Farah to defend Olympic 10k title

Ceepo · 30-11-2019 7:10pm #1

So 2 years after retiring from the track Mo Farah decides to head back to the track.

https://t.co/7LQbfSBAcE

“I decided after Chicago, not straight away, but it was on my mind,” said Farah, who confirmed he would not attempt to double up in the 5,000m. “I was watching the world championship in Doha. I watched the 10,000m, and I watch other races, and part of you gets excited.

To qualify for the 10,000m in Tokyo, Farah will need to run 27min 28sec by 21 June. However he does not have to compete at the Night of the 10k PBs in Highgate in June, which doubles as the official British trial.

It will be interesting to see if he retains his same coach in the lead up to the Olympic's.

Hope his doorbell is working and UKA medical record keeping has improved.

BDI · 30-11-2019 7:14pm

Wouldn’t it be great if he was caught out this time when he could have retired.

Unthought Known · 30-11-2019 10:22pm

BDI wrote: »

Wouldn’t it be great if he was caught out this time when he could have retired.

Caught out on what this time?

IvoryTower · 01-12-2019 12:14am

Unthought Known wrote: »

Caught out on what this time?

Salazars special massage I assume

Ceepo · 01-12-2019 12:13pm

IvoryTower wrote: »

Salazars special massage I assume

Or could be referring to the un -recorded amount L-carnitine infusion he had on instruction of Salazar, or why he was using Calcitonin or Thyroxine off prescription

yerwanthere123 · 01-12-2019 5:51pm

Hoping we won't be seeing him on the podium in Tokyo tbh. And at 37 years of age I think he'd had his work cut out for him? The likes of Cheptegei and Kejelcha will hardly allow a slow pace and have him there at the bell. Anyway, long way to go before then.

Ceepo · 01-12-2019 9:51pm

One plus of Farah moving back to the 10k is Callum Hawkins should get an automatic spot for the Olympic marathon, without having to run London to be selected..

MY BAD · 24-02-2020 1:15pm

Mo Farah back in the news...
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/athletics/2020/02/22/mo-farah-admits-lying-links-disgraced-coach-jama-aden/amp/

average_runner · 24-02-2020 2:26pm

Mellow Yellow 26.2 wrote: »

Mo Farah back in the news...
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/athletics/2020/02/22/mo-farah-admits-lying-links-disgraced-coach-jama-aden/amp/

Documentary on the bbc tonight

Itziger · 24-02-2020 5:17pm

Imagine defending this dialogue..........

Farah was questioned by Usada officials for nearly five hours - and Panorama has obtained a transcript of that interview.

Asked specifically and multiple times whether he had an L-carnitine injection before the London Marathon, Farah repeatedly denied it.

He was asked: "If someone said that you were taking L-carnitine injections, are they not telling the truth?"

Farah said: "Definitely not telling the truth, 100%. I've never taken L-carnitine injections at all."

He is then asked: "Are you sure that Alberto Salazar hasn't recommended that you take L-carnitine injections?"

Farah responds: "No, I've never taken L-carnitine injections."

He is asked again: "You're absolutely sure that you didn't have a doctor put a butterfly needle… into your arm… and inject L-carnitine a few days before the London marathon?"

Farah says: "No. No chance."

We have learned that minutes after the interview, Farah then met Fudge, who had been interviewed by Usada the day before.

Farah then rushed back in as the investigators were packing up. He changed his account.

Farah tells Usada: "So I just wanted to come clear, sorry guys, and I did take it at the time and I thought I didn't…"

He is asked: "So you received L-carnitine… before the London marathon?"

Farah answers: "Yeah."

He adds: "There was a lot of talk before… and Alberto's always thinking about 'What's the best thing?' 'What's the best thing?'"

The Usada investigator says "… a few days before the race… with… Alberto present and your doctor and Barry Fudge and you're telling us all about that now but you didn't remember any of that when I… kept asking you about this?"

Farah responds: "It all comes back for me, but at the time I didn't remember."

Mo Farah declined to be interviewed by Panorama.

In a letter, Farah's lawyers said: "It is not against [Wada rules] rules to take [L-carnitine] as a supplement within the right quantities.

"The fact some people might hold views as to whether this is within the 'spirit' of the sport is irrelevant.

"Mr Farah… is one of the most tested athletes in the UK, if not the world, and has been required to fill in numerous doping forms. He is a human being and not robot.

"Interviews are not memory tests. Mr Farah understood the question one way and as soon as he left the room he asked Mr Fudge and immediately returned… to clarify and it is plain the investigators were comfortable with this explanation."

No Farah.

yerwanthere123 · 24-02-2020 5:31pm

I'll give this a watch tonight. I wonder what else Mo has "forgotten" about :pac:

skyblue46 · 24-02-2020 7:47pm

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

I'll give this a watch tonight. I wonder what else Mo has "forgotten" about :pac:

He forgot what his doorbell sounds like....

YFlyer · 24-02-2020 7:51pm

average_runner wrote: »

Documentary on the bbc tonight

What time?

Lazare · 24-02-2020 7:53pm

YFlyer wrote: »

What time?

8.30, BBC1

and still ricky villa · 24-02-2020 8:07pm

Itziger wrote: »

Imagine defending this dialogue..........

"Mr Farah… is one of the most tested athletes in the UK, if not the world

Wasn't there another guy who used that defence? And he was definitely innocent

YFlyer · 24-02-2020 8:09pm

YFlyer wrote: »

What time?

Thanks.

Needs Must · 24-02-2020 8:15pm

His legacy will be forever tainted after Salazar was exposed.

BarryD2 · 24-02-2020 8:33pm

Lazare wrote: »

8.30, BBC1

If the Beeb are after him, you'd think the PR game is up.

YFlyer · 24-02-2020 9:32pm

Lazare wrote: »

8.30, BBC1

Anyway can one watch this online from outside the UK?

NIMAN · 24-02-2020 9:48pm

He can claim all he likes, in my mind he'll always be a drugs cheat.

Pity he wasn't caught officially.

Will always be a British athletics hero despite his shady past.

Jizique · 24-02-2020 9:52pm

skyblue46 wrote: »

He forgot what his doorbell sounds like....

How does he get away with it?

Ceepo · 24-02-2020 10:17pm

Jizique wrote: »

How does he get away with it?

Simple really.....
He is clean.

OOnegative · 24-02-2020 10:37pm

Like Ms Pedcliffe, he never tested positive so will be forever a glorified hero to the Beeb commentators and the like.

skyblue46 · 24-02-2020 10:44pm

Jizique wrote: »

How does he get away with it?

In that case he produced a video which showed if he was in his bedroom on the third floor, there was a step machine on the go on the second floor, the radio was on at first floor level it was hard to hear the bell...so he was only charged with negligence rather than evasion...

robinph · 25-02-2020 9:02am

Felt it was missing the knockout blow we were promised.

Athletes are all idiots, Magness, Goucher, other Goucher, other female who's name I forgot and Farah all said they they were given injections of stuff which they had no idea about what it was and why and never really seemed that bothered at the time. They had all been "groomed" to just do whatever the Dr/ coach told them without question.

Not saying Farah is innocent, just more idiotic than the others for staying with Salazar.

I don't get how the GMC bought the UK team doctors excuse around forgetting to write up what he did, or happened to have forgotten the emails which he'd been sending about sourcing some drug from Switzerland from someone they didn't use before and that he was forgetful when doing the strange dosing of Farah the week before London Marathon in a hotel room infront of Salazar. That is not odd for a doctor to be doing in the slightest.

I can belive Farah had no idea what was going on as that what the system has programed him to be. Don't for a second trust the doctor for being such an idiot though.

cmac2009 · 25-02-2020 9:33am

robinph wrote: »

Felt it was missing the knockout blow we were promised.

Athletes are all idiots, Magness, Goucher, other Goucher, other female who's name I forgot and Farah all said they they were given injections of stuff which they had no idea about what it was and why and never really seemed that bothered at the time. They had all been "groomed" to just do whatever the Dr/ coach told them without question.

Not saying Farah is innocent, just more idiotic than the others for staying with Salazar.

I don't get how the GMC bought the UK team doctors excuse around forgetting to write up what he did, or happened to have forgotten the emails which he'd been sending about sourcing some drug from Switzerland from someone they didn't use before and that he was forgetful when doing the strange dosing of Farah the week before London Marathon in a hotel room infront of Salazar. That is not odd for a doctor to be doing in the slightest.

I can belive Farah had no idea what was going on as that what the system has programed him to be. Don't for a second trust the doctor for being such an idiot though.

Not sure the word believe and Farah should be used in the same sentence. You can give a person the benefit of the doubt once or twice, but he's been consistently caught lying over the years. He clearly has something to hide, really hope some irrefutable evidence comes to light at some stage.

robinph · 25-02-2020 9:35am

Murph_D wrote: »

However if athletes are not in fact idiots, the above does not hold water.

Besides, is there something in the rules that says if you don’t know what’s going on, you’re exempt to the rules? Some sort of plausible deniability defence?

Nope, being an idiot isn't an excuse. But when the whistle blowers are admitting that they did exactly the same thing as Farah, took injections and drugs which they had zero idea about or even seemed to think of asking for the name of at the time, its a bit hypocritical of them to acuse Farah of being part of the conspiracy when they themselves did exactly the same idiocy in the past.

The common theme is that the athletes are idiots and the coaches/ doctors are manipulative. That doesn't mean we give athletes a pass for being idiots, but we should also not be directing the blame solely at them for things they knew nothing about.

KSU · 25-02-2020 10:05am

robinph wrote: »

I can belive Farah had no idea what was going on as that what the system has programed him to be. Don't for a second trust the doctor for being such an idiot though.

For me the fact that his interview at weekend where he admitted to lying about Jama Aden as well as the USADA interview shows a consistent pattern of lying as well as the host of lies previously makes me less likely to give benefit of the doubt

robinph · 25-02-2020 10:09am

cmac2009 wrote: »

Not sure the word believe and Farah should be used in the same sentence. You can give a person the benefit of the doubt once or twice, but he's been consistently caught lying over the years. He clearly has something to hide, really hope some irrefutable evidence comes to light at some stage.

Glad you are acknowledging that this was a long way from being some irrefutable evidence.

It's certainly not a good look for Farah, but it's also not actually proof of anything much. Other than the doctor should have been struck off, Salazar has been up to dodgy practices for a long time and trying to see how far the lines can be pushed, and UKA are negligent in their care of their athletes in not removing their star player from the influence of dodgy doctors an coaches ASAP when previous evidence came out.

If we are believing the whistle blowing athletes that they were innocently manipulated into doing dodgy activities though, then why do we suddenly have to think that Farah was somehow different from them and he knew exactly what was being given to him and or directing things himself?

NIMAN · 25-02-2020 10:16am

I think the show was a letdown because it's entire premise was his use of a LEGAL supplement.

Ok so he denied it then admitted to it, but it wasn't illegal to use it.

KSU · 25-02-2020 10:26am

robinph wrote: »

Glad you are acknowledging that this was a long way from being some irrefutable evidence.

It's certainly not a good look for Farah, but it's also not actually proof of anything much. Other than the doctor should have been struck off, Salazar has been up to dodgy practices for a long time and trying to see how far the lines can be pushed, and UKA are negligent in their care of their athletes in not removing their star player from the influence of dodgy doctors an coaches ASAP when previous evidence came out.

If we are believing the whistle blowing athletes that they were innocently manipulated into doing dodgy activities though, then why do we suddenly have to think that Farah was somehow different from them and he knew exactly what was being given to him and or directing things himself?

There is a difference though between Nike Athletes who group up in US being moved into the group by sponsors and an athlete relocating half way around the world.

Also Farah spent long periods in Kenya/Ethiopia training so would have had to have had more control over set up (or Barry Fudge and UKA though still differentiates)

robinph · 25-02-2020 10:34am

KSU wrote: »

For me the fact that his interview at weekend where he admitted to lying about Jama Aden as well as the USADA interview shows a consistent pattern of lying as well as the host of lies previously makes me less likely to give benefit of the doubt

Missed the first one you mentioned,, but the USADA one which I assume is the one where he came back and changed his story I'm not particularly bothered about. That the USADA people who were specifically looking for dirt and presumably even more dubious about everything they are ever told by anyone left that interview happy with the explanation seems OK to me. Yes the partial transcript they read in the Panama program made things sound dodgy, but if USADA were happy then there is presumably a fair chunk of the transcript missing from what we've been told.

If the people charged with the job of catching people out thought nothing of it then I'd be inclined to agree with their interpretation as we've nothing else to go on.

BarryD2 · 25-02-2020 10:34am

robinph wrote: »

Athletes are all idiots, Magness, Goucher, other Goucher, other female who's name I forgot and Farah all said they they were given injections of stuff which they had no idea about what it was and why and never really seemed that bothered at the time. They had all been "groomed" to just do whatever the Dr/ coach told them without question.

With respect, that's a lazy defence. Sorry judge, I just took this 'stuff' because I was told to. Athletes do have brains like the rest of us, one presumes?? They are responsible for their own actions and decisions, like the rest of us.

If it were some East German or allegedly Russian or Chinese 'training camp', maybe some excuse.. but in Western Europe. Nah.

KSU · 25-02-2020 10:40am

robinph wrote: »

Missed the first one you mentioned,, but the USADA one which I assume is the one where he came back and changed his story I'm not particularly bothered about. That the USADA people who were specifically looking for dirt and presumably even more dubious about everything they are ever told by anyone left that interview happy with the explanation seems OK to me. Yes the partial transcript they read in the Panama program made things sound dodgy, but if USADA were happy then there is presumably a fair chunk of the transcript missing from what we've been told.

If the people charged with the job of catching people out thought nothing of it then I'd be inclined to agree with their interpretation as we've nothing else to go on.

USADA weren’t charged with going after Farah though they were after Salazar so getting the changed statement is music to their ears.

Also putting faith in the investigators not always the wisest in this case, just look at those in UKA who were assigned to investigate Salazar who didn’t do any due diligence

robinph · 25-02-2020 10:43am

BarryD2 wrote: »

With respect, that's a lazy defence. Sorry judge, I just took this 'stuff' because I was told to. Athletes do have brains like the rest of us, one presumes?? They are responsible for their own actions and decisions, like the rest of us.

If it were some East German or allegedly Russian or Chinese 'training camp', maybe some excuse.. but in Western Europe. Nah.

Absolutely.

But why do you think that Farah is the only athlete who was aware of exactly what was going on when all the others interviewed in the programme admitted they had no idea and just went along with what they were told to do?

robinph · 25-02-2020 10:51am

KSU wrote: »

USADA weren’t charged with going after Farah though they were after Salazar so getting the changed statement is music to their ears.

Also putting faith in the investigators not always the wisest in this case, just look at those in UKA who were assigned to investigate Salazar who didn’t do any due diligence

Doubt they would have turned down the chance to catch a Chicago winner though as a bonus prize to their investigation.

average_runner · 25-02-2020 10:55am

robinph wrote: »

Doubt they would have turned down the chance to catch a Chicago winner though as a bonus prize to their investigation.

Be even better if they could catch the previous female world marathon holder.

KSU · 25-02-2020 11:21am

robinph wrote: »

Doubt they would have turned down the chance to catch a Chicago winner though as a bonus prize to their investigation.

Was this not during the USADA investigation. Might have missed if they had this in the doc but I though this interview took place prior to his 2018 win

robinph · 25-02-2020 11:31am

KSU wrote: »

Was this not during the USADA investigation. Might have missed if they had this in the doc but I though this interview took place prior to his 2018 win

Not sure on the timings, but thought the questions were being asked in relation to the 2017 London Marathon. Thought it was a fairly recent questioning though.

KSU · 25-02-2020 11:38am

robinph wrote: »

Not sure on the timings, but thought the questions were being asked in relation to the 2017 London Marathon. Thought it was a fairly recent questioning though.

No it was his 2014 debut AFAIK

robinph · 25-02-2020 11:45am

KSU wrote: »

No it was his 2014 debut AFAIK

I thought he only ran half way in 2014, did the full in 2015, skipped 2016 for the Olympics then got the 3rd in 2017? ... which is why I was thinking it was in relation to the 2017 run I expect.

Probably got all my years wrong, but remembering stuff is tricky.

BarryD2 · 25-02-2020 12:38pm

robinph wrote: »

Absolutely.

But why do you think that Farah is the only athlete who was aware of exactly what was going on when all the others interviewed in the programme admitted they had no idea and just went along with what they were told to do?

Maybe they're all lying? Passing the buck, not taking personal responsibility. Deceiving themselves. Ignoring the inconvenient truth?

Murph_D · 25-02-2020 12:39pm

robinph wrote: »

If we are believing the whistle blowing athletes that they were innocently manipulated into doing dodgy activities though, then why do we suddenly have to think that Farah was somehow different from them and he knew exactly what was being given to him and or directing things himself?

The whistleblowers are different because they realised what was going on was wrong and blew the whistle - regardless of whether they willingly cooperated or not, they redeemed themselves by lifting the lid. The other fella didn’t.

robinph · 25-02-2020 1:04pm

Murph_D wrote: »

The whistleblowers are different because they realised what was going on was wrong and blew the whistle - regardless of whether they willingly cooperated or not, they redeemed themselves by lifting the lid. The other fella didn’t.

Yes and they get a pass for having blown the whistle, but that doesn't change that they are trying to hold Farah to a higher standard than they held themselves to at the time it was happening to them. If it was possible for them to be fooled then why do they think it's not possible for others to be fooled and manipulated?

If Farah as done wrong then grab the book and throw it, but there is a far greater responsibility that should be placed on the people running the system and who should have been protecting the athletes. Not that Farah can use the naivete excuse, but plenty of other athletes can who have clearly been manipulated over the years, yet they then get blamed when caught but the coaches just find someone else and carry on as before.

Yes, sport is all about hero worship and so it is the star athletes names that we know and who then get publicised when caught. The real problem is generally the people in the background, but they get ignored. I think very few of the athletes who get caught are actually in a position to have had much of a say over anything, it's only the real top superstars who would. Most are just pawns in someone elses game.

Farah would have been one of the few athletes of such a standing that they could have easily dumped Salazar at the first sniff of the investigation, and UKA should have told him to.

average_runner · 25-02-2020 1:12pm

robinph wrote: »

Yes and they get a pass for having blown the whistle, but that doesn't change that they are trying to hold Farah to a higher standard than they held themselves to at the time it was happening to them. If it was possible for them to be fooled then why do they think it's not possible for others to be fooled and manipulated?

If Farah as done wrong then grab the book and throw it, but there is a far greater responsibility that should be placed on the people running the system and who should have been protecting the athletes. Not that Farah can use the naivete excuse, but plenty of other athletes can who have clearly been manipulated over the years, yet they then get blamed when caught but the coaches just find someone else and carry on as before.

Yes, sport is all about hero worship and so it is the star athletes names that we know and who then get publicised when caught. The real problem is generally the people in the background, but they get ignored. I think very few of the athletes who get caught are actually in a position to have had much of a say over anything, it's only the real top superstars who would. Most are just pawns in someone elses game.

Farah would have been one of the few athletes of such a standing that they could have easily dumped Salazar at the first sniff of the investigation, and UKA should have told him to.

But the whistle blowers came out in 2015, Farah continued to stay after that and take stuff legal or not for London in 2017 which he lied about ?

Why did he lie about it ?

robinph · 25-02-2020 1:21pm

average_runner wrote: »

But the whistle blowers came out in 2015, Farah continued to stay after that and take stuff legal or not for London in 2017 which he lied about ?

Why did he lie about it ?

Think that comes back to an idiot being advised by idiots.

If Farah was knowingly up to something dodgy in 2015 then there is still the question of why didn't he dump Salazar? If you knew you were doing something wrong, and someone you work with has just been caught then the most sensible thing to do would be to cut ties and claim you knew nothing. Likewise if you were not doing anything wrong, but someone you work with has just been caught then the most sensible thing to do is to cut ties and state that you know nothing.

And if you are the national governing body and your top star is working closely with someone who has just be caught for doing something then the first thing you should be doing is get them to cut ties and state that they know nothing.

Instead what we have is an idiotic national governing body advising an idiot to do something idiotic and stay with someone who has just been accused of cheating. Nothing in that screams conspiracy to me, just stupidity from both UKA and Farah regardless of if Farah was knowingly taking banned or dodgy substances.

Only an idiot would stay with Salazar, regardless of if they were knowingly doing anything dodgy themselves. In either scenario Salazar should have been dumped by anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together.

KSU · 25-02-2020 1:23pm

average_runner wrote: »

But the whistle blowers came out in 2015, Farah continued to stay after that and take stuff legal or not for London in 2017 which he lied about ?

Why did he lie about it ?

Whistle blowers first raised the alarm long before that. Danny Mackey raised concerns not too long after Farah joined the group with USADA when he was working as a Nike lab researcher back in 2009.

Steve Magness was another in 2011 who raised the alarm with the Rupp medical records as well as his own personal experiences.

KSU · 25-02-2020 1:27pm

robinph wrote: »

nd if you are the national governing body and your top star is working closely with someone who has just be caught for doing something then the first thing you should be doing is get them to cut ties and state that they know nothing.

Instead what we have is an idiotic national governing body advising an idiot to do something idiotic and stay with someone who has just been accused of cheating. Nothing in that screams conspiracy to me, just stupidity from both UKA and Farah regardless of if Farah was knowingly taking banned or dodgy substances.

The elephant in the room in that scenario is the fact that UKA also had Salazar working for them as a consultant so implications exceed the impact of just Farah.

Laura Muir for one was pushed to work with NOP staff as well as a number of athletes following guidance on L-Carnitine supplementation.

robinph · 25-02-2020 1:31pm

KSU wrote: »

The elephant in the room in that scenario is the fact that UKA also had Salazar working for them as a consultant so implications exceed the impact of just Farah.

Laura Muir for one was pushed to work with NOP staff as well as a number of athletes following guidance on L-Carnitine supplementation.

Yes and that is concerning how embedded NOP was within controlling UKA potentially. An athlete can be ignorant and stupid, a national governing body not so much as there should be a lot of people involved and no one single person able to command things.

average_runner · 25-02-2020 1:32pm

robinph wrote: »

Think that comes back to an idiot being advised by idiots.

If Farah was knowingly up to something dodgy in 2015 then there is still the question of why didn't he dump Salazar? If you knew you were doing something wrong, and someone you work with has just been caught then the most sensible thing to do would be to cut ties and claim you knew nothing. Likewise if you were not doing anything wrong, but someone you work with has just been caught then the most sensible thing to do is to cut ties and state that you know nothing.

And if you are the national governing body and your top star is working closely with someone who has just be caught for doing something then the first thing you should be doing is get them to cut ties and state that they know nothing.

Instead what we have is an idiotic national governing body advising an idiot to do something idiotic and stay with someone who has just been accused of cheating. Nothing in that screams conspiracy to me, just stupidity from both UKA and Farah regardless of if Farah was knowingly taking banned or dodgy substances.

Only an idiot would stay with Salazar, regardless of if they were knowingly doing anything dodgy themselves. In either scenario Salazar should have been dumped by anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together.

Or was there something else at play. Who manufactures the uk kit?

skyblue46 · 25-02-2020 3:15pm

average_runner wrote: »

Or was there something else at play. Who manufactures the uk kit?

You're not suggesting that the N in NOP have undue influence in UKA? Or in WA to get shoe rules rewritten? Or see a reason to back Salazar's defense?

Farah to defend Olympic 10k title

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