Is One Of The Nation's Idols, Soon To Topple From His Pedestal?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-3128695/Mo-Farah-missed-two-drug-tests-London-Olympics-putting-2012-double-gold-risk.html

[-Talbot-]

Would it make your day?

This sort of thing happens a lot in athletics...wait and see eh?

[jackthehat]

I hope not.
He strikes me as being a 'clean' athlete whose achievements have been made through application and hard work and not helped by 'substances'.

[anotheoldgit]

jackthehat

/// He strikes me as being a 'clean' athlete whose achievements have been made through application and hard work and not helped by 'substances'. ///

That is what we all thought, hence his idolic image.

[-Talbot-]

That is what we all thought


Thought or think? He has not yet been found guilty of anything. Athletes can and do miss drug tests.

[mushroom25]

missing two can probably be assessed as of little consequence - had he missed 3, different matter.

[Marshwarble]

Why do they go round people's houses to do these tests? You're bound to miss them.

[magicmick]

Rio Ferdinand missed a test and got a nine month ban, do the same penalties go for Athletics?

[Booldawg]

Maybe it clashed with the filming of a Quorn mince advert?

[ichkeria]

"Rio Ferdinand missed a test and got a nine month ban, do the same penalties go for Athletics? "

As it says in the article:
UK anti-doping rules state an athlete who misses three tests in any 12-month period (down from 18 months since 2013) can face up to a four-year ban.

[-Talbot-]

Ferdinand was there, the drugs testers were there he knew they were there and yet he still buggered off, magicmick.

If Mo had just won a 10,000 metre race and continued running all the way to the car park then home...I would be suspicious.

[ToraToraTora]

I sincerly hope not, I do cling to the hope that clean athletes can occasionally compete. I'd be gutted if it really did just become a chemistry contest.

[ToraToraTora]

sadly divebuddy, it has come to that, especially in cycling. They claim to have cleaned it up so we'll see. Athletics though, very hard to compete without being on the juice. Farah and Bolt are two that I believed were clean up to now, but it looks like the former is under suspicion.

[Vicasso]

So he missed one test in 2010 and one in 2011.
I note that the Mail does not report on how many times he was tested in those two years.

[Apariah]

If he missed two drugs tests he is not doing himself any favours.

Having said that, at present it is only speculation on whether his coach was involved anyway. So just have to wait and see I guess.

[joggerjayne]

Nooooo, I hope not.

Not our Mo.

:o(

[jno]

as Vicasso says, how many tests did he pass?

[magicmick]

What I do not understand is, did Mo know he had to take a test? or did they just turn up and he was not there? If it is the 1st he is in the wrong, if it is the 2nd he is not at fault.

[jourdain2]

This does worry me. I used to be an athletics coach (under 21's) and I ensured that all my athletes carried cards which listed prohibited substances and which they could present to chemists to ensure they were clean and would not accidentally get caught.

I thought Mo would be clean (I hope he is, but am now concerned). The testing regime is very rigorous and someone can turn up on your doorstep
at any time. It may now be different for elite athletes - but to miss 2 drugs tests without volunteering to come in for one to make up for it, does give rise to suspicion.

I was dismayed when he abandoned the last championship in UK on what seemed a thin excuse. He may have spoken the truth - stress affects performance - but it can be read as 'They will test me for everything this time win or not, so I'm going.'

I haven't read any other posts, but in amateur athletics (and I coached up to and including national level) any drugs use is very, very rare - and is caught by the random tests. E.g. Whoever comes 3rd in such a race will be tested. You never know. I hope this will be cleared up soon. Saddened for a sport I love.

[ladybirder]

Jourdain I'm sure I read he offered to be tested later the same day but they refused. And I also read somewhere that he passed lots of other tests in the period between the two missed tests but I can't remember where I read it but it was today somewhere.
I love Mo. I hope it all works out OK.