanging on by a three-person arbitration vote hoping that another shot at an Olympic title won't elude him as he stands accused of having doped using testosterone - or one of its precursors - after a urine test taken at the 2006 Kansas Relays yielded positive results from the previous 100m co-world record-holder.

There is a very small possibility that Gatlin, a former member of Trevor Graham's Sprint Capitol group training out of Raleigh, North Carolina, is telling the truth - that he has never doped, but public opinion has already cast a cloud of guilt over his house - and on his property in every literal sense of the word.

Gatlin has come under international fire - to a lesser extent than did Marion Jones, and has at times found reprieve and solace spending time with his parents in Pensacola, Florida - a place where children and adults alike still look up to Gatlin for his previous accomplishments.

Though there are those who have looked up to him and supported him through the anti-doping violation he faces, there are others who have taken matters into their own hands, have closed the case and have pronounced him guilty in a manner and fashion which has been both personal and public for the second-fastest 100m sprinter of all time.

Gatlin spoke to Reuters in a recent telephone interview and described what measures some fans have gone to let him know he let them down.

"I woke up one morning at my parents house, and written on the side of my vehicle there was 'Just Say No to Steroids,'" Gatlin said. "That really hurt.

"I wiped it off and went in the house and broke down. It was painful."

Some people have caused me a bit of pain as well for mistakes I've made along the path of life, but I've never had to be humiliated before my neighbours for it. Then again, I've never held Gatlin's job as ambassador of the sport.

Other athletes - and celebrities for that matter - have fallen off the hero wagon and gone on with their lives after a rough period with their groupies and supporters; being in the spotlight for better of worse is part of the unwritten job description, and one which most handle with care.

At what point, however, do we as fans give these human beings space to sort things out, spend time alone with their families and heal from broken promises they made to their sports, themselves and, especially, to us - the hardcore people, who, just like them, have a dying passion and interest for what they do?

I'd venture to say that fans, for the most part, are quite forgiving of people once they bow their heads, pay their respects for letting people down and saddle back up in a continued pursuit of perfection.

Others, obviously, are not. It depends on the infraction and the degree of remorse athletes -- people -- display, and why they are remorseful. Marion Jones is not a person, for example, whose hand I would reach out to shake had I been in a social situation with her.

Kids demonstrate an even greater ability to rebound from the letdown they face when their superstars tumble.

I can't recall how many times I've heard stories and have seen children tape up the corners of posters ripped down when their dreams were shattered and place them back into the holes in the wall where those people once taught those impressionable minds what striving for the harmonious development of mind and body meant - the agon of sport.

In Gatlin's case, he's faced with pressures he brought upon himself in having chosen a coach who was already mixed up in a scandal of great proportions. He was warned and advised not to join that particular group of people by his agent, Renaldo Nehemiah. Gatlin chose to ignore the caution and exercise his free will to choose for himself. He's paying a high price for those actions today as he may - or not - have participated willlingly in a scheme to defraud the sport of track and field by method of deception and fraud.

Whatever happens to Justin Gatlin, a new person will come along behind him and take over the spot of king of the hill.

Jamaican Asafa Powell has already taken back the world record, having lowered the 100m mark to an amazing 9,74 seconds. American Tyson Gay won three sprint medals at last summer's World Championships, winning the 100m, 200m and running the anchor leg on the victorious 4x100m relay. Gay's aim is to win all three events in Beijing in August.

Gatlin is waiting and hoping that his day before the CAS will soon come so that he can pass go. He wants to return to the sport he loves and in which he has thrived. Some of his fans want him to make a comeback to show the world that it judged him prematurely and should have waited until due process ran its course. Others will remain sceptical no matter what Gatlin does in the future, because his name will forever be linked with drugs.

I have a strong opinion of Gatlin the athlete, but reserve the right to hold it to myself and spare you any bias before his CAS hearing is complete.

Next time I see a person like Justin Gatlin pull out of their truck with those pesky exhaust pipes finally smothered when the key shuts off the engine, however, I'll be a bit less critical and more grateful not necessarily for the days they spent entertaining me on television, but much more so for the fact that they truly are regular people like you and me... humbled and down-to-earth on the inside.

Something tells me that I still will likely never know where a person like him has his post delivered, however, unless their kid winds up trading player cards with mine - whenever they are born.

Gatlin Files Appeal to CAS

Story written by EPelle

Suspended American sprinter Justin Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic 100m gold medalist and previous co-world record-holder (9,77 seconds), has appealed his four-year doping ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), his attorney said on Tuesday.

Gatlin, 25, who tested positive for testosterone - or its precursors - after having submitted to a drug test at the 2006 Kansas Relays, has vigorously fought the allegations that he committed an anti-doping offense, and stated the testosterone had likely entered his body without his knowledge and without his consent.

Trevor Graham, his coach, has maintained that a disgruntled and bitter Nike employee rubbed a mysterious cream on Gatlin, and that triggered the positive test.

The employee, Chris Whetstine, denied those allegations.

Later, Graham speculated that he -- not Gatlin -- might have been the target because of anger in the track and field world surrounding his decision to send the syringe filled with steroids to USADA in 2003 sparked the fire which became the BALCO scandal. The federal investigation that Graham launched resulted in five criminal convictions and more than a dozen athlete suspensions. According to that theory, Graham's enemies wanted to take him down by implicating Gatlin, his star runner.

Logic begs to inquire that if this were really the case, that Whetstine wanted to get back at Graham, why Whetstine simply didn't plant evidence on Graham's possession, in his vehicle or at his home, call the authorities and say that he had seen Graham take with him a prohibited substance. Graham would have been implicated and no one would ever doubt again that Graham had any connection to doping athletes.

Instead, the world was spoon fed an incredulous story - which has gotten much more interesting and more detailed as time has gone along - about a pink coloured "s" swiggle, and a recollection that Gatlin told Graham to basically back off when the commotion started. You're first told by Graham that it was he who wanted to intercede, but the tube was quickly put away in Whetstine's pocket, and Graham didn't think anything more of it. Now it has changed and become more elaborate with Gatlin stating, "Let him do his job, man!"

If one takes Graham's side, Whetstine did his job so effectively that he rubbed a compound into Gatlin which had Dehydroepiandrosterone, also known as DHEA, as its active ingredient -- a substance which would without question cause a positive doping test.

Something strange I would like to acknowledge here is that if Graham had any concern for Gatlin, who apparently went through every conceivable precaution as to not ever test positive (including locking his luggage, ordering room service when away), he would have stopped everything right then and there, and told Gatlin he was concerned with what had just occured; he would have rushed Whetstine and forced his hand into the pocket. He didn't. What neatly disappeared in this version of Graham's story is the portion where Graham apparently told Whetstine that Gatlin didn't need a massage in the first place.

"All I saw was the massage therapist go into a bag and bring out something else," Walker said. "He rubbed something else on Justin. . . . It was right there in front of me. It wasn't what he used on Shawn," is what the Washington Post revealed ast year.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which has a strict liability anti-doping rule in place making anything found within the athlete's body their responsibility, originally banned Gatlin eight years for committing a second anti-doping offense. Gatlin was successful in having the original sanction reduced to four years after having co-operated with anti-doping recommendations that he provide his full support in leading to the source of the drugs -- believed to be Graham.

Gatlin first tested positive at the 2001 USA Junior Nationals for an amphetamine contained in an Attention Deficit Disorder medication he had been taking for 10 years. He was originally suspended for two years by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which reinstated him one year later following appeals.

The IAAF did not, however, word its ruling as such that Gatlin had not failed a drugs test, but had rather re-instated him despite the breach of rules in place; Gatlin had not intentionally doped, they stated, but had violated anti-doping rules by competing at a sanctioned event without having received (or even applied for) a Therapeutic Use Exemption, or TUE for short.

Under the World Anti-Doping Code, WADA has mandated that all athletes with documented medical conditions request a TUE, and after having had such request appropriately dealt with by a panel of independent physicians called a Therapeutic Use Exemption Committee (TUEC), promply receive either a grant or a decline of his/her application.

WADA has the TUE rule in place in a concerted effort to ensure athletes do not experience significant health problems without taking the prohibited substance or method; the therapeutic use of the substance would not produce significant enhancement of performance; and there would be no reasonable therapeutic alternative to the use of the otherwise prohibited substance or method.

Gatlin had his medication, Adderall, listed with the University of Tennessee, where he was a student-athlete, but he failed to list the medication with USATF. He competed without having requested for the TUE, and was later stripped of his winning marks and places as a result of that rules violation.

According to IAAF reports from 2001 following the first suspension, Gatlin harboured no resentment for having been banned a year:

"I knew the right thing to do was accept the suspension," he said in May. "I just broke the rules, which were the rules.

"It motivated me to do better this year. A lot of people can't back from something like that. It hurts them mentally and physically. I want to prove to everyone that I'm a strong person and that I have what it takes to be one of the best in the world."

The IAAF, in review of the 2001 case, stated that there was no intentional part on Gatlin's behalf to cheat, and it was discovered that Adderall in-and-of-itself provided no enhancement to Gatlin, but they did not remove the term "doping violation" from their ruling - a sticking point which would cause Gatlin problems in 2007.

The IAAF did warn Gatlin following their reversal of his original ban - though still a violation of their rules, however, that any future positive drugs test would result in a lifetime ban from the sport, which leads Gatlin to his curent situation.

Now that Gatlin has been entangled in a second drug controversy, he's attempted to have the first IAAF opinion erased, and used a number of arguments with the AAA - including having been a juvenile whilst committing the first offense - to no avail.

The majority of a three-member American Arbitration Association (AAA) panel banned Gatlin for his 2006 positive test, having ruled that it was Gatlin's second positive test. In theory, they were correct insofar as in their ruling they stated that had the IAAF previoulsy re-instated Gatlin and not deemed him to have committed an anti-doping violation, they did not specifically and unequivocally state that in their ruling, a split decision that included a 53-page opinion and 22-page dissent.

"If the IAAF “eliminated” any period of ineligibility because it believed that, under the circumstances either there should have been no finding of a doping violation or because Mr. Gatlin had “no fault” in that violation, then the first offense should not be considered to be a prior offense for purposes of the award for a second violation. This Panel is unable, on the record before it, to ignore the first doping violation, but shall retain jurisdiction to amend this award in the event that Mr. Gatlin receives from IAAF or otherwise, a ruling which might alter the view of the first offense in 2001."

"The Dissent hereing makes an impassioned case that the facts and circumstances of that first offense, namely the advice of the USATF and USADA that it was sufficient for athletes simply to discontinue their non-competition use of medications, and law, namely the Americans with Disabilities Act and Swiss Law, compel the conclusion that Mr. Gatlin essentially had no fault at all in the first offense. The Dissent does not explain, then, why that first panel found a doping violation. If the standard in 2001 was simply negligence, and Mr. Gatlin was not negligent because the actions and advice of the USATF and USADA had to be considered as part of the anti-doping rules or an interpretation of those rules, then the appropriate conclusion would, it appears to the majority, have been a finding of no doping offense. However, that was not the case."

Said the AAA panel regarding Gatlin's juvenile claim:

"He asserts that because the first event was in the 2001 U.S. Junior Nationals, an age restricted event, Mr. Gatlin, though 19 at the time, should be considered a minor for the purposes of the Panel’s evaluation under the Guidelines. This argument is similarly rejected with the same cautionary note as with the prior argument."

Prior to his 2006 bust, neither Gatlin nor the IAAF - or USADA for that matter - had acted on his behalf to have the first "offense" removed from record rather than accepting that he had committed a violation and was allowed to compete despite that anti-doping misdemeanour. This has become Gatlin's achilles heel, and he's attempting to recover from that earlier misstep stated by his counsel to be an administrative violation, not an anti-doping one.

"With these filings, Mr. Gatlin is taking the next steps in recovering his right to defend his gold medal in the 100 meters, silver medal in the 400 meters relay and bronze in the 200 meters at the Beijing Olympics," Maurice Suh said in a statement on Tuesday.

The appeal was filed on Monday to Lausanne-based CAS, with Suh requesting the hearing take place in New York.

"While there are many possible avenues that we are currently exploring, the appeal of the arbitration panel decisions are a critical component of his defense," Suh's statement added.

"To use this (2001) sanction to bar him from participating in the Olympics is a prime example of unfairness to an athlete, and a grossly inappropriate balance of anti-doping efforts against the right of individuals to pursue their careers and their dreams," Suh said.

"Most troublingly, it constitutes a discrimination against a person with a diagnosed disability."

The dissenting member of the AAA panel, Christopher Campbell, furthered that sentiment in his ruling (referenced above):

"Mr. Gatlin’s first offence would be covered by art. 8 because it was a mental disability and he obviously faced a disadvantage because of it. Incidentally, so did Mr. Ricky Harris. These Fundamental Rights must be respected by private entities such as the USOC, USADA, USATF and the IAAF. Article 35 states:

Realization of Fundamental Rights

1. The fundamental rights shall be realized in the entire legal system.
2. Whoever exercises a function of the state must respect the fundamental
rights and contribute to their realization.
3. The authorities shall ensure that the fundamental rights also be respected in relations among private parties whenever the analogy is applicable.67 (emphasis added)

"Mr. Gatlin, Mr. Harris and any other athlete who has received sanctions because of taking medicine for their disability have their fundamental rights violated. In the case of Mr. Gatlin, he will not be allowed to work in his chosen profession for two years above what he should have been sanctioned. In Mr. Harris’ case, he was not allowed to work for a year and faces the same draconian predicament that Mr. Gatlin is experiencing. As stated above, there is no justifiable reason to limit these athletes’ fundamental rights. There is no goal pursued by the Anti-Doping Organizations that a retroactive award would inhibit. The sanctions are a violation of the law."

If CAS were to agree, Gatlin's 2006 positive test would be considered his first and he would be eligible for a two-year ban. That would allow him to return to competition in May, a month ahead of the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon in June.

One pitfall Gatlin faces, however, is that the IAAF will have required him, as a banned athlete, to have been available for random, out-of-competition drug tests the past 12 months prior to his potential return. It is not known if Gatlin has been approached by anti-doping officials or been subjected to such tests.

Graham, who faces federal obstruction charges stemming from the BALCO investigation, goes to trial in June before Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco, CA.

Bernard Williams: A Changed Man

Story written by EPelle

Apparently we are going to be seeing less of the showboating, and more of the focussed, pius Bernard Williams on the track.

The American sprinter has apparently found meaning in the sport, and is going to go about business in a friendly, less made-for-television manner.

"I've sat back and realized that other people don't understand certain people, and not everybody is going to like what you do or understand what you do," said Williams recently to reporter Mike Preston of the Baltimore Sun (story).

"I apologize to anyone that was offended because I meant no harm. None of us meant any harm. We were just four guys out there celebrating, having a good time and getting a gold medal.

"To be honest, I would do it again, because it was something I couldn't control. But I wouldn't take it to the extreme," said Williams. "I would cut it off because I know now to stop it. It was a tough lesson to learn. I never knew how many people were inspired by me until I got home. I found that out immediately after I got off the plane."

One need not think too far back to remember what the American gold medal men's 4x100m relay team did in Sydney, Australia, in the moments following their Olympic victory.

They had just run 37,61 seconds, 0,29 seconds up on silver medal winner Brasil, when Williams, Jon Drummond, Brian Lewis and anchor man, Maurice Greene took a bumbling, very raucous victory lap that carried 10 minutes over to the victory stand as they flexed, posed and wrapped themselves in the American flag.

"The crowd kept cheering us," Williams told Preston, "so we kept giving them more. If they had booed us, we would have stopped. One hundred and ten thousand people booing you gets your attention, but they didn't boo. We even grabbed the Australian flag and ran 50 meters and they cheered wildly. But that whole episode brought us a lot of unwanted attention.

Time, which is meant to heal all wounds, has made Williams more aware of the consequences of showboating and the indellible bad image it can leave. Williams didn't see a problem back then with his manners in Sydney - when he celebrated in a fashion completely many agree were against the spirit of the Olympic Games.

"I wished I would have stopped," said Williams.

But he didn't.

A bare-chested Williams draped himself in an American flag then began flapping it about as though he were a bird - an incident which not only iritated sportswriters, but angered US officials.

Images of the American showboating abound in circles around the world, and provide unnecessary attention to those American sprinters who generally seem to go about their work with professionalism and respect for the sport. American sprinters have received a fair share of press for what many perceive as a lack of respect shown to their competitors following championship victories, something which Williams wants to change.

"There's a professional way to behave and a time for everything," he stated to Preston.

"I'm glad I learned this early in my career, because if I learned it later, it might have been too much to recover from."As you get a little older, you gain a certain maturity, a certain wisdom. Then those questions come up, why did I do that? I know why. At the time, it just seemed the thing to do. But it shouldn't have lasted that long."

Williams says that the celebratory antics were not meant to be disrespectful, rather he was simply displaying the joy a young 22-year-old would show during the biggest moment of his life on the world's largest stage.

Preston has followed Williams a great deal of his career, and interviewed Williams back in June 2001 (read: Williams has goals beyond the finish lines), when Williams had an opportunity to look back on his life during the Olympic Games, and reflect.

"I don't talk much about what happened at the Olympics because there was no intent to be disrespectful," he said, "and I should have been more mindful of others. I look back now and laugh a little because I learned from it. But it's a new year and I'm a new man."

Indeed, Williams is making a concerted effort to live his modest life in peace, and would love the opportunity to be afforded a welcome back into the spotlight a changed man. He took a great turn for the better at the Athens Olympics four years later, where, after the Americans swept the event - Williams finished with the silver (20,01), the trio of knelt for a prayer and to remind each to make a dignified victory lap.

Said Justin Gatlin following the 200m sweep: “We’re going to represent the United States in a good way. We just wanted to go out and perform like gentlemen.”

With Gatlin now wrapped up in a drugs fight, Williams has a very good opportunity to take the focus off of the negative side of the sport there in his country, and shine a brighter light on American sprinting.

Here's wishing the best for Williams' success as he further matures into the stature and public figure of which winners are forged.

Bernhard Williams' portfolio:

• 2004 Olympic 200m silver medalist (20,01 PB)
• 2001 World Outdoor 100m bronze medalist (9,94 PB)
• 2003 U.S. Outdoor 100m champion (10,11)
• 2003 World Outdoor 4x100m relay gold medalist (38,06)
• 2000 Olympic 4x100m relay gold medalist (37,61)
• 2000 NCAA 100m champion (10,03)
• 2000 NCAA 200m bronze medalist (20,28)
• 2000 NCAA 4x100m relay gold medalist (38,35)
• 1999 Pan American Games 100m champion (10,08)

Powell Vows to Break World Record

Story written by EPelle

Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell, the current 100m world-record holder who is filled with confidence following a dream-filled 2006 season, claimed Friday to the Jamaica Observer, that his current off-season training is going superbly, and he is focussed on breaking his world record from the get-go when his outdoor season gets underway in a few months' time.

"And when the World Championships comes around it's to win that gold medal in the 100 and the (sprint) relay and if I'm doing any other event (200m) to win the gold medal and... finish the season healthy without injury and in perfect condition," he added.

Powell was recently selected the Commonwealth's Outstanding Male Athlete for 2006 following a list of accolades he has plucked along the way following his last race - a disqualification for a false-start at the Yokohama track and field meet in Japan.

Powell has been busy this off-season, taking home the prestigious Track & Field News Male Athlete of the Year award based off of professional votes collected around the world in addition to collecting the Jamaica Gleaner Sportsman of the Year and the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association awards.

I delivered the news to you on 20-December (read: Powell Considering Osaka Double) that Powell was considering doubling up at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka - possibly running the 100m and 200m dashes as well as the expected 4x100m relay.

The Jamaican, ranked number one in the world at 100m in 2006, recorded 12 sub-10,00 clockings over his specialty distance, twice equalling his world record of 9,77 seconds.

American Justin Gatlin also equalled Powell's original world-record of 9,77 in Doha in May, 2006, but has been suspended of his title pending a drugs charge levied against him after testing positive for testosterone or its precursors at the Kansas Relays last April. He risks an eight-year ban from the sport, something which will effectively retire him from professional sprinting in the future.

Powell, meanwhile, won every competition he finished, a false start in Korea his only blemish on the season.

American Tyson Gay appears on paper to be the closest competition to Powell, having run 9,84 and a pair of 9,88 marks in 2006 - his first year under 10,00. Gay broke 10,00 six times, and recorded sub 19,85 200m times. His 19,68 time is tied for the fifth-fastest time ever recorded. He is tied with Namibian Frank Fredricks as the fourth-fastest performer all-time in the distance.

Powell has broken 9,90 11 times in his career, with seven of those marks posted in 2006. A stronger, more driven Powell in 2007 may wreak havoc on record-keepers, as Powell sets his sights on taking down the 9,77 time he recorded in Athens two years ago, and subsequently tied in Gateshead in June and Zürich in August this past summer.

"I'm feeling a lot stronger... the work-load is heavier than last year and I'm managing a lot better, so that's why I'm so motivated," he stated to the Jamaica Observer.

Indeed, if Powell feels stronger and can handle the workload - and stay injury-free, the only limit on his potential over 100m will be one of physics.

Stay tuned for more.

2006 Commonwealth Sports Awards Winners (Full press release here)

Final Placings

Sports Administrator of the Year
1. Filbert Bayi (Athletics) TAN
2. Zainal Abu Zarin (Disability Sport) MAS
3. Jenny Shaw (Swimming) WAL

Outstanding Young Achiever
1. Melissa Wu (Diving) AUS
2. Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs (Gymnastics) CAN
3. Asif Hossain (Shooting) BAN

Outstanding Male Athlete
1. Asafa Powell (Athletics) JAM
2. Chris Hoy (Cycling) SCO
3. Alexandre Despatie (Diving) CAN

Outstanding Female Athlete
1. Alexandra Orlando (Rhythmic Gymnastics) CAN
2. Michaela Breeze (Weightlifting) WAL
3. Sherone Simpson (Athletics) JAM

Outstanding Male Elite Athlete with Disability
1. Matthew Cowdrey (Swimming) AUS
2. Benoit Huot (Swimming) CAN
3. David Roberts (Swimming) WAL

Outstanding Female Elite Athlete with Disability
1. Chantal Petitclerc (Athletics) CAN
2. Sue Gilroy (Table Tennis) ENG

Most Outstanding Team
1. Silver Ferns (Netball) NZL
2. Men’s Hockey Team AUS
3. M2006 Swimming Team SCO

Lifetime Achievement Award
1. Dr Bruce Kidd (Athletics) CAN
2. Owen Le Vallee (Administration) GUER
3. Dave Haller (Swimming) WAL

Mathematics Gone Wild

Story written by EPelle

Man must be smarter than a computer. God help us if he's not.

Scientific "studies" - many of which have been no more than a waste of time - have been abundant on what the capacities man can expect to reach in athletics.

Today, a new predictive analysis was introduced to the world, and Paula Radcliffe ought to beware.

Dutchman John Einmahl, a mathematecian and professor at Tilberg University in Germany, predicted that Radcliffe can expect to have her world record ultimately lowered by eight minutes 50 seconds in the future, though no date was provided as to when the miraculous breakthrough could occur.

"For a lot of athletes it is probably depressing when they are confronted with our extreme values," Professor Einmahl is quoted as stating. "But this is a very serious study -- the extreme theory as a part of mathematics and statistics is an accepted science."

The men, on the other hand, stand to stagnate within the near future, as Paul Tergat's 2003 marathon world record time of 2.04.55 - set in Berlin - should ultimately only be lowered by 49 more seconds. Haile Gebrselassie, who has made public his attempt to win the Beijing Marathon and set the world record within the next two years, may be the last person alive to ever etch his name into history.

Right.

Asafa Powell, meanwhile, stands to be followed by a long list of suitors or one incredibly wild freak of nature insofar as his world record - shared by a steroid-aided Justin Gatlin - should be lowered from 9,77 to 9,29.

Canadian Ben Johnson once stated that no human being could ever legally run 9,79-seconds for the 100m dash. His prediction is nearly true as the first under 9,80, Tim Montgomery, was found to be a drugs cheat, and his performances have been erased. Gatlin, the current co-world record-holder, has tested positive for steroids. That leaves Powell in rarified air.

Powell is a terrific specimen of an athlete, and runs smoother and easier than any current straight-dash sprinter on the circuit, but he will never run under 9,70 - even with a maximum allowable wind (+2,0 m/s).

Professor Einmahl computed - by studying world records in 14 disciplines and feeding the best marks of 1.546 male and 1.024 female athletes into a computer - that Michael Johnson's 200m world record - 19,32 - could lower to 18,63.

Nike athlete Xavier Carter, who ran the second-fastest 200m ever in this, his inagural season at the professional level, 19,63, has only one full second left to tick off before this prediction comes true. Fascinating stuff.

The professor apparently acknowledged that there is room for extraordinary performances that will turn his results upside down, so Geb may yet have hope to extend beyond 2.04.06. Mr. Einmahl said his field doesn't recognize the impossible, but accepts the unbelievable.

"Who would have thought Bob Beamon would jump 8.90 meters on Oct. 18, 1968?" he said.

What the good professor fails to state is that the mark came at a humid location at altitude - an aide which Track & Fields News differentiates when denoting records.

The Associated Press author was practical enough to state that Beamon's record was not touched for another 23 years. No athlete, including Beamon, himself, ever got within the same time zone as Beamon's 1968 Olympic Games mark set in Mexico City.

Mathematics and statistics can be a great deal of fun to twist and turn to see what athletes are capable of, but, without any brainwork being applied to the answers computed by the machines, one will wait an entire lifetime hoping a woman will run her first 10km of a marathon in just over 30.00, repeat this four more times, and then have enough energy left to run 2,2km more at that pace. Better yet, the lucky female capable of this feat will need to run 105 times around the track in 71,96 seconds/lap without stopping.

Jesus Dapena, an Indiana University biomechanics professor, said in June that there must be a limit to how fast man can run. He stated that a man will never run 100 meters in three seconds, for instance, but that limit can't be defined. Mr. Einmahl basis his assumptions on a predictive model a computer has generated.

Mr. Einmahl's facts and figures have been stated to have been included to study extreme stock market prices as well as the required height needed in dams to control huge floods, and he's said to have performed a study funded by the insurance field over the highest possible damage claims possible to file.

Stock markets may use his numbers as a boundary marker, and insurance carriers may touch base with him for redline values, but his analysis of athletics performances fails the grade in the human capacity course.

If - and when - you ever witness a female athlete who runs 20km in one hour, and says she can continue for another at the same pace, check to see that she is not hallucinating. If she insists, and is able to stay the course, you'll have to do the honarary thing and for EPO and other performance-enhancing drugs - including gene doping.

Alas, if she succeeds and, indeed, makes it to the finish line under 2.07.00, feel free to drop me a line. I'll be first in line at the Guiness Book of World's Records eating my shorts.

Further reading:

• Study in full

Are Athletes Role Models?

Story written by EPelle

Did you ever look up to an athlete as you grew up, that is to say a person whom you idolised for their contributions to this sport? Have you ever been influenced positively or negatively by what that athlete - or those athletes - did off the field?

My idol was Saïd Aouita, as he was in the business of winning Olympic and World Championship medals and setting world records when athletics was most interesting to me: once upon a time as a teen.

Aouita was all things I wasn't, and everything I desired to be: swift, fast, famous and versatile.

I looked up to Aouita until I finally had my own teen groupies following every step I took, every workout I ran, every extra-curricular course I studied, and every book I read.

I realised how fragile that glass house really is when mis-stepping along the way, and seeing one of those fans, my sister, find another hero to worship.

Aouita never took any wrong turns, nor did he throw me off course during the four years his results were planted in my scrapbook, his photos cut from magasines and he kept on winning, winning and winning.

A guy named Noureddine Morceli took over the chores after Aouita, and he in turn was replaced by Hicham El Guerrouj.

I don't recall the day I stopped caring what these guys did off the field. I am not really sure I ever knew in the first place; the internet hadn't connected me to cyberworld during those years.

Justin Gatlin has been caught up in a quagmire - a doping scandal which stinks of corruption, lies and blind accusations made by his coach, Trevor Graham.

Gatlin's doping hearing should begin in the next four to six weeks, and his fate should be decided soon thereafter. He has his own bed in which to lie, and whatever entanglement he has been caught in seems to be his own doing. The IAAF have a strict liability rule when it pertains to doping cases, meaning that athletes are completely responsible for whatever is applied to their skins, whatever they eat, drink, inhale or inject.

Today's blog entry isn't a question of whether or not Gatlin is innocent, rather a question of whether Gatlin should coach high schoolers before his own fate is set.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that Gatlin will be a volunteer coach at his high school this spring, the final six months of the school's existance.

"At this point, his future is uncertain but it could resolved in the next year or so," Woodham AD Paul Bryan told The Associated Press. "In the meantime, we're in the last six months of this school's existence, and he has got the opportunity and time to spend a little more time with these kids."

Should Gatlin, who is likely to have a tremendous amount of influence on 14- to 18-year-old kids, step into a role where he is admired, trusted, respected and influential when his doping status is not yet cleared?

I've read debate by hard-core, die-hard fans of the sport on the subject of Gatlin leading high schoolers - debate by folks with very generous amounts of forgiveness available to people like Gerry Lindgren, Seb Coe, Marion Jones, Angelo Taylor, Amy Acuff and Kelli White to name a few. These writers, located in America and Europe, appear to demonstrate a starker shunning of Gatlin than I would have imagined from them.

Lindgren was a purported bad man, bad father and bad husband. His listed failures at manhood have nothing to do with my appreciation for his abilities and acomplishments.

Coe is said to have had encounters outside of the marriage one could deem inappropriate. Again, what he does behind the scenes has no bearing on his gold medals or his world records.

Jones has had relationships with two former lovers who have been snarled in drugs scandals which thwarted their careers. She has been implicated as a drugs user by her former husband, C.J. Hunter, and was indirectly implicated by the father of her baby, Tim Montgomery, when he spoke on record in private proceedings regarding Chryste Gaines and BALCO.

Taylor was arrested for having sex with a teenager in his SUV. Had he decided to coach teens, I'd have raised a red flag. His judgment is clouded, despite his having stated he believed the minor was older than her actual age.

Acuff has continued fighting for championship medals in the Olympics and on the world scene, and has kept her nose out of major scandal. She has posed virtually nude in FHM and Playboy magasines, but has not been known to have encouraged teens to follow suit. Kajsa Bergqvist and Carolina Klüft have spoken out against posing sexually for any magasine, but the question is of moral character, not whether or not an athlete can be trusted.

White did prejudicely and willfully take performance-enhancing drugs, and since left the sport. She made a conscious effort to speak out about the performance-enhancing drugs epidemic in BALCO, and helped the United States Senate enact tougher steroids laws.

Gatlin falls into a category similar to Regina Jacobs and Remi Korchemny, insofar as each has been linked to drugs and coaching - albeit Gatlin is attempting to coach.

I believe Gatlin should keep away from the spotlight until his case clears, because he's in a "do as I say, but not at I do!" position at this point - a time when his future career in the sport as an athlete is directly proportional to any deliberate ties he had with his offense. Teens - young adults (or overgrown children) - are influenced by coaches, and having Gatlin volonteer time in any direct capacity with the school kids can have a negative impact on them.

White stated before the Senate that she felt betrayed by Korchemny, a person who had coached her in high school, and who coached her after her college graduation and move back to the San Francisco-Bay Area. She stated she had been offered drugs at one point in time, but had passed up the offer. She broke down and took drugs once she was injured and could not regain her form. I would sincerely hope Gatlin never finds himself in a similar position as Korchemny.

If Gatlin is subsequently cleared of the gross accusation against him, that he is a doped athlete, and he is exonerated with a special circumstances warning, he can then volunteer time to his alma mater, Woodham High School in Pensacola, FL. It will be then, and only then - when kids see Gatlin accept his fate as an adult - that the greater lesson will be learned.

In the meantime, I wish Gatlin the best as he takes one step at a time toward clearing his name.

For Further reading:

• Does a Role Model Have Responsibility?
• Gatlin to Coach High Schoolers

Black December

Story written by EPelle

Christmas is soon upon me, as it is every year at this time. I'm unprepared as usual, but I know exactly what I want to purchase, for whom, how many, and hope to God those products are still on the shelves as I make my way down the street to the electronics stores.

I'd like to have been ahead of the game this year, but, once again, I am on the sofa, the money is still in the wallet, and the ears have yet to ring from any holiday store music attempting to stifle my resistance to purchase more.

So I find myself today spending a couple minutes pondering the meaning of athletics - trying to make sense of a season which began with a bang (Kajsa Bergqvist setting an indoor WR of 2.08m), endured two large drugs scandals in Justin Gatlin and Marion Jones, and ended with headlines of the same nature.

Peculiar turns in Gatlin story; Landis, Gatlin lead the way in year of doping; Another year rocked by dope; and so on down the list of doping headlines have popped up the first 19 days of December in attempts to provoke me to read further. The latest, one which just alerted me from the bottom of my laptop screen minutes ago, states that Germany's Grit Breuer is seeking IAAF compensation for being unfairly banned in 1992. Read story.

The convenience I appreciate with RSS feeds is astounding. I receive information on anything and everything athletics-related from sources around the world, and in some cases, as soon as the author has pressed the enter key.

It's a great feeling to sit at the helm with such information, knowing I can leak interesting stories to message boards and blog spots as quickly as they develop. The ease of providing this information has also meant I have pounded out my fair share of doping stories, and have inundated fans with headlines declaring this to have been a year of trials, testings, sabotage and secret results made public by still unknown sources in the know.

I never thought I would get tired of reading news, as news is what moves blood through my message board veins; it is the lifeline by which I have been perceived as a hunter and gatherer for a small number of fans around the world. The contents of the news provided to me this year and passed on to others varied considerably - from an all-time, burst with excitement level, to a fastboll down the plate, struck-out looking with the bases loaded one.

I was as inspired as the next guy - probably more than so - when Bergqvist shocked the universe with her outer-worldly performance in Arnstadt, Germany. I knew she had it in her. She demonstrates the epitome of what it means to be resilient, and her unsinkable drive and determination have taken her to places no woman has ever before discovered in an indoor arena anywhere. Ever.

However, the fanwagon rolled up to such a high place, that it was inevitable the news equal and opposite her excellent addition to the athletics world would be in an athlete tying a world record, but being subsequently stripped of that merit.

Gatlin kept the rollercoaster going with the frenzied speed of his 100m heat and final in Qatar bringing excellent hope in the form of a Gatlin-Asafa Powell showdown with no slowdown. They never raced head-to-head, instead competing in different heats in Eugene at the Pre Classic, and at no more meets together the remainder of the season.

The RSS feed covering doping topics beeped late on Saturday, 2006-July-29, causing my passion for sprints to take an alarming dive. Gatlin had tested positive for testosterone or precursors to it.

I was filled up to the ears with information - much of it incomplete - by the major editors around the world. Smaller, lesser-known papers carried syndicated stories of this foul event, with some adding their own feelings of contempt this could occur after the BALCO headlines seemed to have died out.

I contributed a number of posts to Track & Field News following the controlled information Gatlin's team disclosed. That message board has been recipient to more than 11.500 of my thoughts on track, field, history, and everything neither track nor field for the past three years. I felt like I ate, drank and slept all things Gatlin, and everything doping the entire month of July.

Powell continued running 9,77-second sprints as though he was on autopilot, netting him IAAF Male Athlete of the Year, and Jamaican Athlete of the Year. He won so many times - he never lost - that he split a share of the $1.000.000 Golden League jackpot for his efforts.

When news wasn't on Gatlin or Powell - or Sanya Richards breaking the USA 400m record, it was on the European Championships held in my own backyard. Names like Tia Hellebaut, Susanna Kallur, Francis Obikwelu, Johan Wissman, André Silnov and Tatyana Lysenko filled the airwaves and newsposts.

Then drugs were introduced into the mix, right smack at the end of what is considered to be a fantastic championships experience.

A bag of what seemed to be used doping products with Russian labels was found outside of the hotel the Russians, Poles and others were calling home during their one-week stay in Göteborg. It turned out to be a dead-end chase for those seeking a hot story about doped athletes. The polis, who investigate drug-related issues, dropped the investigation, and no one was suspected or charged.

The second newsworthy item which found its way to writer blogs was suspicions athletes have of a certain female high jumper who rarely seems to compete outside of her home country, and has found a new stride and height in her aging body this year. Our papers here don't shy away from stating they have suspicions of such athletes, and their mentioning drugs-testing and athletes in August was only an omen of things to come.

Marion Jones did the rest.

Everyone jumped on the bandwagon in August, and in September, when she was declared not guilty, everyone jumped on the system which allowed for leaks of such information.

Jones' great escape from Zürich overshadowed several other names in the news.

When push came to shove, those with the news - myself included - found it juicier, tastier and more concrete to follow a story of possible corruption and cover-up than to talk about a white kid who began threatening Africans; a black kid running the 2nd-fastest 200m of all-time; a Texan who found a will to win ever time he stepped on the track for his same-lane interval run; a Belgian who wound up not being a one-meet wonder; and to minimise Powell's streak of sub-10 performances as ho-hum, when on any given day, one - or all - of his performances would have been headlines elsewhere.

The season ended last week in Qatar with the conclusion of the Asian Games. Liu Xiang ran a meet record 13,17 in capping off what had been a fantastic season for the newly-crowned world-record holder (12,88). December should have been pure, keeping out talk of drugs and anything drugs-related.

Yet, despite talk of Xiang's victory, I was fed stories on Asian athletes doping and being disqualified, and of one who failed a "sex" test. Tammy Thomas, an obscure cyclist from who knows where - I don't follow her sport - was indicted by her US government last week for having lied to federal prosecutors, and for obstructing justice.

Graham, Jones and Gatlin - who all should be elsewhere off my December radar - each find themselves thrust in the middle of the news again. Graham is fighting similar charges as Thomas; Jones has to fend off accusations she may have lied to those same authorities, while simultaneously considering whether to retire; and Gatlin, who is mentioned any time Graham does, may be up for review next month to fight off his drugs-related offense.

One thing I wish for Christmas is a single, solitary day where the world stands still, drugs stories get stuck on a server, and I have no reason to feel an hourly need to click on that small rotating white cube on the lower right of my icon tray. For everything else there is a bank card.

Trevor Graham's Memory Improves

Story written by EPelle

Trevor Graham has been healed. His memory - faded and jaded from unnecessary federal agent phone calls, trips to the San Francisco Bay Area to plea for charges of which he says he is innocent- has come back clearer than ever, and he has been blessed by Google in his search to bring to justice the criminal who wrecked his main man, Justin Gatlin.

According to the Washington Post, Trevor Graham insists he recalls more than ever what happened to Gatlin, and that a plot by attackers was underway to get back at Graham for turning in the THG-tainted syringe which ultimately brought down the wall on the undercover BALCO affairs.

Amy Shipley quotes people to tell a story which seems to lend credibility to Graham. However, in the context of what was previously stated by Graham in august, these proponent quotes only make Graham look all the more palpable and even sillier than he had appeared to be.

The best thing for Trevor Graham at this point is to simply zip it up, call it a career, and turn off the light after he leaves. Neither Gatlin's attorneys nor Gatlin have spoken on Graham's interpretation of the april 2006 events, nor have they offered any more information on the initial claim Graham made this past summer. They actually distanced themselves from Graham once he opened up the world to the conspiracy by masseur story. The masseur's attorney claimed that Graham was not speaking on behalf of Gatlin.

Shipley gives us a warm-fuzzy by bringing in Bob Beamon's wife to speak good will of Gatlin.

"I have no doubt in my mind he didn't do anything," said Robin Beamon, the ex-wife of legendary long jumper Bob Beamon and a friend of Gatlin's who is involved in youth track and field in Miami. It just goes against everything this kids stands for. Once you wade through all the craziness, what did he stand to lose or gain? It was the Kansas Relays. He was . . . at the top of the world."

Several of the world's top doped athletes have been reported to test positive in march and april, Tim Montgomery the latest of the "big" names which comes immediately to mind prior to Gatlin. What Gatlin stood to gain was sole possession of the world record it would later show, as Asafa Powell attempted to shove his way (nicely) through, but couldn't knock Gatlin off the =WR list. If doping provides 0,01-seconds of improvement over 100m, the risk to an athlete whose bonus money included WR performances could be worth it in lieu of not being discovered.

She (Bob Beamon's wife) concluded above that Gatlin was at the top of the world. There appears to be a reason why he was at the top of the world.

Later, Graham speculated that he -- not Gatlin -- might have been the target because of anger in the track and field world surrounding his decision to send the syringe filled with steroids to USADA in 2003. The federal investigation that Graham launched resulted in five criminal convictions and more than a dozen athlete suspensions. According to that theory, Graham's enemies wanted to take him down by implicating Gatlin, his star runner.

Wow. How smart is this guy, Trevor Graham?

If this was really the case, that the masseur wanted to get back at Graham, one simple way would have been to plant evidence on Graham's possession, in his vehicle or at his home, call the authorities and say that he had seen Graham take with him a prohibited substance. Busted, and no one would ever doubt again that Graham had any connection to doping athletes.

Instead, we get this ridiculous story - which has gotten much more interesting and more detailed as time has gone along (what recollection Graham has) - about a pink coloured "s" swiggle, and a recollection that Gatlin told Graham to basically back off when the commotion started. First we learned that it was Graham who wanted to intercede, but the tube was quickly put away in Christopher Whetstine's pocket, and Graham didn't think anything more of it. Now it has changed and become more elaborate with Gatlin stating, "Let him do his job, man!"

Something strange I would like to acknowledge here is that if Graham had any concern for Gatlin, who apparently went through every conceivable precaution as to not ever test positive (including locking his luggage, ordering room service when away), he would have stopped everything right then and there, and told Gatlin he was concerned with what had just occured; he would have rushed Whetstine and forced his hand into the pocket. He didn't. What neatly disappeared in this version of Trevor Graham's Looking Darn Good story is the portion where Graham apparently told Whetstine that Gatlin didn't need a massage in the first place.

"All I saw was the massage therapist go into a bag and bring out something else," Walker said. "He rubbed something else on Justin. . . . It was right there in front of me. It wasn't what he used on Shawn."

Indeed, I had to chuckle over this one. Would one athlete necessarily have the same treatment as another one? Would they complain if Gatlin ate a Snickers and Crawford was offered a Twix instead?

Shipley continues by quoting Cedric Walker, USA Track and Field's former relay program manager, who said he observed Whetstine working on sprinter Shawn Crawford and Gatlin after a training session in Lawrence.

Another scratch your head statement. Ask yourself why this is important after the fact. Why? Because Graham's little corner of henchmen need to provide some basis that proves that Whetstine was in contact with Gatlin more than once.

However, as the article states, Gatlin had only tested positive in april at the Kansas relays; he had been clean on six other occasions. Graham, in an ESPN feature article written by Michael Fish in the summer, stated that the testers had seemed to be on a stalking mission, so to speak, and had been tipped to head to his camp several times in one week. If Whetstine was using an illegal cream on Gatlin, and he wanted to get back at Graham, it would have been easier to call USADA, tell them Gatlin was using, spread some cream on him, and have them show up on an agreed upon day for an out of competition test. The one-application, one-test positive seems impractical for Kansas relays as far as a setup is concerned.

The pink "S" version of this drug is made for women. It is purported by its manufacturer to be a "special Bio-identical USP Micronized transdermal formula to deliver DHEA, Pregnenolone, Chrysin, and Progesterone for those who have low testosterone and male or androgen hormone levels. DHEA contains the hormones known to enhance memory, energy, stamina, resistance to stress, strength, well being, workouts, sexual function, libido, and provides the hormones the body must have to make Testosterone." The pink middle portion of the bottle reaches around the back side.

I'm unsure if Whetstine is supposed to be made out to look incompetent, or if he wanted to turn Justin into a Justina.

I personally wouldn't state that I saw a white tube rushed into a pocket in this case. I'd easily remember it had a pink band around it - unless Whetstine, if he is culpable for this action - immediately put his palm around the lower middle of the tube, and flipped it around while supposedly putting this exact product in his lab coat. For those who want to argue that it was placed in a jacket pocket very quickly, and Graham couldn:t have seen the colour, then he couldn:t have seen the "s", either.

Alas, Mr. Whetstine must have been a silly goose in this case. According to Graham, Whetstine so badly wanted to get Graham through Gatlin, that Whetstine is to have doped him with a women's product when there existed a men's product with a black band and a black "s". Whetstine must have been in such a hurry that he inadvertantly grabbed the wrong bottle, or been such a goof that he didn't know the pink from the black.

Ladies and gentlemen stay tuned to for the next episode of Trevor Graham Gone Wild at this exact blog spot soon.