Another Irish Olympic showjumping drugs scandal??

[kerrynorth]

By the way, if anyone else thinks China suddenly becoming world class in sports that they didn't previously have a history in is purely down to hard work alone, they are mad. Drugs is a huge part of sport, whether we like it or not. As Popper said, we have 3 guaranteed medals that are 100% clean, let's just celebrate that.

We have 3 guaranteed medals that we believe to be clean. My opinion - all athletes dope - the difference is how good they are at hiding it.

That's as ridiculous as the argument on the other extreme. Many do dope and hide it well (hence what I;m saying about countires who emerge overnight) however, boxing has always been one of Ireland's strongest events, plus it is very rare (virtually unheard of) for doping to happen in boxing. (Perhaps the Eastern Bloc countries, but then again they drugged everything in the 80s.) Has it not occurred to you that we may just have 3 very talented boxers, who are the product of heavy investment in boxing in this country?

Are you ************************ting me?

Boxing clubs, on the most part, survive on a shoe string and mostly from their own fundraising efforts.

Tralee Boxing Club were on Radio Kerry just this morning saying that they have nowhere to properly train as they have no location for a boxing ring. In the last 7 years they have received the princely sum of €300 in State funding through the national lottery. Heavy investment my ass!

[Thranduil]

I think that if this was our our only medal hope then there would be a great deal more anger and shame generated than what will be here, leaving this aside (and a major postmortem is required for Irish Olympic Equestrian activities no matter what) it is not our only hope and it can be put to one side.

Perhaps it should be removed as an Olympic sport, given the level of doping controversy generated around it every year.

[DOD]

Given the comments by Eamon Coughlan where he said he was tempted to take drugs to prolong his career perhaps we should have some sympathy for the likes of Cragg who is clean and was put down by Coughlan.

(A) All he said was he won't win a medal, (b) He said he was tempted. When I see a gorgeous woman, part of me is tempted to say I want to take you up to my bedroom and ride you like a shetland pony, it doesn't mean I do it. When I see a middle class blueshirt twat talking sh1t at a debate, I'm tempted to beat his irritating, smug middle class face into the middle of next week, but I don't. You can't condemn someone for what they were tempted to do but decide not to.

[mairteenpak]

Why is some stupid enough to administer the baned substance capsaicin?

Surely they must know Ireland would get special scrutiny?

How much does it cost to send the equestrian team to the Olympics?

[CrockerJarman]

In relation to Michelle Smith:if someone steps in front of a car and is killed. Would the driver be regarded as a murderer if two years later they did not give a true sample to a random drink driving test taken then? Was she not tested before, during and after those games and was cleared? Did she not win with slow times?Is it not the case that she has never tested positive? Why then is she treated with a lower regard than Catherine Nevin?

She evaded testing in all of the times previous to that Olympics..She didn't fill out the "training location document" ...It's public. They cuoldn't catch up with her. She evaded.......

Not to mention syringes of Jameson............

The amount of half ones in her sample, FINA could have been excused for thinking that Ireland had sent out to Atlanta a medley team of Shane McGowan, Richard Harris, Noel Gallagher and Father Jack Hackett.

[kerrynorth]

Surely they must know Ireland would get special scrutiny?

You would think that they must have guessed that they were guaranteed to be tested in any sampling. Testing isn't random anymore it is targeted.

[DOD]

By the way, if anyone else thinks China suddenly becoming world class in sports that they didn't previously have a history in is purely down to hard work alone, they are mad. Drugs is a huge part of sport, whether we like it or not. As Popper said, we have 3 guaranteed medals that are 100% clean, let's just celebrate that.

We have 3 guaranteed medals that we believe to be clean. My opinion - all athletes dope - the difference is how good they are at hiding it.

That's as ridiculous as the argument on the other extreme. Many do dope and hide it well (hence what I;m saying about countires who emerge overnight) however, boxing has always been one of Ireland's strongest events, plus it is very rare (virtually unheard of) for doping to happen in boxing. (Perhaps the Eastern Bloc countries, but then again they drugged everything in the 80s.) Has it not occurred to you that we may just have 3 very talented boxers, who are the product of heavy investment in boxing in this country?

Are you ************************ting me?

Boxing clubs, on the most part, survive on a shoe string and mostly from their own fundraising efforts.

I can't comment on ini=dividual clubs, but at the top level there is investment. I never said the allocation was fair. My point was that Olympic level boxers have top quality training and this may be why they achieve so well, rather than assuming they are on drugs. Your average GAA club wouldn't have great facilities, but it doesn't stop people winning All irelands. The problem in this country has always been that investment is only put in to people who have been lucky enough to make a breakthrough, facilitating that happening at a local level the length and breadth of the country is different. It is probably no coincidence that of all our boxing medalists 7 are from Belfats and the other 5 came from either Dublin or the greater leinster area.

[kerrynorth]

By the way, if anyone else thinks China suddenly becoming world class in sports that they didn't previously have a history in is purely down to hard work alone, they are mad. Drugs is a huge part of sport, whether we like it or not. As Popper said, we have 3 guaranteed medals that are 100% clean, let's just celebrate that.

We have 3 guaranteed medals that we believe to be clean. My opinion - all athletes dope - the difference is how good they are at hiding it.

That's as ridiculous as the argument on the other extreme. Many do dope and hide it well (hence what I;m saying about countires who emerge overnight) however, boxing has always been one of Ireland's strongest events, plus it is very rare (virtually unheard of) for doping to happen in boxing. (Perhaps the Eastern Bloc countries, but then again they drugged everything in the 80s.) Has it not occurred to you that we may just have 3 very talented boxers, who are the product of heavy investment in boxing in this country?

Are you ************************ting me?

Boxing clubs, on the most part, survive on a shoe string and mostly from their own fundraising efforts.

I can't comment on ini=dividual clubs, but at the top level there is investment. I never said the allocation was fair. My point was that Olympic level boxers have top quality training and this may be why they achieve so well, rather than assuming they are on drugs. Your average GAA club wouldn't have great facilities, but it doesn't stop people winning All irelands. The problem in this country has always been that investment is only put in to people who have been lucky enough to make a breakthrough, facilitating that happening at a local level the length and breadth of the country is different. It is probably no coincidence that of all our boxing medalists 7 are from Belfats and the other 5 came from either Dublin or the greater leinster area.

Isn't Hughy Russell from Cork? Bronze medalist at Moscow 1980.

[popper]

In relation to Michelle Smith:if someone steps in front of a car and is killed. Would the driver be regarded as a murderer if two years later they did not give a true sample to a random drink driving test taken then? Was she not tested before, during and after those games and was cleared? Did she not win with slow times?Is it not the case that she has never tested positive? Why then is she treated with a lower regard than Catherine Nevin?

She evaded testing in all of the times previous to that Olympics..She didn't fill out the "training location document" ...It's public. They cuoldn't catch up with her. She evaded.......

Not to mention syringes of Jameson............

The amount of half ones in her sample, FINA could have been excused for thinking that Ireland had sent out to Atlanta a medley team of Shane McGowan, Richard Harris, Noel Gallagher and Father Jack Hackett.

[DOD]

[quote=kerrynorth]

By the way, if anyone else thinks China suddenly becoming world class in sports that they didn't previously have a history in is purely down to hard work alone, they are mad. Drugs is a huge part of sport, whether we like it or not. As Popper said, we have 3 guaranteed medals that are 100% clean, let's just celebrate that.

We have 3 guaranteed medals that we believe to be clean. My opinion - all athletes dope - the difference is how good they are at hiding it.

That's as ridiculous as the argument on the other extreme. Many do dope and hide it well (hence what I;m saying about countires who emerge overnight) however, boxing has always been one of Ireland's strongest events, plus it is very rare (virtually unheard of) for doping to happen in boxing. (Perhaps the Eastern Bloc countries, but then again they drugged everything in the 80s.) Has it not occurred to you that we may just have 3 very talented boxers, who are the product of heavy investment in boxing in this country?

Are you ************************ting me?

Boxing clubs, on the most part, survive on a shoe string and mostly from their own fundraising efforts.

I can't comment on ini=dividual clubs, but at the top level there is investment. I never said the allocation was fair. My point was that Olympic level boxers have top quality training and this may be why they achieve so well, rather than assuming they are on drugs. Your average GAA club wouldn't have great facilities, but it doesn't stop people winning All irelands. The problem in this country has always been that investment is only put in to people who have been lucky enough to make a breakthrough, facilitating that happening at a local level the length and breadth of the country is different. It is probably no coincidence that of all our boxing medalists 7 are from Belfats and the other 5 came from either Dublin or the greater leinster area.

Isn't Hughy Russell from Cork? Bronze medalist at Moscow 1980.[/quote:353txuwg]
Maybe, even so, 1 out of 12 doesn't say a lot. Tiedt was from Dublin, so is Carruth,, Egan, Sutherland, Tony Byrne was from Louth, that's 5, so if Russell is from Cork, then Jimmy Magge was wrong about the 7 Belfast fighters.