I’m not mad bout him testing positive. I mad that he just gave bolt a free pass to give everyone the bizness at worlds.
WHAT THE FUUUCCKKK??? 0_o
It made front page of ESPN:
Unbelievable! I’m mad that I just got robbed of one of the best sprint showdowns of all time. And Gay’s comments don’t sound too encouraging, We may have seen the last time Tyson Gay ever competes.
He will compete again.
With Kim Collins running fast at his age, these guys will continue to run as long as they don’t get banned or hurt.
Contaminated supplements, this is nothing new, there are numerous studies on this. There are hundreds of supplements with epinephrine like compounds and most protein powders will give a positive test of nandrolone. But typically journalist want to sensationalise a story rather than investigate what the facts are.
I will just wait for this to play out in the relevant systems. Agree with Sharmer on the sensationalism of the story.
I think you put your post under the wrong thread. Powell and Simpson were the ones who tested positive for a stimulant. It hasn’t been announced what Gay tested positive for, but judging from the comments from Tyson himself, I would say it’s not the type of thing that will just go away like a stimulant positive.
News was he has withdrwn from the worlds, I think that speaks volumes unfortunately. I was looking forward to seeing him against Bolt.
This was the title in the Globe and Mail in Toronto today.
" It was a grim day in the track world…"
[b]It will always be tough to avoid negative comments regarding political rhetoric currently going on in Track and Field in the world.
It’s especially tough to comment when we see behaviors endemic to athletes without any support for those athletes that other professional organizations seem to have.
Track and field is a sport that has fed talent into so many other sports where unions educate and organize athletes so they have choices for a range of successes.
It’s a tough environment out their to compete for only one spot in say the men’s 100 meter title of " Best sprinter in the world".
The prize for one spot seems to matter most and all other victories fall by the way side.
I wonder why we do not start more discussion about how to create change in this sport and talk more about the power given to the agencies that exclude the athlete’s as part of the solution?[/b]
Good point Angela.
Events that have become hugely popular here are one’s without winners.
Eg tough mudder and events like that.
So I think the ability to develop events that creates fast guys without focusing on only one guy can become a reality.
I suggested a while ago that there needs to be a professional sprinting league akin to the NFL and NBA. These are the 2 most successful professional sporting organizations in the world, so why not try to start emulating them. The sprint events 400m (specifically the 100 and 200) and below are where ALL the money is, so why not cut out the events that drag down meets and generate little to no fan interest. Then, you can cut out all the bs bureaucratic organizations like the IAAF, WADA, USADA, and all the other -ADA’s, and the usually terrible national federation’s who obsessively attempt to enforce unenforceable and unrealistic standards. The new professional sprinting league would be in charge of everything, including drug testing, like the NFL and NBA. There would be a union for the athletes to ensure that everyone is getting paid and not just Usain Bolt. Much simpler and PROVEN design. And let’s be honest, when was the last time you heard of any NBA player test positive for a PED? When was the last time a big name NFL star tested positive? The protection is already built in. Obviously this would not be popular with the rest of the Track and Field/Athletics world but when almost all of a sports biggest names of past and present are sniped by tests or are in some way associated with a controversy, then that sport is destined to die off. Change needs to be made.
They should do like bodybuilding and have natural track and a regular track league. Then see which one the fans flock to.
- an american sprint/sprint workout league comprised of 8 competitions occuring every 2 weeks
-each competition contains relays 4x100m, 4x200m, 4x100, 200, 300, 400m(medley relay) - the 4 professional league teams(hockey, football, baseball, basketball) each donate 1million - 15 million per year to make up the prize money(a very broad generalist revenue sharing protocol)
-schwarzenegger with help of obama enforces the team owners donate their share
-also contains complementary/paired ‘athlete readiness’ training events i.e. the 50/60/70/80m sprint than within an hour or 2 you do a bench squat or deadlift or pull ups(athlete readiness means if you only feel like running to 40 or 50 then you could and still get paid, as well if you could lift a heavy weight after the sprint you could and get paid)
-also a 100/110/120/130m complementary/paired ‘athlete readiness’ event with same lifts aforementioned
-prize for the sprint/lift events is based on split time analysis and weight lifted.i.e run a 4.5x 40m then bench 400lbs (you earn $40,000 for the sprint and $40,000 for the lift…run a 5.4x 50m then squat 400lbs. you earn $50,000 for sprint and $40,000 for the lift) - if you can only sprint for the ‘athlete readiness event’ and you run a 60m in 6.3x you earn $60,000(but if you run the full 80m in 7.9x you earn 80,000 plus an extra 10,000 for hitting each of the fast 50, 60, 70, splits.
-5.6x 50m would earn you $40,000…6.4x 60m would get $50,000…7.2x 70m would get $60,000…8.0x 80m would get $70,000
-split time-based/pyramid based prize money is awarded for the relays i.e. running an 8.7x 4x100m split awards $100,000, 8.8x awards $95,000, 8.9x awards $90,000, 9.0x awards $85,000…running an 17.4x 4x200m split awards $150,000
-its similar to crossfit in a sense, only with the paired complementary events
-run a 9.5x 100m earn $200,000 plus 30,000 for the accompanying fast 50,60,70,and 80m splits
-run 9.6x 100m earn $180,000 plus $25,000 for each accompanying 50,60,70,80m
split
Continued…
-the 100/110/120/130/140m will be run on a straight
-run a 10.3x 110m split earns $230,000 plus $30,000 each for each accompanying 50/60/70/80m split…a 10.4x 110m earns $210,000 plus $25,000 each for each accompanying splits…a 10.5x 110m earns $200,000 compared to a 9.7x 100m which earns $160,000
-9.8x 100m earns $140,000…9.9x 100m earns $120,000…10.0x 100m earns $100,000…10.1x 100m earns $80,000… at the end of the lineis 10.3x 100m earning $40,000
-accompanying 50,60,70,80m split prize money tops out at $30,000 per each individual split for a 9.5x 100m…and ends at $5,000 per for a 10.0x 100m
-315lb. Heavy lifts after sprint events are worth $30,000…$405 lb. Lifts after sprints worth $40,000…$495 lb. Lifts after sprints worth $50,000…$585 lb. Lifts after sprints worth $60,000
-a 11.1x 120m is worth $260,000…an 11.9x 130m is worth $290,000…a 12.8x 140m is worth $320,000
- going down the 140m pay scale…$
-you could even have shorter ‘athlete readiness’ time trials…such as the 20/30/40m sprint/ weight lift event…limit 40m pay prizes at times/cut-offs in 4.7x range where a 4.5x would earn $60,000 and 4.7x earning $20,000…a 30m prize limit cut off at around 3.8x earning $20,000 would exist whereas 3.6x would yield $60,000 - if a stockier athlete runs a 3.6x 30m then lifts 495 lbs. Lhe earns $110,000($60,000 sprint + $50,000 lift)
-arnold schwarzenegger would be owner, ben johnson would be the president, mo greene would be the vice president, steve williams would be meet manager
all good ideas. I would love to see something like this… 
Yes, Prophet. It’s a great idea to professionalize sprinting and or all track and field events.
I had heard years ago that Edwin Moses was interested in leading a union for our beloved sport. Now he sits with the big dogs upholding status quo. Ummm. Mr. Sergei Bubka … same … although I never heard he wanted to start a union but he is also part of the IAAF.
Superstars of this magnitude would be needed to lead the way or no one would care to follow.
My thoughts are that track inherently fosters an every man for himself mentality opposed to a more civilized way of cooperation by all for mutual success. Charlie and I were most impressed by the various team sport athletes that came to work with us along the way. So much so I began my own coaching at grassroots for soccer. Thankfully I am not seeing any politics in this sport what so ever…
You have put a fair bit of thought into this Flettotenko. It’s interesting to me why nothing changes. I like to think and talk about change. Change is so hard but such a constant for all of us.