The IOC’s decision to keep 2012 Olympics samples for 10 years has led to a steady drip of retrospective failed tests that have given the London Games an unwanted recordTen or so years ago the Evening Standard ran the billboard headline “London Fashion Week Cocaine Shock”. Presumably the twist was that there was someone alive surprised to find it was going on, since the revelation seemed just about as startling as the fact they were playing baccarat in Rick’s place. Over Christmas, the International Weightlifting Federation dropped another bombshell when it announced that five Olympics weightlifters have just been provisionally suspended because some “adverse analytical findings” were discovered when the International Olympic Committee recently retested samples provided in 2012.There were...
Up-and-coming rider faces a long suspension after a positive test for a banned substance, believed to be cocaineKieran Shoemark, one of the rising stars of the Flat’s weighing room, faces a long suspension from riding after returning a positive test for a banned substance, believed to be cocaine.Shoemark rode Atty Persse to win the King George V Handicap at Royal Ascot in June 2017 and was only narrowly beaten to the champion apprentice title by David Egan. His 2018 campaign was interrupted by an injury sustained in a fall in June, but he returned to the saddle in August and took the Group Three Bengough Stakes at Ascot in October on Roger Charlton’s Projection. Shoemark has not ridden in public...
Not surprisingly reinstating Russia to international competition has not gone down particularly well, and the Wada president’s insistence he had no alternative is a laughable responseI am affronted on behalf of the World Anti-Doping Agency president Craig Reedie to learn that he was pointedly not invited to this week’s White House event entitled “Advancing International Commitment to Clean Sports: Reforming the World Anti-Doping Agency”. In many ways the White House should be a place of camaraderie for Sir Craig. He certainly wouldn’t have been the only guy in the place who thinks he has been treated very unfairly over matters relating to Russian urine.“I am used to athletes complaining,” sniffed Reedie of the outrage over last month’s Wada decision to...
Six years after Armstrong’s lifelong ban from cycling, he is very much back in the public eye. But it would certainly be easier to enjoy his rebranding if his contrition felt less self-absorbedYou’ve got to hand it to Lance Armstrong – he’s a fighter. Sure, Tiger Woods may look like a shoo-in for this year’s Biggest Comeback from a Spectacular Fall from Grace by a Sporting Star of the 2000s. But Armstrong isn’t giving up hope of the title just yet. Especially not when he’s been laying the groundwork for the past two years. Related: Lance Armstrong: David Millar is ‘last person’ who should lead cyclists’ union Related: Annemiek van Vleuten retains world time-trial title as Dutch riders dominate Continue...
Exactly 30 years on from the Seoul Olympics 100m, the ineffectiveness of the anti-doping system remains a concernThirty years ago today, Ben Johnson crouched on his starting blocks before the 100m Olympic final in Seoul, waiting. A gun went off. And he went supernova. Even now there is a visceral thrill watching him burn off his rivals from between 30 to 70 metres – those tiny legs whirring at an almost impossible velocity, as if the race replay is being played at double speed, while they strain in vain to catch him – as he lifts one finger in the air in triumph.After his lap of honour, Johnson was asked which he treasured more: his gold medal or a world...