Irish boxer failed drug test: Drugs in Irish Sport to now be questioned?

Drivetime RTE (Radio 1) are now reporting that an Irish boxer failed a drugs test prior to leaving for Rio.

No names mentioned as yet, which is how it should be.

Can we now expect less media assurances that all our athletes are unquestionably clean?

There's no clear reason to expect Irish sport is less crooked than in other countries.

The_Valeyard

Heard that a few minutes ago.

I'd like to think our standards had improved after the whole swimming debacle with the Atlanta games. But sure who knows why he failed the test. Could be performance enhancing drugs or could be cough medicine.

DrGreenthumb

The Russian volleyball team are the main suspects after it's suspected that they spiked his punch last night

Ted111

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

There's no clear reason to expect Irish sport is less crooked than in other countries.

Probably no two countries are the same. Varying scale of enforcement and varying culture in each country.
Ultimately there's no legislating for an Individuals choice.

NIMAN

Sad news, but agree that there probably isn't a truly clean nation competing at top level sports these days, don't see why we should be any different.

4zn76tysfajdxp

A friend of mine is on the Irish Paralympic team and he claims that cheating and drug use is rampant over there. In his own words "some of the wheelchair ones buzz so hard they can even walk."

Ronald Wilson Reagan

Ireland are the "good boys of the class" when it come to international obligations even if they are against national interests. Compared to the majority of countries the sporting authorities here seem to playing it by the book when it comes to testing.

dastardly00

https://twitter.com/irishexaminer/status/761233424053141504

super_furry

Vada Faint Traitor wrote: »

A friend of mine is on the Irish Paralympic team and he claims that cheating and drug use is rampant over there. In his own words "some of the wheelchair ones buzz so hard they can even walk."

That's only when the electrics aren't hooked up properly.

CatFromHue

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Can we now expect less media assurances that all our athletes are unquestionably clean?

Have we had this in the past?

I didn't think so myself.

kneemos

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Drivetime RTE (Radio 1) are now reporting that an Irish boxer failed a drugs test prior to leaving for Rio.

No names mentioned as yet, which is how it should be.

Can we now expect less media assurances that all our athletes are unquestionably clean?

There's no clear reason to expect Irish sport is less crooked than in other countries.

Never heard an assurance our athletes were clean.Given every Olympics throws up a cheat,it would be quite a claim.

kneemos

kneemos wrote: »

Never heard an assurance our athletes were clean.Given every Olympics throws up a cheat,it would be quite a claim.

I've heard it plenty of times.

The last time I heard it was from Gerard Hartmann on the Marian Finucane show last weekend.

Listen to sports programming, and people will say it outright, or imply it, or quite simply, there will be a widespread unwillingness to even ask questions.

Outlaw Pete

Steroids? What are you talking about steroids. Don't be putting my name with steroids. I'm major against that!

Strumms

I'd think that the vast vast majority of our athletes have not been drug cheats over the years. At least I'd hope not. Considering how rank bang average we have been in terms of getting athletes into finals and actually on the podium I'd hate to think our mediocrity was fuel by illegal drugs :O

Junkyard Tom

Let he who doesn't live in a greenhouse cast the first stone.

onlyme!

**** happens! when you answer the door bell

Ted111

So Gerard Hartman said that we never had a drugs cheat?

I have to doubt he did since everyone in the country knows we've had several.

I think you're misrepresenting people who recognise, rightfully, that we have a relatively good record by international standards in terms of compliance and clean sports.

Ted111

Ted111 wrote: »

So Gerard Hartman said that we never had a drugs cheat?

No Ted, but nobody said that.

I'm talking about assurances about current Irish athletes.

I don't think Michelle Smith is competing in Rio, is she Ted?

buried

Our brave athlethes are as clean as windowcleaners. Its all that insect zika repellent they're breathing in over there what done it

razorblunt

Could he have failed for yolks?
His fringe would indicate so.

The_Valeyard

buried wrote: »

Our brave athlethes are as clean as windowcleaners. Its all that insect zika repellent they're breathing in over there what done it

Or stepping into the sea.

Burial.

Hopefully it's a sign of more positive tests in these Olympics. Always leaves a sour taste in your mouth when some knob claims sport is clean due to no positive tests. How some athletes get away with is beyond me. Shame it's one of our own, and a boxer too and shame it's not a massive name, but good for the Games overall.

Ted111

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

No Ted, but nobody said that.

I'm talking about assurances about current Irish athletes.

I don't think Michelle Smith is competing in Rio, is she Ted?

Sorry, I don't believe anyone gave such an assurance.

RedemptionZ

Ronald Wilson Reagan wrote: »

Ireland are the "good boys of the class" when it come to international obligations even if they are against national interests. Compared to the majority of countries the sporting authorities here seem to playing it by the book when it comes to testing.

What are you basing that on?

Strumms wrote: »

I'd think that the vast vast majority of our athletes have not been drug cheats over the years. At least I'd hope not. Considering how rank bang average we have been in terms of getting athletes into finals and actually on the podium I'd hate to think our mediocrity was fuel by illegal drugs :O

The phrase leveling the playing field springs to mind. If it came out tomorrow that every single athlete that took part in the olympics, including the qualification stages was on some sort of banned performance enhancing drug I would not be one bit surprised.

Ted111

Ted111 wrote: »

Sorry, I don't believe anyone gave such an assurance.

Too bad.

https://www.rte.ie/radio1/marian-finucane/programmes/2016/0730/805815-marian-finucane-saturday-30-july-2016/?clipid=2244485#2244485
Clip at 07:07 seconds

"I am very strong on this. We have an Irish team competing in Rio, that I would guarantee the Irish public, are 100% clean.

"A lot of Irish athletes will be competing with athletes who either took performance enhancing drugs in the past, or are continuing to take performance enhancing drugs"

Ted111

Well then he's an imbecile.
Hence why he's on marian finucan.
Why would you listen to opinion of a moron speaking on a subject he is not qualified to speak on and take it seriously.

Anyone who matters including people on the irish olympic team past and present will only comment on what they've witnessed personally and make no sweeping statements on what they don't know.

SEPT 23 1989

Crack withdrawal would add extra spice to a boxing match

check_six

Well as a nation Ireland has won maybe 9-10 gold medals total. One was rescinded after those crazy shenanigans with the horse in 2004, and another three were won by M Smith.

So, you're talking about 40% of our gold medals are tainted. That's not a great ratio.

velo.2010

Most athlete's at the highest level of sport take some sort of PED. If not, then they push the boundaries by partaking in the 'legalised medicalization' of sport. An example of that is Maria Sharapova. Before she fell foul of the WADA rule change on Meldonium, her supplement intake read like the inventory of a small pharmacy. For a fit and healthy 29 year old woman, she apparently had the physiology of an 80+year old woman with severe heart, lung, liver, and bone density problems.

Professional athlete's are among the most ruthless people on the planet. if they know their competitors are doing or taking XYZ, then they will do or take XYZ.

wintear

Have they announced what the failure was?

Is it an actual steriod or a masking agent?

Could it be a tainted supplement or is it for Salbutamol inhaler for sports related asthma.

Could be anything so speculation should wait until further details emerge

Ted111

Ted111 wrote: »

Why would you listen to opinion of a moron speaking on a subject he is not qualified to speak on and take it seriously.

You didn't seem to think he was a moron when you were suggesting he never said such a thing. I'm just giving you an example of the last time I heard it, and FWIW he's a very prominent figure in sport.

We're back to where we were when Michelle Smith de Bruin won those unbelievable medals.

Johnny Watterson (is he an idiot too?) has been very critical of the unquestioning attitude of the Irish media towards Smith de Bruin's mad medals, and the way RTE panelists & authorities in Irish sport were hopping & capering around TV studios like ferocious raccoons when Janet Evans voiced the other swimmers' concerns.

Everyone else could see the weirdness of her results, except RTE and print media.

To a point, I can understand the defensiveness. But where does it get us? There's no need to assume everyone's a drug cheat. Not at all. But we have to be more realistic about Irish doping, instead of saying or even implying that Irish athletes must be clean, yet accepting that a veil of suspicion hangs across international sportsmen and women.

RedemptionZ

velo.2010 wrote: »

Most athlete's at the highest level of sport take some sort of PED. If not, then they push the boundaries by partaking in the 'legalised medicalization' of sport. An example of that is Maria Sharapova. Before she fell foul of the WADA rule change on Meldonium, her supplement intake read like the inventory of a small pharmacy. For a fit and healthy 29 year old woman, she apparently had the physiology of an 80+year old woman with severe heart, lung, liver, and bone density problems.

Professional athlete's are among the most ruthless people on the planet. if they know their competitors are doing or taking XYZ, then they will do or take XYZ.

If you're not cheating you're not trying as the saying goes. A lot of people aren't familiar enough with high level sports to know how rampant it can be, even at the higher levels of amateur sports where there is a perceived lack of gain (money). A lot are also get fooled by athletes that are vocally anti PED or athletes that don't look like bodybuilders or have some superhuman physical trait.

Ted111

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

You didn't seem to think he was a moron when you were suggesting he never said such a thing. I'm just giving you an example of the last time I heard it, and FWIW he's a very prominent figure in sport.

But he's not qualified to make that assessment.
The interviewer should have put that to him.
You should have dismissed his strange remark thinking to yourself 'he's not qualified to know what anyone in the irish olympic team is doing'
Instead of reading this into it.

The irish athletes themselves wouldn't make those claims. They would tell you they don't know what person x is doing in their own privacy.

There's been no shortage of past and present irish athletes on radio and tv in the last few weeks. And that is the sentiment they have expressed.

You heard one doctor who is not that i am aware of connected to the irish olympic team make an assertion that he is no position to make or back up and ascribed it to irish people in general.

CardinalJ

He failed for a recreational drug apparently. That's according to Gareth Davies of BT sport/The Telegraph.

ThisRegard

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

and the way RTE panelists & authorities in Irish sport were hopping & capering around TV studios like ferocious raccoons when Janet Evans voiced the other swimmers' concerns.

Everyone else could see the weirdness of her results, except RTE and print media.

Gary O'Toole I'm sure was on the panel at the time and he wasn't buying it.

Ted111

Ted111 wrote: »

But he's not qualified to make that assessment.

NOBODY is qualified to make that assessment. That's the point.

ThisRegard wrote: »

Gary O'Toole I'm sure was on the panel at the time and he wasn't buying it.

Absolutely. I should have mentioned him... he had a hugely difficult time with RTE at the time of the 1996 Olympics.

RTE refused to countenance what the international media were saying. They were totally unquestioning.

Ken.

Mod-Moved to General sport. Please read the local charter before posting.

ThisRegard

The thread will just die here, unless there's a sudden surge in interest in Ben Dunne gyms.

mansize

Shame he heard the doorbell - he really is an amateur

Ted111

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

NOBODY is qualified to make that assessment. That's the point.

People are qualified to make opinions that irish sport is clean relative to say Russia. Many people profer that opinion. Many atletes and track and field pundits will make that point.
They will not say no irish athlete ever took drugs. They will not say no athlete will not take drugs next week or next year. Because unless you house people in cells with cameras on them 24/7 you cannot control what people do with their own lives. Who would predict that michael o'reilly would do something as self destructive and crazy as use recreationaql drugs on the eve of going to the olympoics. You cannot stop people doing it, you cannot know if they do it. So anyone who claims to telepathically know that no irish sports person is currently or in the future is going to use drugs then they are only to be laughed at.
the interview you quote is the only time i ever heard somebody in ireland say anything as idiotic as that. That is why I told you I didn't believe anyone could say that as it is inconceivable that somebody could publicly make such an illogical non sensical statement statement.

groovyg

Ger Hartmann is hardly the best person to give assurances on athletes being clean he didn't have a bad word to say about Lance after he was stripped of his TDF titles http://www.limerickpost.ie/2012/08/30/hartmann-stands-by-armstrong/

Beasty

ThisRegard wrote: »

The thread will just die here, unless there's a sudden surge in interest in Ben Dunne gyms.

Couple of points

1. Sports forums are better suited for such discussion as they generally have rules making it clear what is acceptable (and speculating over doping is not allowed) - leaving it where it was increased the risk of problems which the local mods may not have been aware of (and I've already had to delete one post from the time this was being discussed in AH)
2. There is also a discussion in the Boxing forum Rio thread where the specifics as it affects Boxing can be discussed. This forum does generally attract quite a bit of general commentry on the Olympics and this is an opportune thread where any doping discussion can be contained

markjbloggs

I would have said that Ireland is one of the worst trangressors. given the record of competitors in Equestrian, Swimming, Athletics etc - so why should this be surprising to anyone? Given that, is it just that Irish athletes are among the worst at covering their tracks?

mansize

markjbloggs wrote: »

I would have said that Ireland is one of the worst trangressors. given the record of competitors in Equestrian, Swimming, Athletics etc - so why should this be surprising to anyone? Given that, is it just that Irish athletes are among the worst at covering their tracks?

Amateur v professional outfits

Bigger countries know how much to bend the rules and have the legal teams to fight any charge

mansize

Don't think for a second Russia's ban wasn't completely political

Andalucia

Jimmy Magee last week made the laughable claim that he would guarantee the Irish team was 100% clean- he also reckoned Michelle Smith was great and hadn't doped

its the small fish that get caught for recretional drugs - they can't catch the big fish who are too smart to answer the doorbell or have the phone turned to silent when the tester calls

in my mind recreational drugs are worse than performing enhancing - I mean if your going to fail a test, at least do so whilst making all effort to win - doubtful if his recreational drug can be considered performing enhancing

ronnie085

markjbloggs wrote: »

I would have said that Ireland is one of the worst trangressors. given the record of competitors in Equestrian, Swimming, Athletics etc - so why should this be surprising to anyone? Given that, is it just that Irish athletes are among the worst at covering their tracks?

Nowhere near the worst, a couple of athletes over the last ten years, 1 swimmer in 20 years and a horse, no need for exaggerations, especially the level of testing top athletes go through, check Rob Heffernans twitter, 28 out of comp tests so far this year

Realist Man

The Olympics is a dope fest, and anyone who thinks its just the Russians are naive and ill informed in the extreme. The whole thing is a circus and a disgrace to sport.

I believe that nearly all of the medals at the upcoming Olympics will be won be doped athletes. And without speculating some very well known British athletes and darlings of sport are blatant drug cheats. It depends on your view of whether you are happier blisfully ignorant or knowledgeable of what is occuring. Most people are happier blissfully ignorant, because the truth is very ugly.

And I'm not singling out athletics or the Olympics either. Football, Tennis Boxing its in them all. The truth will most likely come out eventually. Maybe not now or even in the next 10 years, but some day.

Realist Man

mansize wrote: »

Don't think for a second Russia's ban wasn't completely political

What sickens me is watching the British and American media laud their own "heroes" who are all blatant drug cheats while attacking the "evil" Russians.

I seen a British journalist saying the other day he was shocked that non British journalists at the Russia hearing in Switzerland all thought the Russia ban was politically motivated.

walshb

Realist Man wrote: »

The Olympics is a dope fest, and anyone who thinks its just the Russians are naive and ill informed in the extreme. The whole thing is a circus and a disgrace to sport.

I believe that nearly all of the medals at the upcoming Olympics will be won be doped athletes. And without speculating some very well known British athletes and darlings of sport are blatant drug cheats. It depends on your view of whether you are happier blisfully ignorant or knowledgeable of what is occuring. Most people are happier blissfully ignorant, because the truth is very ugly.

And I'm not singling out athletics or the Olympics either. Football, Tennis Boxing its in them all. The truth will most likely come out eventually. Maybe not now or even in the next 10 years, but some day.

So who are these blatant drugs cheats? I assume blatant means you have actual proof and evidence? If not then you're post is both rubbish and deliberately inflammatory!

Andalucia

The British are the worst in this regard, calling for the heads of the Russians

the same British who have no issue with Mo Farah working with a known dodgy coach in Salazar, the British who applaud Linford Christie with a coaching role even with his chequered history - even though the Biritsh Athletics Federation did everything they could to ensure he would not be banned

then you have British Cycling funding the defence of Lizzie Armitstead after 3 missed tests and getting her off on a technilcality

not that we Irish should be complaining about other nations when you hear Pat Hickey voicing his support for the Russians not to be banned

not sure how familiar people are with the great work of David Epstein who is an investigative reporter, but the below article is a must read - sport is contaminated and the efforts to police it more so

https://www.propublica.org/article/olympics-top-investigator-secret-efforts-undermine-russian-doping-probe