What is your RTE Athletics panel dream team?

Pisco Sour · 12-07-2012 1:48pm #1

Over the last few years we have had Jerry Kiernan provide an analysis on things such as discus and pole vault technique. No disrespect to Jerry but what on earth would he know about such a thing. I'd probably know as much about that, and I don't know very much at all about such aspects of athletics.

So, you have 5 slots to fill to discuss athletics over the 9 days in London. The transfer market is closed so you can't lure in Michael Johnson or anybody else from abroad with a sack full of cash. Who do you pick to make RTE's coverage as well rounded and as knowledgeable as possible?

walshb · 12-07-2012 2:04pm

Daley Thompson!

Pisco Sour · 12-07-2012 2:28pm

walshb wrote: »

Daley Thompson!

What did I say about no foreign imports! Tut tut tut! :P

corny · 12-07-2012 2:45pm

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Over the last few years we have had Jerry Kiernan provide an analysis on things such as discus and pole vault technique. No disrespect to Jerry but what on earth would he know about such a thing. I'd probably know as much about that, and I don't know very much at all about such aspects of athletics.

So, you have 5 slots to fill to discuss athletics over the 9 days in London. The transfer market is closed so you can't lure in Michael Johnson or anybody else from abroad with a sack full of cash. Who do you pick to make RTE's coverage as well rounded and as knowledgeable as possible?

You don't!

walshb · 12-07-2012 2:47pm

Pisco Sour wrote: »

What did I say about no foreign imports! Tut tut tut! :P

Doh! I really have to slow down when reading!

Ok, our Daley Thompsin equivalent? Carlos Connell? That is the equivalent of ten commentators.

Mairead Murphy as a stand in.

the_real_lamp · 12-07-2012 2:47pm

Whatever about the studio analysis, the standard of commentary for the Euros was awful.
Sprints were over 5 or 6 seconds before they had a clue who won, when it was rather obvious. Will not be watching a bit of RTE's olympic coverage, except for the boxing, Eurosport for me. Someone like Will Downing would be much better at commentary.

That said Ailish MacSweeny was good in the studio at the Euros.

Pisco Sour · 12-07-2012 2:52pm

the_real_lamp wrote: »

Whatever about the studio analysis, the standard of commentary for the Euros was awful.
Sprints were over 5 or 6 seconds before they had a clue who won, when it was rather obvious. Will not be watching a bit of RTE's olympic coverage, except for the boxing, Eurosport for me. Someone like Will Downing would be much better at commentary.

That said Ailish MacSweeny was good in the studio at the Euros.

I find Gary O'Toole to be up there among the most knowledgeable of all sports pundits, in any sport, on any station. He is excellent.

walshb · 12-07-2012 2:58pm

Pisco Sour wrote: »

I find Gary O'Toole to be up there among the most knowledgeable of all sports pundits, in any sport, on any station. He is excellent.

Mad you mention him. I was going to say him for the crack. One of the finest analysts I have ever heard. So informative and detailed and tuned in.

Pherekydes · 12-07-2012 3:08pm

Brid Golden, Sean Cahill, Ailis McSweeney, Conor McCullogh and Eamon Coghlan.

the_real_lamp · 12-07-2012 3:25pm

Pisco Sour wrote: »

I find Gary O'Toole to be up there among the most knowledgeable of all sports pundits, in any sport, on any station. He is excellent.

Its more the commentators that let RTE down, you are right O'Toole is a good pundit.

woodchopper · 12-07-2012 3:58pm

the_real_lamp wrote: »

That said Ailish MacSweeny was good in the studio at the Euros.

Chamney has the most potential if RTE let him loose!

Gerry, Eamon, Tom, Dave and a women to keep the viewers happy.

PS: Nobody cares about the Pole Vault so why bother bring in an expert especially since Allison Stokkes failed to qualify from the US trials.

Woddle · 12-07-2012 5:13pm

woodchooper(Giles), thirtyfoot(Brady), pisco (Dunphy), ecoli(Sadler) and Raycun to act as Bill

woodchopper · 12-07-2012 6:08pm

Woddle wrote: »

woodchooper(Giles), thirtyfoot(Brady), pisco (Dunphy), ecoli(Sadler) and Raycun to act as Bill

It could work. Im old and always have something intelligent to say, Ecoli is a jackeen while still only been a wippersnapper, thirtyfoot is grumpy, living on past glories while pisco perhaps could be the ' never any good' yet full of opinions and courts controversy.

thirtyfoot · 12-07-2012 6:26pm

Now there is an idea for a thread during Olympics. Back in the day we always had ideas for threads like this.

Kurt Godel · 12-07-2012 6:28pm

thirtyfoot wrote: »

Now there is an idea for a thread during Olympics. Back in the day we always had ideas for threads like this.

Good days, tingle. Not great days, but good days.

rom · 12-07-2012 8:49pm

No better man than Marty Morrissey to interview Mark Kenneally at 40k

myflipflops · 12-07-2012 9:26pm

As much as he was a running hero of mine, Eamon Coghlan needs the boot. He actually should be banned from speaking altogether after his recent comments on Michelle Smith.

I hope someone cuts him off early in one of his "Well Bill, when I was winning races around the world..." stories and points out that Eamon would not have been picked for these Olympics because he never ran an A standard.

If we were looking at Irish people only then I would like to see JK still there for the distance events but put Chamney beside him, have Nicky Sweeney (Harvard grad, top class discuss thrower) for the throws and Peter Coughlan for the sprints/hurdles with McSweeney if she was good. Probably nobody for the jumps. We are rubbish at them with Deirdre Ryan not available.

horsebox1977 · 12-07-2012 9:35pm

myflipflops wrote: »

As much as he was a running hero of mine, Eamon Coghlan needs the boot. He actually should be banned from speaking altogether after his recent comments on Michelle Smith.

I hope someone cuts him off early in one of his "Well Bill, when I was winning races around the world..." stories and points out that Eamon would not have been picked for these Olympics because he never ran an A standard.

If we were looking at Irish people only then I would like to see JK still there for the distance events but put Chamney beside him, have Nicky Sweeney (Harvard grad, top class discuss thrower) for the throws and Peter Coughlan for the sprints/hurdles with McSweeney if she was good. Probably nobody for the jumps. We are rubbish at them with Deirdre Ryan not available.

What did he say?

myflipflops · 12-07-2012 9:44pm

horsebox1977 wrote: »

What did he say?

Called her 'our greatest Olympian'.....

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0609/1224317568167.html

walshb · 12-07-2012 9:47pm

myflipflops wrote: »

Called her 'our greatest Olympian'.....

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0609/1224317568167.html

She is. That is without a doubt. Did the IOC take away her medals?

pc11 · 12-07-2012 9:52pm

myflipflops wrote: »

Called her 'our greatest Olympian'.....

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0609/1224317568167.html

Holy sh*t, Coghlan said that?! I'm just astounded. It makes no sense, what was he thinking!

As for the original question, I can't think of anyone. RTE coverage is generally awful. It's not the people, it's their whole model. They spend ages wittering on while the action is happening. They show events delayed when they are actually already on air and could show them live. Sorry, but no analysis is ever better than just showing the bloody events, that's the whole point of the coverage! Athletics is a vibrant, complex sport, there's lots going on at any moment in the stadium, please let us see it.

Tony O'Donoghue has always been a pet annoyance of mine for 30 years, but in the recent Europeans he was an embarrassment. Why, oh why, do RTE hire him?? At least George Hamilton wasn't there, small mercies. I'm sure he'll be back to ruin the Olympics. I'll watch BBC mostly, for all their smug jingoism, they're probably the best.

Eurosport is far from perfect, but their model of just showing the live feed has a lot to be said for it. That said, I'm watching the World Juniors and I want to strangle Tim Hutchings.

MrCreosote · 12-07-2012 10:06pm

walshb wrote: »

She is. That is without a doubt. Did the IOC take away her medals?

"Most successful"-maybe. Greatest-definitely not. All her results were tarnished by what happened after.

It's interesting the attitude to Michelle smith that still exists. I was listening to the liveline call-ins about it- caller after caller saying how she was never caught, our greatest olympian etc.

In the other 204 countries in the world, the only place you'll see her mentioned is in "top 10 olympic controversies"

Pisco Sour · 12-07-2012 11:20pm

woodchopper wrote: »

It could work. Im old and always have something intelligent to say, Ecoli is a jackeen while still only been a wippersnapper, thirtyfoot is grumpy, living on past glories while pisco perhaps could be the ' never any good' yet full of opinions and courts controversy.

Hmmm, I'm not sure. After your Galen Rupp, Craig Motthram and Andreas Thorkildsen comments I think you'd be more fitting of the role of Dunphy.

Pisco Sour · 12-07-2012 11:37pm

Seen as we are on the RTE bashing subject, I'll give my 2c. I don't have a problem with the pundits. I think for the most part they are good. The problem is that they usually are all distance runners. Athletics is a diverse sport and that diversity should be seen in the RTE panel.

The big problem are the the anchors. Bill and Peter Collins are simply appalling. Fair enough you dont expect them to have a specific knowledge of athletics seen as they are all round sports anchors, but at least make an effort to hide their ignorance. It's very annoying having to hear every 4 years an inquest launched by Bill into our unforgiveable failure to beat the Kenyans, Ethiopians, Jamaicans and African Americans.

Pherekydes · 13-07-2012 6:26am

And the team has been announced by RTE:

David Gillick and Ailis McSweeney join Jerry Kiernan, Dave Matthews and Victor Costello.

thirtyfoot · 13-07-2012 7:22am

Not bad, addition of Gillick is great, a class act. Chamdawg knocked out in the heats, again. The old stager Kiernan will be the 'senior' analyst. He has improved a lot in recent years. Ailis is good and I think she will get better as the champs progress. She will give the athletes perspective while not trying too hard to be their friends which was the Chamdawg problem I felt and probably explains his axe. Matthews too will get better, says it as it is but maybe should slow down and finish the sentences. Costello will speak well but not sure what he knows about athletics. Maybe himself and Gary O' Toole come as a package. Ailis keeping the seat warm for Derval I think pending her retirement in a few years. Once she moves to TV, we will then have a world class analyst.

walshb · 13-07-2012 7:26am

MrCreosote wrote: »

"Most successful"-maybe. Greatest-definitely not. All her results were tarnished by what happened after.

It's interesting the attitude to Michelle smith that still exists. I was listening to the liveline call-ins about it- caller after caller saying how she was never caught, our greatest olympian etc.

In the other 204 countries in the world, the only place you'll see her mentioned is in "top 10 olympic controversies"

I can see both sides of the argument. However, she never failed a drugs test. She was tested ad tested and tested. She was found guilty of tampering. Even though two testers signed off on the specimen in her home as all above board with the actual gathering of the sample. The sample then travels many miles and is then found to be containing a tampering agent.

Pherekydes · 13-07-2012 7:36am

thirtyfoot wrote: »

Costello not sure what he knows about athletics.

:eek:

Former national Shot record holder.

thirtyfoot · 13-07-2012 7:50am

Pherekydes wrote: »

:eek:

Former national Shot record holder.

He's hardly in the loop though is he.

InsaneBolt · 13-07-2012 7:52am

Coghlan signed up by NBC to cover it for US tv. Big bucks??

MacGyver007 · 13-07-2012 7:53am

thirtyfoot wrote: »

Costello will speak well but not sure what he knows about athletics.

Competed in Barcelona in 1992. Personal best of 19.93m

Pherekydes · 13-07-2012 8:18am

thirtyfoot wrote: »

He's hardly in the loop though is he.

Isn't he already an RTE talking head? He's articulate. I can't imagine what would have caused his athletics knowledge or interest to disappear.

And surely he'll know more about the throws than Jerry Kiernan.

tHE vAGGABOND · 13-07-2012 8:23am

I think Meno and Mr Slow will have to be on there - if they want some real expertise

myflipflops · 13-07-2012 9:05am

I haven't seen Victor Costello at any of the 10 odd National Seniors I have been too. He certainly was never a member of DSD in my time there either. Being mates with Ryle Nugent through rugby and rugby punditry will have helped him no end i guess.

At least he will bring some amount of technical expertise to the throws analysis that wasn't ever there before. They could have continued the teachers trend and got Phil Conway from Belvedere on.

thirtyfoot · 13-07-2012 10:01am

MacGyver007 wrote: »

Competed in Barcelona in 1992. Personal best of 19.93m

Well aware of what he threw. Its still an Offaly Track and Field League record.

Clum · 13-07-2012 10:26am

InsaneBolt wrote: »

Coghlan signed up by NBC to cover it for US tv. Big bucks??

NBC must have some money. I'm not saying Coughlan was expensive, but according to this article in the Irish Times "America’s NBC TV network is sending 2,700 people, enough to warrant the chartering of three Boeing 777 aircraft to help get them in and out."

RTE "will have close to 40 staff on hand to cover events on radio and television"

I love this extract from the above article: "NBC will broadcast in English and Spanish and, if you tried to watch every hour of its planned coverage without a break, it would take until next February."

Thats nuts.

a_non_a_mouse · 13-07-2012 10:38am

Delighted to see Victor Costello on the panel. Its great to see a thrower there.
He may not be actively involved in athletics now (he may be, just I've not seen him at anything or heard of his involvement) but he will bring some insight which would be missing otherwise.
At least he won't be suggesting any of the throwers move up to the marathon!

YFlyer · 13-07-2012 7:30pm

Clum wrote: »

NBC must have some money. I'm not saying Coughlan was expensive, but according to this article in the Irish Times "America’s NBC TV network is sending 2,700 people, enough to warrant the chartering of three Boeing 777 aircraft to help get them in and out."

RTE "will have close to 40 staff on hand to cover events on radio and television"

I love this extract from the above article: "NBC will broadcast in English and Spanish and, if you tried to watch every hour of its planned coverage without a break, it would take until next February."

Thats nuts.

Will NBC show all the events live?

pc11 · 13-07-2012 7:32pm

walshb wrote: »

I can see both sides of the argument. However, she never failed a drugs test. She was tested ad tested and tested. She was found guilty of tampering. Even though two testers signed off on the specimen in her home as all above board with the actual gathering of the sample. The sample then travels many miles and is then found to be containing a tampering agent.

Sorry, we have to nail this for once and for all. Michelle Smith did fail drug tests.

Providing a tampered with sample is failing a drugs test. Repeatedly avoiding drug testers is failing a drugs test. She was on a warning (see edit below) for avoiding tests. And she tested positive 3 times for Androstenedione. That is failing a drugs test. She was prosecuted only for the tampering charge for procedural reasons, but there is no doubt she failed multiple drug tests and she did test positive. The deniers need to wake up and stop the fingers in the ear "na, na, I can't hear you" routine.

EDIT: she was on a warning for missing tests, I don't know if it was a final one

syngindub · 13-07-2012 8:43pm

will RTE fork out to send the pundits across the water or will they be stuck in that donneybrook studio. It's not the same going back to the studio for analysis, not just for this event but them all.

walshb · 13-07-2012 9:37pm

pc11 wrote: »

Sorry, we have to nail this for once and for all. Michelle Smith did fail drug tests.

Providing a tampered with sample is failing a drugs test. Repeatedly avoiding drug testers is failing a drugs test. She was on a final warning for avoiding tests. And she tested positive 3 times for Androstenedione. That is failing a drugs test. She was prosecuted only for the tampering charge for procedural reasons, but there is no doubt she failed multiple drug tests and she did test positive. The deniers need to wake up and stop the fingers in the ear "na, na, I can't hear you" routine.

Well, if the British and others can defend Ohorrogu, for example, then I can defend Michelle.

Officially I did not think that she failed a drugs test, as in that illegal drugs were found in her system. I thought her official fail was for tampering her sample. But, yes, that to me is a a failed test I guess. Just wonder was it her who did the tampering? They signed off on the sample given at the time. Only later, many miles away, did the tampering come to light. Was she ever sanctioned by the IOC or IAAF for the bolded part of your post?

the_real_lamp · 13-07-2012 10:29pm

walshb wrote: »

Well, if the British and others can defend Ohorrogu, for example, then I can defend Michelle.

To be fair, not all the British defend Ohorrogu. I remember Steve Cram saying after Beijing that he would be uncomfortable with having her as face of the games, given that she was their only T&F gold medallist going into London.

For a defending Olympic champion in a host country, in a stadium a couple of miles from where she grew up, she is pretty low profile and has no large endorsments. I think its says a lot about Ohorrugo's reputation. That said I personally don't have huge doubts about her, but any ban leaves a suspicion.

robinph · 13-07-2012 11:20pm

the_real_lamp wrote: »

To be fair, not all the British defend Ohorrogu. I remember Steve Cram saying after Beijing that he would be uncomfortable with having her as face of the games, given that she was their only T&F gold medallist going into London.

For a defending Olympic champion in a host country, in a stadium a couple of miles from where she grew up, she is pretty low profile and has no large endorsments. I think its says a lot about Ohorrugo's reputation. That said I personally don't have huge doubts about her, but any ban leaves a suspicion.

She is pretty much going under the radar...but I just read your message then went to go through some emails from earlier today. Once of which was from UKAthletics this morning about tickets still being available for the Crystal Palace event this evening. Ohurogu was the person they stuck a picture of in the middle of the email to advertise it. I think it's more she is keeping her head down rather than any aversion to using her for publicity.

Pisco Sour · 14-07-2012 1:04am

walshb wrote: »

Was she ever sanctioned by the IOC or IAAF for the bolded part of your post?

No, but only because they sanctioned her for the more punishable offence.

Ban for failing drugs test = 2 years
Ban for tampering with drugs test = 4 years.

They gave her the longer ban, hence the naievity of many people that she "never tested positive".

And with regards to the whole "clean in Atlanta, but took drugs after" that is possibly one of the stupidest things I have ever heard and so many people come out consistently with that crap, including Jimmy Magee.

Pisco Sour · 14-07-2012 1:07am

robinph wrote: »

She is pretty much going under the radar...but I just read your message then went to go through some emails from earlier today. Once of which was from UKAthletics this morning about tickets still being available for the Crystal Palace event this evening. Ohurogu was the person they stuck a picture of in the middle of the email to advertise it. I think it's more she is keeping her head down rather than any aversion to using her for publicity.

Off topic, but I cant avoid. I wonder where all these super London athletics fans who hoovered up the Olympic tickets are. :rolleyes:

robinph · 14-07-2012 7:02am

Pisco Sour wrote: »

robinph wrote: »

She is pretty much going under the radar...but I just read your message then went to go through some emails from earlier today. Once of which was from UKAthletics this morning about tickets still being available for the Crystal Palace event this evening. Ohurogu was the person they stuck a picture of in the middle of the email to advertise it. I think it's more she is keeping her head down rather than any aversion to using her for publicity.

Off topic, but I cant avoid. I wonder where all these super London athletics fans who hoovered up the Olympic tickets are. :rolleyes:

Keeping out of the rain?

Indo404 · 14-07-2012 10:13am

pc11 wrote: »

Sorry, we have to nail this for once and for all. Michelle Smith did fail drug tests.

Providing a tampered with sample is failing a drugs test. Repeatedly avoiding drug testers is failing a drugs test. She was on a final warning for avoiding tests. And she tested positive 3 times for Androstenedione. That is failing a drugs test. She was prosecuted only for the tampering charge for procedural reasons, but there is no doubt she failed multiple drug tests and she did test positive. The deniers need to wake up and stop the fingers in the ear "na, na, I can't hear you" routine.

At the CAS hearing in her case FINA stated that they were happy with MS availability for out-of-competition tests. Where do you get this nonsense from that she was on a final warning for avoiding tests?
You can't fail a drugs test for a substance that was not on the banned substance list. Androstenedione was not on the list that's why I think they didn't charge her with a positive drugs test.

pc11 · 14-07-2012 11:22am

Indo404 wrote: »

You can't fail a drugs test for a substance that was not on the banned substance list. Androstenedione was not on the list that's why I think they didn't charge her with a positive drugs test.

Ah, so you accept she did test positive for Andro? Ando was most certainly banned at the time, as was the entire category of drug that Andro belongs to.

The test for Andro was brand new at the time, meaning of course that athletes had been using it without being detected for some time (e.g. Mark McGwire in baseball). At first they could only detect the class of drug, not the exact brand or molecule. Later they identified it exactly. For these reasons, they prosecuted her on the straightforward tampering charge (which also had a stiffer sentence) and used the Andro test as evidence to support that charge. If Andro wasn't banned, they would hardly have presented it as evidence, would they?

The evidence in the hearing was that the levels of Andro indicated she had taken it some hours before the test, presumably this was the reason she tampered with the sample.

Some references:

Also, old samples were retested and found to contain Andro: http://www.independent.ie/sport/seminal-case-forced-133432.html

As an aside, just because a sample isn't identified as containing a banned drug doesn't mean the athlete is clean. Many drugs have been difficult to detect, or masking agents can be used, or the testers don't even know about the drug yet like in the Balco scandal. Athletes like Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin, Dwain Chambers <Snip> all passed many, many tests yet we know they doped. Furthermore, doping doesn't even need to use drugs, for example with blood doping. It's very naive to think that 'passing' a test means you are clean. For a scholarly discussion of these non-analytic positives, see here http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1348&context=sportslaw

Like any court case, it's about the totality of the evidence. It's very naive to think that testing is a simple black and white issue. For ANY medical testing, There are subtleties, levels of accuracy, direct and indirect evidence, etc so these cases can be complex. That's why experts argue them in court and we don't rely on the court of Liveline.

Other evidence is vital. Later retesting is also very revealing, like the retests of Lance's 1999 samples which showed strong evidence of EPO (ref: http://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2009/michael-ashenden)

A biological passport is now used where athletes are tested regularly over years and a profile of their chemistry is built up. Evidence for blood doping can be found this way, one way is by looking at the ages of the red blood cells or the ratio of young to old blood cells. Also, changes over days or weeks provide tell-tale evidence of doping.

A fascinating in depth article is here: http://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2012/behind-scenes-contador-cas-hearing-michael-ashenden

Indo404 · 14-07-2012 12:30pm

pc11 wrote: »

Ah, so you accept she did test positive for Andro? Ando was most certainly banned at the time, as was the entire category of drug that Andro belongs to.

The test for Andro was brand new at the time, meaning of course that athletes had been using it without being detected for some time (e.g. Mark McGwire in baseball). At first they could only detect the class of drug, not the exact brand or molecule. Later they identified it exactly. For these reasons, they prosecuted her on the straightforward tampering charge (which also had a stiffer sentence) and used the Andro test as evidence to support that charge. If Andro wasn't banned, they would hardly have presented it as evidence, would they?

Andro was put on the banned list in 1999. It wasn't a banned substance at the time of the testing. I think that's why FINA changed the charge into tempering with a sample and not a positive sample for Andro.

pc11 · 14-07-2012 1:19pm

Andro was banned in 1997

References:

The articles I cited previosuly all refer to Andro as being a banned substance at the time. Of course, the fact you didn't provide a reference means you either are making your facts up, or you know well and are just trolling.

In any case, this is a red herring. By any definition, Andro was a performance enhancing drug at any time as it is a testosterone precursor.

If you are trying to argue that Michell was legit in taking Andro just because it was not explicitly and specifically banned on a given date, then I don't really know what to say to you, sorry. Besides, why would she tamper with the sample if what she was taking was legit? Finally and again, FINA would hardly have used Andro as evidence if it wasn't banned, would they?

Tampering is actually the more serious offence, 4 years vs 2 years ban.

Indo404 · 14-07-2012 1:56pm

pc11 wrote: »

Andro was banned in 1997

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androstenedione

http://books.google.ie/books?id=8ysOZlGnkC0C&pg=PA263&lpg=PA263&dq=when+was+androstenedione+banned&source=bl&ots=YZWW3jMEH5&sig=aWAPkOX2gC8JxOcMVqsUP6vwzyA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Zm8BULPfLZCzhAfFwsD0Bw&ved=0CHQQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=when%20was%20androstenedione%20banned&f=false

The articles I cited all refer to Andro as being a banned substance at the time.

In any case, this is a red herring. By any definition, Andro was a performance enhancing drug at any time as it is a testosterone precursor.

If you are trying to argue that Michell was legit in taking Andro just because it was not explicitly and specifically banned on a given date, then I don't really know what to say to you, sorry. Besides, why would she tamper with the sample if what she was taking was legit? Finally and again, FINA would hardly have used Andro as evidence if it wasn't banned, would they?

Tampering is actually the more serious offence, 4 years vs 2 years ban.

Just saying that your comment " She was on a final warning for avoiding tests." is incorrect. With a colleague writing a book about this case and we have the letter from FINA in which the organisation states that they are happy with MS availability for out-of-competition tests.
Furthermore sources in Fina told us that they had to change the charge because they found out that Andro was not on the banned list and that there was case law from CAS that they would be in difficulty before CAS. We have the original charge (with no mention of tempering). As a foreign writer (so excuse my bad English

) I am amazed how little research was done by Irish journalists into this case
E.g. Nobody contacted the expert who proved that the cannisters containing the samples were easy to open by simply putting them in boiling water. No mention that the sample was missing for a while and not stored in the proper place. No one went back to check about MS's whereabouts at the time of the test. It turned out that she wasn't even training at the time. Questening why an athlete would take performance enhancing drugs when you don't need them? Etc. etc It's a fascinating case with more questions than answers maybe but we will try to find as many answers as we can.

What is your RTE Athletics panel dream team?

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