Greek tossers sabotage 200m final

[AlariC]

"Shawn Crawford, who claimed the 200m gold in Kenteris' absence, sympathised with the crowd, saying: "I think I can understand their reaction."

I understand too..

[nikkhendrix]

I do not think that ANYONE believes Kenteris and Thanou are the only athletes who were/are competing in Athens who are dirty.
Doping is rife and it seems that some athletes have no qualms about lying about it until they have no other choice but to tell the truth ie Kelly White. Even then some keep lying.
There are many records standing today that I am sure were 'drug influenced'eg Flo jo
There are many athletes who use doping and at the end of the day it is a personel decision. You know the rules of the game before you play the game. Athletes who use doping are cheating and they know it. They are nothing but cheaters.
I am quite sure that Kenteris and Thanou knew the ramifications dodging not one but THREE mandatory drug tests.
Not to mention that devastating bicycle accident.
However, maybe you could tell my why there should be sympathy for these two...........

[Rosamunda]

If an athlete fails to finish a race, or fails to qualify for some reason, is he/she still tested??? I thought a couple of those "oops I fell over, silly me" athletes were a bit dodgy this week. One guy, who actually dived under a hurdle rather than jump over it, didn't seem at all p*****d off at failing to qualify and muttered something about "... still am the best hurdler in the world". Sounded more like saving face to me or am I way too cynical????

[nikkhendrix]

Maybe a LITTLE cynical.
But I cannot blame you. track and feild has become a real farce. Three letters DTA
Don 't Trust Anybody!

[Dan]

Yes they can be tested at any stage. If the IOC were serious about it, they could test every athlete but I feel the numbers are so high that it would ruin their brand. The olympics is no longer a sporting event, it's a brand.

[otyikondo]

If an athlete fails to finish a race, or fails to qualify for some reason, is he/she still tested??? I thought a couple of those "oops I fell over, silly me" athletes were a bit dodgy this week. One guy, who actually dived under a hurdle rather than jump over it, didn't seem at all p*****d off at failing to qualify and muttered something about "... still am the best hurdler in the world". Sounded more like saving face to me or am I way too cynical????

Penelope, I DO hope you are not suggesting that St. Paula, formerly known as "the People's Athlete", formerly known as Princess Paula of Mondo, was doing something dodgy when she had a meltdown at 36 km. But no, it could not be, for she is an upright Englishwoman who would not do such a thing.

(He leaves, muttering "Dwain Chambers, what a load of old anabolics" under his breath).

As for the hurdlers, I guess there's a point, but it IS an extremely technical event, and in the case of Johnson, he'd hit a hurdle about four or five hurdles before the one he nose-dived through, and you could see his rhythm was completely screwed thereafter. So the jury's still out.

[nikkhendrix]

If an athlete fails to finish a race, or fails to qualify for some reason, is he/she still tested??? I thought a couple of those "oops I fell over, silly me" athletes were a bit dodgy this week. One guy, who actually dived under a hurdle rather than jump over it, didn't seem at all p*****d off at failing to qualify and muttered something about "... still am the best hurdler in the world". Sounded more like saving face to me or am I way too cynical????

Penelope, I DO hope you are not suggesting that St. Paula, formerly known as "the People's Athlete", formerly known as Princess Paula of Mondo, was doing something dodgy when she had a meltdown at 36 km. But no, it could not be, for she is an upright Englishwoman who would not do such a thing.

(He leaves, muttering "Dwain Chambers, what a load of old anabolics" under his breath).

As for the hurdlers, I guess there's a point, but it IS an extremely technical event, and in the case of Johnson, he'd hit a hurdle about four or five hurdles before the one he nose-dived through, and you could see his rhythm was completely screwed thereafter. So the jury's still out.

Be serious Otyikondo!
You know as well as we all do that the ONLY athletes who dope are those from the former east block nations!
COME ON!

On a more serious note, could not believe some of the things said about Radcliffes failiure in the marathon. Glad she had the class not to blame her performance on the conditions and mention that she had trained for the heat, that EVERYONE had to run in the same conditions etc
She had a bad day at the office and that is that.
Best of luck to her and all of the other athletes in the 10,000 metres.

[Rosamunda]

Penelope, I DO hope you are not suggesting that St. Paula, formerly known as "the People's Athlete", formerly known as Princess Paula of Mondo, was doing something dodgy when she had a meltdown at 36 km. But no, it could not be, for she is an upright Englishwoman who would not do such a thing.

She dodgy? Not I think. At least not in that way. One of the Sky reporters made a nice slip.... "Paula failed to complete the marathom due to a combination of the heat and humility...er I mean humidity"

She IS running tonight BTW.

[otyikondo]

Penelope, I DO hope you are not suggesting that St. Paula, formerly known as "the People's Athlete", formerly known as Princess Paula of Mondo, was doing something dodgy when she had a meltdown at 36 km. But no, it could not be, for she is an upright Englishwoman who would not do such a thing.

She dodgy? Not I think. At least not in that way. One of the Sky reporters made a nice slip.... "Paula failed to complete the marathom due to a combination of the heat and humility...er I mean humidity"

She IS running tonight BTW.

Well, anyway, in terms of column-inches, it just goes to show Dylan was right after all:

"She knows there's no success like failure
And that failure's no success at all."*
(Love Minus Zero)

*Except it IS when the failure's big enough. Coming 7th and shaking the hand of the winner just wouldn't cut the mustard.

[steev]

Do you think that Kenteris and Katerina Thanou were the only athletes who had taken some more “pills”? More than half of athletes at this Olympics have used doping. The challenge is not to be “fast, strong, and go higher” but to hide well your secret (which is doping of course…).

So do you think it's fair for the crowd to try to ruin the race for the other guys even though they HAVEN'T refused to take/avoided drugs tests? ... KK got himself into the mess, so the crowd show solidarity by trying to take away the race from the others .... ASSSSZHOOOOOLES!!!!

Our guy got caught so the race means nothing, huh?

3 choices -
1. Stop having the Olympic Games - by the way ... this year GREECE are hosting it.
2. Allow any and all drugs (anyone for Speed Ping Pong?)
3. Follow the rules as they are and stop f*cking crying about it when your guys screw up!

[otyikondo]

10,000 metres women

12. Kathy Butler (GBR) 31:41.13s

Paula Radcliffe (GBR) DNF

Three guesses as to which of these two achievements is getting all the headlines.

Well done, Kathy, whoever you are! You must live in a very hot part of England. But next time clean up your act, and give up instead.

Pass the sick bag, Alice.

[Hank W.]

http://www.avaruusmies.com/vitsit/kuvat/106.html

[otyikondo]

Some of these are fun, and some are quite prescient (note the dates). Check out Skylon's and BritwithGrit's postings and you can bet they have a crinkly mouth.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read. ... ead=522026

Don't get me wrong, I've nothing against PR, she's a fine runner, though clearly high-profile "city marathons" are not necessarily the true measure of this sport. SHE wasn't responsible for the hype, any more than Henman has been, or Beckham & Co.

I've much more against the media obsession with drama, the public's vicarious need to see people bleed in public when they themselves are desperate NOT to show emotion, and with what I see as a rather sad and nasty xenophobic streak in the British, which manifests itself in totally underestimating the opposition and assuming it's all going to be a walk in the park.

Hubris is a term from Greek tragedy. So is Nemesis. They are seldom far apart.

[nikkhendrix]

HMMMMMMM.
Paula Radcliffe fails to finish again........
Nationwide suicide watches all over England?

[AlariC]

However, maybe you could tell my why there should be sympathy for these two...........

I didn't say that there SHOULD be sympathy for them. Try to understand the crowd, their best athlete would not run the race. They just don't want to believe that he was doped; they didn't have any problem with any other athlete. I don't want to justify the crowd; I just want to understand what they were feeling.

You know as well as we all do that the ONLY athletes who dope are those from the former east block nations!
COME ON!

Man what are you talking about... Which athlete "from the former east block nations" was doped?? NONE They work very hard, that's why they are the best. I couldn't say the same for Americans...

So do you think it's fair for the crowd to try to ruin the race for the other guys even though they HAVEN'T refused to take/avoided drugs tests? ... KK got himself into the mess, so the crowd show solidarity by trying to take away the race from the others .... ASSSSZHOOOOOLES!!!!

Our guy got caught so the race means nothing, huh?

3 choices -
1. Stop having the Olympic Games - by the way ... this year GREECE are hosting it.
2. Allow any and all drugs (anyone for Speed Ping Pong?)
3. Follow the rules as they are and stop f*cking crying about it when your guys screw up!

As I said before they didn't try to ruin the race, they WANTED TO BELIEVE their athlete was unfairly kicked. You cannot call "ASSSSZHOOOOOLES" 70.000 people, that's for sure...