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Broke the marathon record, which still stands, by 3 whole minutes, and does't want blood results leaked, seems suspicious but tbh when she talks she always has that nervous, awkward look and sound to her, I don't think she's the brightest upstairs, personally I don't think she's a cheat but that's based on nothing but instinct.
A 34 year old running 100m under 9.8 seconds every other week is far more suspicious ![]() |
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In completed unrelated news a top UK athlete is rumoured (and strongly alluded to in the original Sunday Times piece) to have taken a superinjunction out against publication of their blood profile
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Radcliffe would astonish me, as she was always outstanding -- and I doubt anyone is doping schoolgirls. There was no sudden leap in performance as there has been with other athletes: she did not appear from nowhere. She also had a clear pattern to her form -- she was a freak in cool weather and a club runner in hot or humid conditions.
I did not see the item but would guess she was just nervous because someone stuck a camera in her face. |
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I'm with scandanavian here - she always comes across as nervous and jumpy.
Always thought it was cos she was sat next to that (ex)God squadder Edwards! |
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The interview (and article) is on the BBC website here
.http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/33990503 |
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Doesn't look flustered like that when presenting the live athletics
Her answer about her marathon pb was ridiculous. Ramrura - her 10k and 5k times are comparable to other athletes athletes. Her marathon times are are on a completely different level to anyone else despite legitimate improvements in training/recovery in the last 20years If I was a judge.... |
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If you were a judge you would have no evidence and would be laughed out of court yourself for wanting to convict someone without it
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@Zazu -- Radcliffe was British record holder at 5,000m. Yes, she is the outstanding woman marathon runner of all time -- a freak, as I said earlier, but you can trace a clear path from the young girl who was English schools 1,500m champion.
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What was more laughable on the BBC News was Coe saying "Our sport is taking a lead against drugs." Like letting Justin Gatlin back into the sport after two failed drug tests.
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Yeah I thought Coe giving it the zero tolerance talk today was ridiculous with a twice convicted drugs cheat set to line up for the World Championships next week as odds-on favourite in places to beat Usain Bolt.
Also found his 'they are waging war against my sport' comments about the media very strange - the media report that plenty of your athletes are dirty and you choose to attack them. To me, the drugs cheats are the ones waging war on the sport, not the ones who think it should be cleaned up. If you are all about zero tolerance surely they are your allies? On the subject of Radcliffe though, she's definitely clean. Never seen an athlete so keen to comply before that she stopped mid-race to give a urine sample. |
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Her hands go nowhere near her face which is the normal sign that aomeone is lying.
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Looked completely uneasy, gave poor answers and was for all for not allowing access to blood passport records
I thought she explained that quite well. Blood tests form a profile for athletes but dont give a definative yes/no answer to whether the athlete has taken drugs. Give them to the press, and they will "sensationally" accuse all sorts with little or no expert proof. It will be like the French accusing Chris Froome on hearsay,but without any evidence. |
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BBC PR stunt ahead of the World Champs so UK Miss Clean can sit on the sofa with Michael Johnson.
This was an ideal chance for her to state she was not one of the athletes with highly abnormal bloods but surprise, surprise she chose not to take it. Even bigger surprise she thinks blood values should not be made public. |
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1 2:15:25 Radcliffe, Paula GBR London 1 4/13/03
2 2:17:18 Radcliffe, Paula GBR Chicago 1 10/13/02 3 2:17:42 Radcliffe, Paula GBR London 1 4/17/05 4 2:18:20 Shobukhova, Liliya RUS Chicago 1 10/9/11 5 2:18:37 Keitany, Mary KEN London 1 4/22/12 6 2:18:47 N'dereba, Catherine KEN Chicago 1 10/7/01 7 2:18:56 Radcliffe, Paula GBR London 1 4/14/02 8 2:18:57 Jeptoo, Rita Sitienei KEN Boston 1 4/21/14 9 2:18:58 Gelana, Tiki ETH Rotterdam 1 4/15/12 10 2:19:12 Noguchi, Mizuki JPN Berlin 1 9/25/05 The Russians probably done more pills and potions than The Who So even her 2.17s are a minute clear of anyone else Ramrura, Britains hardly a hot bed for female long distance runners. Distance running is all about North East Africa, USA or Japan |
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Just googled that Russian and shes currently serving a drugs ban
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Shobukhova, who has also been stripped of her 2009, 2010 and 2011 Chicago titles, was originally suspended after irregularities were detected in her biological passport.
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All easily cleared up Paula just tell us you're not on that Sunday Times list.
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Her marathon world record is right up there with the most ridiculous world records in athletics. It was set over a decade after the emergence of EPO in sport and the huge benefits derived from blood doping in general by endurance athletes are well documented.
However, loads of Kenyan distance runners are still getting popped for EPO (guess they've never heard of micro-dosing). The best in the world, Rita Jeptoo, just the latest to test +ve but she would be outside the stadium while Paula was doing her lap of honour. She may have had ketchup for blood but it's still an incredible achievement. If you compare to the mens marathon, the top 35 fastest men of all time are Kenyan or Ethiopian and they are going faster and faster |
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[At 18, Paula Radcliffe] had a VO2max essentially as high as elite female athletes ever get, even though she was training less than thirty miles a week.
Her VO2max did not improve at all -— it was already at the top -— but each year her running economy got incrementally better, presumably at least partly because her legs got longer while her weight did not increase. In 2003, eleven years after she was first tested, Radcliffe’s VO2max was no different from what it was when she was eighteen and training lightly, but her running economy had improved dramatically, and she shattered the women’s world marathon record in 2: 15: 25. Obviously, Radcliffe’s exceptional running economy was at least partly created by her training. Epstein, David. The Sports Gene: Talent, Practice and the Truth About Success (p. 221). Random House. Epstein also discusses Radcliffe's unusual height, which gave her an advantage over other runners -- long legs mean a long stride -- but also explains why she melted in hot weather. |
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This thread, without any irony, proves exactly why they shouldn't release anything to the world of internet whack jobs..
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anything that moves is suspected of drugs
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Marathon running involves going through the pain barrier for longer than any other race. I suspect that she is clean and somehow found a way of coping with pain, mind over matter rather than anything else.
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Campaigning for compulsory blood tests might be an odd thing to do if you were doping ? Some may remember this from 14 years ago ...
.http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/in_depth/2001/world_athletics/1483621.stm I'm sure there will be theories on both sides |
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If she is the "household name" athlete with a 1/1000 chance of a blood reading that is considered natural....
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/6571867/British-athletics-star-dragged-into-Blood-doping-row.html ...surely a WR holder would be at least a one in a thousand athlete and natural outlier. If it is her, and she is genuinely clean, she should come out and say so. You'd not expect her to have the same blood oxygen level as a "normal" person considering she has spent 20 years high intensity training at altitude at the very top of her sport. |
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Epstein also discusses Radcliffe's unusual height, which gave her an advantage over other runners -- long legs mean a long stride -- but also explains why she melted in hot weather.
Most elite distance runners are closer to 5ft than 6ft! Heigh/weight is a huge disadvantage Bolts happy to have his tests published. Radcliffe always called for transparancy in sport and all of a sudden she's u-turned ![]() |
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Most elite distance runners are closer to 5ft than 6ft! Heigh/weight is a huge disadvantage
Paula radcliffe doesn't have weight on her, she's a bag of bones, and as said previously, taller= longer strides. Most elite 100m sprinters were of a certain height, 5"10-6"2, Usain Bolt at 6"5 changed that perception and takes less strides to finish a race, in one race he can take four or five less steps than Yohan Blake - joint third fastest man of all time. So maybe taller people should be thinking about elite distance running as a viable career. Bolt is a much higher profile athlete atm than radcliffe, probably the most recognisable athlete in the world, you can be sure his team advised him to say that, imagine how it would look otherwise creating all kind of unnecessary headlines, on Bolt, his times since juniours and his almost unique running style being so tall make him less suspicious than someone like 2004 twice banned 100m runner Justin Gaitlan. |
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2004 Olympic champion* - how much longer before he's stripped of that
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doper same as Seb Coe
now elevated to the top job |
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Radcliffes 5ft 8
Dibabas 5ft 5 So shes hardly the jolly green giant Re weight. A 6ft marathoners bones have a higher total mass than a 5fter. I'm glad the Nike ambassador Come has got the top job. He'll definitely throw everything at Bikes Oregons project.... |
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Nikes*
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What was the course and climate like when Radcliffe set her marathon world record. Surely that would be a big factor. Surely you would need to replicate the exact same course and conditions and opposition to put her record into context.
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Her 2:15:25 was set running with men. Her 2:17:42 wasn't.
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Height is one thing but leg length is another but being taller in general obviously carries the likeliness you have longer legs.
10 fastest women marathon runners Paula Radcliffe - 1.73m (5 ft 8) Mary Keitany - 1.58m (5ft 2) Catherine N'dereba 1.587m (5ft 2.5) Rita Sitienei Jeptoo 1.73m (5 ft 8) Tiki Gelana - 1.65m (5ft 4) Mizuki Noguchi - 1.5m (4 ft 11) Irina Mikitenko - 1.61m (5ft 3) Aselefech Mergia - 1.68m (5ft 6) Lucy Kabuu - 1.55m (5 ft 1) Deena Kastor 1.62 (5 ft 3) So she had the natural advantage of being taller then closest rivals to carry further strides and take less steps and less impact on her body over the course of any substantial distance. The World record was broken in front of her home crowd in London, as results often prove in sport, being at home brings out better results, having a home crowd push you on for over 2 hours will help as will having two male pacemakers controlling pace whilst shielding wind are other factors. |
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The height argument is a complete myth.
Most of the top men are circa 5ft Home crowd isn't worth 3 minutes! Even in women only races they have decent group/ pacemakers for 20miles |
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Hone crowd is a contributory factor not the factor.
Exactly and if you look at their times they are all close, like I said earlier, maybe taller runners should be encouraged, I think you will find in all races where there are fast pacemakers in a race including shorter in track distances, they make a difference, 3 minutes is a lot, but when the race is over 2 hours helped by a home crowd and male pacemakers it has to be considered, I don't know what the wet bulb temperature were of the race but two of the top 5 times were in the windy city of Chicago. |
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Here's an AW article about it. I think it was written before the IAAF changed its mind again about the world record status
.http://www.athleticsweekly.com/0/admin/blog/when-a-world-record-is-not-a-world-record/ |
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Home crowd
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Look at the results of all sports teams across the world across the course of a season, the home form is always better than the away form, I don't see why home crowd in Athletics is different including marathon running
Total number of Summer Olympics medals from 1980 onwards for the home countries Britain - 21, 37, 24, 20, 15, 28, 30, 47, 65 China - (x), 32, 28, 54, 50, 58, 63. 100, 88 Greece - 3, 2, 1, 2, 8, 13, 16, 4, 2 Australia - 9, 24, 14, 27, 41, 58, 50, 46, 35 America - (x), 174, 94. 108, 101, 93, 101, 110, 103 Spain - 6, 5, 4, 22, 17, 11, 20, 18, 17 South Korea - (x), 19, 33, 29, 27, 28, 30, 31, 28 America the exception having held two games during that period, the 'home crowd' does count, the bolded figures are when that country held the games in one of their cities, telling trend, 6 of the 7 accrued more medals in their homes games than in games before or after and in most cases by quite a few. On the hieght thing/longer legs, It's just a simple fact, Bolt over 100m will ALWAYS take less steps/stride because of the natural advantage of having longer limbs, same as Radcliffe, her rivals are in most cases 4+ inches shorter, same as in Bolt's case. |
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Yohan Blake is 5ft9....
In distance running a higher cadence and efficient technique is far more important than stride length. When a country hosts the Olympics they spunks loads of money on athletes in the build up. Hence why you see no difference with USA who always fund sport well. That's more significant than a home crowd |