The IOC considering retesting samples from Athens 2004

Woddle

http://www.sportindustry.biz/news/view/11062/ioc-to-retest-athens-drug-samples

If they do I hope it doesn't detract from the London 2012. Obviously everyone wants cheats to be caught but could their timing be any worse.

Pisco Sour

Woddle wrote: »

http://www.sportindustry.biz/news/view/11062/ioc-to-retest-athens-drug-samples

If they do I hope it doesn't detract from the London 2012. Obviously everyone wants cheats to be caught but could their timing be any worse.

Fantastic timing:

1) They have statute of limitations (not sure the lenth) so they may not have much more time to do it, and

2) Some people who could still be in our sport that doped in Athens, will get kicked out before London

We've all heard on many occasions about samples being fronzen for future testing, but until they do this on a grand scale it may not be taken seriously. The thoughts of getting caught 8 years later and having your reputation completely tarnished will play on the minds of all potential cheats and people will think twice about going over to the dark side. This way you are not safe, even if you got away with it, and retired soon after. It sends the right message out IMO.

Pherekydes

Dwain Chambers and Carl Myerscough will be sleeping easy...

Truman Burbank

Having been at the 2004 Games, the standout ('where did that come from?') moment was hands-down Kelly Homles. Being able to see the entire track, and her speed around those last bends was jaw-dropping. I'll never forget it. Granted she was 35 when she retired the following year, thou I have lingering doubts.........

Pisco Sour

Fani Halkia was the most blatent drugs cheat in Athens. Went from 56 to 52 in one year. Oh, and she was caught 3 or 4 years later, so I can say it here as much as I want without having to break the charter :):D:):D

FANI HALKIA IS A CHEAT, and I hope they bust her ass when retesting these samples, and take that gold medal off her!!!!!

myflipflops

Truman Burbank wrote: »

Having been at the 2004 Games, the standout ('where did that come from?') moment was hands-down Kelly Homles. Being able to see the entire track, and her speed around those last bends was jaw-dropping. I'll never forget it. Granted she was 35 when she retired the following year, thou I have lingering doubts.........

Seriously? You would pick Kelly Holmes as the 'where did that come from' moment? kelly Holmes was a medalist in Sydney in 2000 as well as 3 previous World Champs dating back to 1995.

How about the whole Greek team.

Ignoring the farce that was the Thanou/Kenteris situation. Fani Chalkia (subsequently banned in 2008) and Athanasia Tsoumeleka (banned in 2009) both came from absolutely nowhere a year or two before to win gold medals in the 400 hurdles and 20km walk respectively. Falkia knocked 4 seconds off her PB between 2003 and 2004.

<Snip>

The Greek performance at those Games was an absolute farce. Kelly Holmes greatest crime against athletics and humanity is the god awful autobiography she produced after the Games.

myflipflops

I don't remember my exact phrasing but I'm pretty sure I did not accuse or directly infer any drug accusations against Hrysopiyi Devetzi. I purposely mentioned her in a seperate paragraph from Halkia and Tsoumeleka for that reason.

The initial statement about Holmes I disagreed with was that she was THE 'where did that come from' moment. Devetzi certainly counts as a bigger surprise than Holmes having never won any championship medal prior to 2004.

Pisco Sour

Truman Burbank wrote: »

Having been at the 2004 Games, the standout ('where did that come from?') moment was hands-down Kelly Homles. Being able to see the entire track, and her speed around those last bends was jaw-dropping. I'll never forget it. Granted she was 35 when she retired the following year, thou I have lingering doubts.........

Nothing surprising about Kelly Holmes at all. She was 3rd in Sydney (behind Mutola and Graf), and 2nd in Paris the year before Athens (again behind Mutola). In 2004, Mutola was in decline, and Holmes beat her. Nothing shocking at all. And Holmes had been performing at a top level going back to 1994/1995. She won medals in the World's in Gothenburg in 95, and she was among the strong favourites (if not THE favourite) to win in Athens 1997 but had to pull out through injury the morning of the heats of the 1500. In 1995 Sonia won 19 of 20 races that season. The one she lost was to Kelly Holmes over 1500m in Gateshead.

Don't understand how people seem to think she came out of nowhere. This isn't a Michelle Smith scenario at all.

Pisco Sour

myflipflops wrote: »

I don't remember my exact phrasing but I'm pretty sure I did not accuse or directly infer any drug accusations against Hrysopiyi Devetzi. I purposely mentioned her in a seperate paragraph from Halkia and Tsoumeleka for that reason.

The initial statement about Holmes I disagreed with was that she was THE 'where did that come from' moment. Devetzi certainly counts as a bigger surprise than Holmes having never won any championship medal prior to 2004.

Ecoli, I think you may need to re-edit myflipflops post:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/9430384.stm
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/trackandfield/news/story?id=6237237

No surprise. You don't lump 1 metre onto a 14.3x triple jump PB in the space of a year in your late 20s by natural means.

CoachDudie

Truman Burbank wrote: »

Having been at the 2004 Games, the standout ('where did that come from?') moment was hands-down Kelly Homles. Being able to see the entire track, and her speed around those last bends was jaw-dropping. I'll never forget it. Granted she was 35 when she retired the following year, thou I have lingering doubts.........

Yes, I remember saying that at the time. There's no doubting that she was a good runner but double Olympic gold medalist? At 34?
I think she set a pb in one of the finals too and didn't she move somewhere in Africa to train for a couple of years prior to the Athens Olympics. I think with Mutola but I might be mistaken.
Now even if they find something wrong with Holmes, I can't see them releasing it ahead of London but at the same time I'm shocked they are taking this step of re-testing samples so anything can happen.

echat

Do the IOC systematically test all finalists or only top 3 etc. i.e. which samples are they able to retest

TFBubendorfer

echat wrote: »

Do the IOC systematically test all finalists or only top 3 etc. i.e. which samples are they able to retest

All of them, I presume. Tests have improved since 2004, and drugs that could not be detected back then can now.

I think the timing is fine. A cheat from 2004 still active can be stopped from competing in the 2012 Olympics if caught now (I presume that's the whole idea).

Truman Burbank

myflipflops wrote: »

Seriously? You would pick Kelly Holmes as the 'where did that come from' moment? kelly Holmes was a medalist in Sydney in 2000 as well as 3 previous World Champs dating back to 1995.

How about the whole Greek team.

Ignoring the farce that was the Thanou/Kenteris situation. Fani Chalkia (subsequently banned in 2008) and Athanasia Tsoumeleka (banned in 2009) both came from absolutely nowhere a year or two before to win gold medals in the 400 hurdles and 20km walk respectively. Falkia knocked 4 seconds off her PB between 2003 and 2004.

<Snip>

The Greek performance at those Games was an absolute farce. Kelly Holmes greatest crime against athletics and humanity is the god awful autobiography she produced after the Games.

Yeah, seriously.

Edit: "the standout ('where did that come from?') moment for me was hands-down Kelly Homles...."

Had indeed referenced Kenteris perviously.
The Dogs on The Athens' Streets knew about Halkia, long before Beijing.
Refer back to thread title for The Whole Greek Team!

Truman Burbank

04072511 wrote: »

Nothing surprising about Kelly Holmes at all. She was 3rd in Sydney (behind Mutola and Graf), and 2nd in Paris the year before Athens (again behind Mutola). In 2004, Mutola was in decline, and Holmes beat her. Nothing shocking at all. And Holmes had been performing at a top level going back to 1994/1995. She won medals in the World's in Gothenburg in 95, and she was among the strong favourites (if not THE favourite) to win in Athens 1997 but had to pull out through injury the morning of the heats of the 1500. In 1995 Sonia won 19 of 20 races that season. The one she lost was to Kelly Holmes over 1500m in Gateshead.

Don't understand how people seem to think she came out of nowhere. This isn't a Michelle Smith scenario at all.

You're a cycling enthusiast, right?

Giz a bio there on Lance Armstrong :cool:

Pisco Sour

Truman Burbank wrote: »

The Dogs on The Athens' Streets knew about Halkia, long before Beijing.

I think anybody with half a brain knew at the time that she was up to the gills. The alarm sirens were ringing off in my house anyway. 56 to 52. Some powerful cough medicine she was on.

Not sure what the relevance of your Pharmstrong comment is though.