ToughJ.Riggins
Hall of Famer
Top US athletes hope Graham trial clears air
By BOB BAUM, AP Sports Writer May 15, 9:02 pm EDT
CARSON, Calif. (AP)â€â€Several leading U.S. track and field athletes say they are hoping the upcoming trial of once-prominent coach Trevor Graham will clear the air and bring an end to the latest ugly chapter in the drug-stained sport.
Jeremy Wariner, Olympic gold medalist and two-time world 400-meter champ, is asking those turned off by the sport's troubles "to believe in us again."
Wariner, Tyson Gay and Veronica Campbell-Brown were among those who appeared at a news conference Thursday in advance of Sunday's Adidas Classic, the first of the three major U.S. meets leading up to the U.S. Olympic trials in late June.
Graham, whose former pupils include disgraced sprinter Marion Jones, goes on trial in San Francisco on Monday on charges of lying to federal investigators when he denied he obtained performance-enhancing drugs from weight trainer Angel "Memo" Heredia.
Several of Graham's former athletes are expected to testify for the prosecution, including former Olympic 1,600-meter relay champion Antonio Pettigrew.
"Hopefully this trial does help and crack it down and break everything out," Wariner said. "Like I've said in the past, I'm clean, I know I'm clean, so I get on the line and just do what I've got to do."
Gay said it's legitimate for the sport's elite athletes to be quizzed about the use of performance-enhancing drugs, and he knows many more questions will be coming as the Beijing Olympics grow near.
"I don't really pay attention to a lot of things like that," Gay said. "I just try to focus on training, but besides that, it's your job to ask questions. I understand that. It's our job to answer them. If it wasn't happening, we wouldn't be in this situation. Unfortunately we have to face the problem and hope that everything changes around."
Gay, the reigning world 100- and 200-meter champion, has joined world champion sprinter Allyson Felix, Olympic silver medalist decathlete Bryan Clay and nine others in a pilot program that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency hopes will improve the accuracy of tests.
Gay and the others are undergoing a series of blood and urine tests as part of the program.
"I'm busy doing things and I couldn't make some of the meetings and they understand that," Gay said. "They're still satisfied with the fact that I'm going along with the program and helping as much as possible to prove to the world that there are clean athletes in the sport."
Campbell-Brown, the 2004 Olympic 200 gold medalist and reigning world 100 champion, said the subject simply upsets her.
"I really hate talking about doping because I really don't think drugs belong in the sport," the talented Jamaican said. "A lot of athletes I think are competing clean like myself. ... I just wish that the sport could be cleaner so we could all have fun."
Bianca Knight, the 19-year-old sprinter who left the University of Texas to turn professional last winter, said the idea that competitors are doping has taken the fun out of the sport for her.
"Now I think it's all about business and it's all about running a fast time and breaking this record, and people will do anything to continue those extreme numbers," she said. "When Trevor goes on trial, I hope it cracks down a lot of people to make the sport cleaner and make it fun again."
Four-time U.S. pole vault champion Jenn Stuczynski said athletes need to be honest with themselves, as well as with those around them.
"Think of the consequences," she said. "What a disgrace to your family, yourself and your friends."
Updated May 15, 9:02
My take: My personal feeling is that Tyson Gay isn't clean, by virtue of his ridiculously perfect build for a sprinter and how he is fairly consistently going sub 10.
However I would have more faith in Gay being clean than Asafa Powell. I am almost positive that Powell is a juicer. Juicing has been huge with Jamaican sprinters in the past and Powell is dropping sub 9.9s way above and beyond what any other runner has ever done before. Jamaica in general has traditionally had in their culture easy access to drugs that are illegal in the United States and the culture doesn't seem to frown on it the same way.
I don't see how you can run two races in a row the same day and run a 9.78 (.01 away from his previous WR) and than clock a 9.74 new world record. I just am very skeptical that it is humanly possible to have that much natural talent above and beyond what any man has done before.
I think some of the top females are clean though. Allyson Felix has always had quite a slender build for a female 200 meter runner and is nowhere near as good at 100 meters as 200. Plus she comes from a very religious family and her father was a famous sprinter back in his day before becoming a preacher, so she clearly has the genes. I am almost certain that she doesn't dope at all.
I remember I saw a picture of Allyson Felix a few years back in SI after she had broken the H.S 200 Meter record as a 17 year old running a blazing 22.11. I remember looking at her picture and being in awe of how an attractive young lady could run that fast. She really had a slender build then and still very much has one now compared to known roiders like Marion Jones. The SI article said she could deadlift 270lbs and Power Clean 170 lbs. as a 16 year old girl in H.S, she's just a freak of nature. And the amazing thing was that her body didn't look like that of a freak at all. Women in general might be less likely to juice b/c on average they are more health conscious and also don't want to scare their boyfriends from looking like a man.
With Jeremy Wariner's slender build and the fact that he is much more a natural 400 meter guy than 200 guy he certainly isn't a roider. Juicing doesn't really help a 400 meter runner out a lot b/c it's about 85% fast twitch explosion/ 15% endurance and roids can hurt your endurance. If Wariner is cheating it would probably be Creatine, human growth hormone or hemoglobin enhancers which are still very illegal, but I don't think it would help him out enough to risk it.
Personally I think Michael Johnson was clean too, but Johnson was a much more natural 200 guy and did look a lot more jacked than Wariner. There's a bit of a chance he could have doped for his ridiculous 19.32 200 meter record, although I am very skeptical of this because of how classy a coach Clyde Hart is (unless he didn't know about it).
In truth I think that the 400 is one of those events where natural talent can win out over the cheaters. Juicing wouldn't really do much for you at 400 meters and hemoglobin enhancers, Creatine and human growth hormone and the like can only do so much either. I truly think Johnson just had the race of his life when he clocked a 43.18 in the twilight of his prime a few months shy of 32 years old. And I hope I'm right because I'm rooting for Wariner to break MJ's record and I heard Clyde Hart was too and we all want Wariner to do it clean. Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins
By BOB BAUM, AP Sports Writer May 15, 9:02 pm EDT
CARSON, Calif. (AP)â€â€Several leading U.S. track and field athletes say they are hoping the upcoming trial of once-prominent coach Trevor Graham will clear the air and bring an end to the latest ugly chapter in the drug-stained sport.
Jeremy Wariner, Olympic gold medalist and two-time world 400-meter champ, is asking those turned off by the sport's troubles "to believe in us again."
Wariner, Tyson Gay and Veronica Campbell-Brown were among those who appeared at a news conference Thursday in advance of Sunday's Adidas Classic, the first of the three major U.S. meets leading up to the U.S. Olympic trials in late June.
Graham, whose former pupils include disgraced sprinter Marion Jones, goes on trial in San Francisco on Monday on charges of lying to federal investigators when he denied he obtained performance-enhancing drugs from weight trainer Angel "Memo" Heredia.
Several of Graham's former athletes are expected to testify for the prosecution, including former Olympic 1,600-meter relay champion Antonio Pettigrew.
"Hopefully this trial does help and crack it down and break everything out," Wariner said. "Like I've said in the past, I'm clean, I know I'm clean, so I get on the line and just do what I've got to do."
Gay said it's legitimate for the sport's elite athletes to be quizzed about the use of performance-enhancing drugs, and he knows many more questions will be coming as the Beijing Olympics grow near.
"I don't really pay attention to a lot of things like that," Gay said. "I just try to focus on training, but besides that, it's your job to ask questions. I understand that. It's our job to answer them. If it wasn't happening, we wouldn't be in this situation. Unfortunately we have to face the problem and hope that everything changes around."
Gay, the reigning world 100- and 200-meter champion, has joined world champion sprinter Allyson Felix, Olympic silver medalist decathlete Bryan Clay and nine others in a pilot program that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency hopes will improve the accuracy of tests.
Gay and the others are undergoing a series of blood and urine tests as part of the program.
"I'm busy doing things and I couldn't make some of the meetings and they understand that," Gay said. "They're still satisfied with the fact that I'm going along with the program and helping as much as possible to prove to the world that there are clean athletes in the sport."
Campbell-Brown, the 2004 Olympic 200 gold medalist and reigning world 100 champion, said the subject simply upsets her.
"I really hate talking about doping because I really don't think drugs belong in the sport," the talented Jamaican said. "A lot of athletes I think are competing clean like myself. ... I just wish that the sport could be cleaner so we could all have fun."
Bianca Knight, the 19-year-old sprinter who left the University of Texas to turn professional last winter, said the idea that competitors are doping has taken the fun out of the sport for her.
"Now I think it's all about business and it's all about running a fast time and breaking this record, and people will do anything to continue those extreme numbers," she said. "When Trevor goes on trial, I hope it cracks down a lot of people to make the sport cleaner and make it fun again."
Four-time U.S. pole vault champion Jenn Stuczynski said athletes need to be honest with themselves, as well as with those around them.
"Think of the consequences," she said. "What a disgrace to your family, yourself and your friends."
Updated May 15, 9:02
My take: My personal feeling is that Tyson Gay isn't clean, by virtue of his ridiculously perfect build for a sprinter and how he is fairly consistently going sub 10.
However I would have more faith in Gay being clean than Asafa Powell. I am almost positive that Powell is a juicer. Juicing has been huge with Jamaican sprinters in the past and Powell is dropping sub 9.9s way above and beyond what any other runner has ever done before. Jamaica in general has traditionally had in their culture easy access to drugs that are illegal in the United States and the culture doesn't seem to frown on it the same way.
I don't see how you can run two races in a row the same day and run a 9.78 (.01 away from his previous WR) and than clock a 9.74 new world record. I just am very skeptical that it is humanly possible to have that much natural talent above and beyond what any man has done before.
I think some of the top females are clean though. Allyson Felix has always had quite a slender build for a female 200 meter runner and is nowhere near as good at 100 meters as 200. Plus she comes from a very religious family and her father was a famous sprinter back in his day before becoming a preacher, so she clearly has the genes. I am almost certain that she doesn't dope at all.
I remember I saw a picture of Allyson Felix a few years back in SI after she had broken the H.S 200 Meter record as a 17 year old running a blazing 22.11. I remember looking at her picture and being in awe of how an attractive young lady could run that fast. She really had a slender build then and still very much has one now compared to known roiders like Marion Jones. The SI article said she could deadlift 270lbs and Power Clean 170 lbs. as a 16 year old girl in H.S, she's just a freak of nature. And the amazing thing was that her body didn't look like that of a freak at all. Women in general might be less likely to juice b/c on average they are more health conscious and also don't want to scare their boyfriends from looking like a man.
With Jeremy Wariner's slender build and the fact that he is much more a natural 400 meter guy than 200 guy he certainly isn't a roider. Juicing doesn't really help a 400 meter runner out a lot b/c it's about 85% fast twitch explosion/ 15% endurance and roids can hurt your endurance. If Wariner is cheating it would probably be Creatine, human growth hormone or hemoglobin enhancers which are still very illegal, but I don't think it would help him out enough to risk it.
Personally I think Michael Johnson was clean too, but Johnson was a much more natural 200 guy and did look a lot more jacked than Wariner. There's a bit of a chance he could have doped for his ridiculous 19.32 200 meter record, although I am very skeptical of this because of how classy a coach Clyde Hart is (unless he didn't know about it).
In truth I think that the 400 is one of those events where natural talent can win out over the cheaters. Juicing wouldn't really do much for you at 400 meters and hemoglobin enhancers, Creatine and human growth hormone and the like can only do so much either. I truly think Johnson just had the race of his life when he clocked a 43.18 in the twilight of his prime a few months shy of 32 years old. And I hope I'm right because I'm rooting for Wariner to break MJ's record and I heard Clyde Hart was too and we all want Wariner to do it clean. Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins