Lightning Bolt wows the British crowds

[Jangle]

but win overshadowed by team-mates' drugs shame


By Neil Wilson
Last updated at 11:32 PM on 24th July 2009

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No dramatics last night at Crystal Palace from Usain Bolt to remind us of Beijing but drama nonetheless.
Two of his training partners may lose their places at next month's world championships after testing positive for drugs. Five unnamed Jamaicans from their world championship team have failed drugs tests after their national championships. The positive tests were confirmed by the IAAF during last night's Aviva London Grand Prix, and sources in Jamaica report that two of them are members of the Racers Track Club run by Bolt's coach Glen Mills and train with Bolt.
It is believed all five sprinters - four men and a woman - were found to have stimulants in their system, crimes not considered serious and nothing to fuel suspicions that have surrounded the Jamaican sprinters since Asafa Powell claimed the world 100 metres record in 2005.

Lightning Bolt: Usain Bolt destroyed the competition in the 100metres at Crystal Palace finishing in a time of 9.91 secs - but five Jamaicans have failed drugs tests

Most stimulants are punishable only by cautions, although a side effect of that might be the loss of their places in Jamaica's team. Bolt said: 'I'm not sure who it is yet. I'm sure it's not me so I'm not really worried.
'Definitely it's sad to know there are still drugs (in the sport) but for me it doesn't really matter. As long as I'm clean I'm just going forward.
'It's sad for the sport because it was getting on so well. I was trying to bring it back. This is probably a step backwards because people start questioning everybody, especially from Jamaica.'
Bolt kept his year-long unbeaten record at 100m but once again was defeated in his desire to make a spectacular mark before the world championships - and give the best value for his likely $150,000 appearance fee - by Europe's weather.
Rain washed away those hopes in Lausanne and Paris this month. Last night, at an arena filled to its 16,000 capacity in expectation of another Lightening Bolt spectacular, wind limited super-human endeavours.
Great entertainer: Bolt performed his usual theatrics - much to the delight of the south London crowd


Not that Bolt ever gives less than value for money. His theatrics before he went to his starting blocks, the familiar pose of a lightening bolt, delighted his supporters and, for once, he rose from those blocks like he meant business.
Six of the field are members of the Sub Ten Club who have covered 100m in better than even time. Among them was Bolt's great Jamaican rival Powell, from whom he took the world record last year.
Yet by 50m there was only one man in the race and, though a winning time of 9.91sec does not enhance his cv, it was breathtaking when run into a head-wind of minus 1.7m per sec.
A similar following wind could have produced a new world record. His superiority in his last race before the world championships was total. His closest challenger, another Jamaican Yohan Blake, finished in 10.11sec. Over 100m at this level a margin of a fifth of a second is a country mile.
'I feel really good about going to Berlin now. I am going there on a mission,' said the double Olympic champion and world record holder. Simeon Williamson, one of the Britons Powell accused of being lazy


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-1202046/Lightning-Bolt-wows-British-crowds-win-overshadowed-team-mates-drugs-shame.html#ixzz0MDtOHOFo

[Jangle]

The BullSh!t starts.



Jamaica's Beijing glory under a cloud of suspicion•


Carl Lewis and Victor Conte had pointed fingers
• Anti-doping organisation criticised lack of testing
Buzz up!
Digg it
Anna Kessel guardian.co.uk, Saturday 25 July 2009 01.23 BST Article history
Victor Conte said he was 'highly suspicious' about possible doping in the Caribbean. Photograph: George Nikitin/AP

For those who held suspicions, the news of five Jamaican athletes testing positive for drugs will not come as a surprise. A number of high-profile figures in the sport, from the legendary former sprinter Carl Lewis to Victor Conte, whose Balco clinic supplied Dwain Chambers and Marion Jones, have all openly condemned Jamaica's drug testing regime, suggesting that athletes are slipping through the net.

"To see the fastest people in the world coming from one island [Jamaica], I'm highly suspicious," said Conte. "I believe there's rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs in the Caribbean." Dr Adrian Lorde, head of the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organisation, singled out Jamaica for criticism last year, complaining that the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (Jadco) was not conducting enough tests.

Last summer Jamaica stunned the world, winning 10 Olympic medals in the sprints and relays in Beijing, with Usain Bolt breaking three world records and catapulting himself to superstar status. Still the murmurs continued and media speculation about a perceived Jamaican drugs problem hit frenzied heights. In response Jamaican athletes, understandably, felt persecuted. In the build-up to last year's Olympics Asafa Powell complained that he and fellow Jamaican sprinters were being targeted. "They are taking so much blood that we are going to be very weak for the finals of the 100 metres," he said.

Mike Fennell, president of the Jamaica Olympic Association, described those who doubted Jamaica's ability to catch drugs cheats as "bad-minded", commenting that, "anybody who wants to make comments about our attention to testing, our anti-doping measures are doing that with malicious intent".

Jamaica was adamant there was no drug problem and Bolt's coach, Glen Mills, was no exception. When the Guardian visited Jamaica earlier this year he said that Jamaican athletics did not have a drugs problem.

"Jamaica does not have a drug culture. We have never had an athlete who has had his entire athletic life in Jamaica have any kind of drug problem. That's just not us. We take our athletics very seriously. The nation at large would be very hurt, and very hard on anybody who would bring their fun into disrepute and the athletes know that. Here we hate cheats. Sometimes they [athletes] go away and bad influence and they get corrupt but here we don't tolerate it.

"Who wants to think what they want will. We can't stop them from saying but we're willing to be tested every day and every minute of the day because we are just training and we've got nothing to hide. You only worry when you've got something to hide."

Only one man,the IAAF council member and former president of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA) Teddy McCook, was prepared to adopt a more realistic stance. "I wouldn't say that I sleep easy," said McCook, with a concerned expression. "One of the things that I have to keep on saying to my colleagues here in Jamaica, is that we have a tendency whenever someone runs fast from the US we say, 'They're on drugs', and whenever our guys run fast, 'we're talented'. But we have to be very careful because we're under the microscope. We must keep our fingers crossed that something doesn't go bust on you. There will always be a coach who will take a short cut.

"When you're talking about somebody's future, people try things that will enhance the performance. We've got to be very conscious that this exists."

Still McCook refused to corroborate the opinion that Jamaica is lagging behind in testing its athletes – both in and out of competition.

"We were the fifth most tested nation last year," he said. But for McCook the solution should be as much about deterring those potential offenders as catching them.

The 70-year-old has spent the last 18 years pushing for a change in IAAF policy to lengthen the ban served by convicted drugs cheats from two years to life. "In 1991 I put a motion on the board of the IAAF congress and, when the vote came in, it was 191 against, two for. The other person supporting was Sir Arthur Gold. [now deceased]"

McCook knows just how damaging a high-profile conviction in Jamaica could be. Asked what the repercussions would be for a top Jamaican sprinter testing positive for drugs he was adamant: "It would kill the sport," he said.

For a nation who turn out in their tens of thousands to watch children compete in the national schools championships each year, that kind of blow would hit hard at the heart of the island's love affair with track and field.

[Willi]

Dem aggo tiad fi see wi face...

[Historian]

Don't Downplay It

Dem aggo tiad fi see wi face...

Yes, and we’re also probably going to “tiad fe hear the accusations”!!

Willi, there are, I’m sure, a significantly high number of countries within the region and in the wider world who are now probably licking their fingers with gleeful anticipation! This thing is very serious, and the Jamaican tendency to “drag our feet” did nothing more than fuel the allegations and the speculation following our magnificent performance in Beijing last year.

There is absolutely no excuse for a country which has been winning international medals long before Beijing to have taken so long to put its house in order as far as the implementation of a national drug policy and all that that entails is concerned! There is no way that a former drug cheat like Dwain Chambers should have been allowed to train and participate in Jamaica for months without a single drug test being conducted on him, as he alleged recently!

Being laid back is nice for the tourism brochures, but in real life it has contributed in no small way to countless problems that Jamaica has faced and still faces today.

Glen Mills’ comment to the UK Guardian, I believe, hit the nail squarely on the head, and I agree 100-percent with Mills. On the other hand, we would be naïve to ignore the reality (and possibility) of the things that Teddy McCook referred to in the article. Both men made excellent points!

In the final analysis, my heartfelt sympathy goes to our athletes, the majority of whom are decent young Jamaicans who, I genuinely believe, base their performance on two things: (a) their natural talent, of which they have been aware since their days at our high school championships, and (b) their dedication and strong work ethic. I’m not saying that there are no Jamaican athletes who wouldn’t use illegal means to get an edge. What I’m saying is that I firmly believe that the vast majority of Jamaican athletes have made a conscious choice not to go this route, because they believe that they do not need to do so!

[Islandman]

I agree fully. It is going to be really annoying to hear the references to this incident every time a Jamaican sprinter steps on the track for the rest of the season.

But I guess that is just the nature of track and field these days, we accuse thier athletes of cheating , and they accuse ours.

[Dunny]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/8168375.stmBolt highlights

[Dunny]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/8168665.stm

[Sickko]

Thought I was the only person who agreed with both Mills and McCook. I have been a T&F fan long enough to recall when RJR broke the news of the 110m hurdler Foster who was the first Jamaican to test positive for a banned substance and between then and now we have had our fair share of drug failures and public warnings.

I leave the histrionics to people like the past two Sports Ministers Portia and Babsie to chat crap about all our athletes running on pure talent and yellow yam.