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Some thoughts on doping in sport:
I was a naive, rabid Jamaican/West Indian sports junkie who watched/cheered on our clean Aths beating the big guys in the int'l sport incl cricket! A serious flag waver
All through the Cold War OLY boycotts I was there listening/watching!
1/x
I was a naive, rabid Jamaican/West Indian sports junkie who watched/cheered on our clean Aths beating the big guys in the int'l sport incl cricket! A serious flag waver
All through the Cold War OLY boycotts I was there listening/watching!1/x
I believed all the mumbo jumbo that Jamaicans were unique/special & when our Aths got proper nutrition/training in the US/UK we could beat the world.
I took this as gospel.
God made the enslaved Africans who came to JAM different...Endowed with superior Ath prowess/speed.
2/x
I took this as gospel.
God made the enslaved Africans who came to JAM different...Endowed with superior Ath prowess/speed.
2/x
Cuba is 90 miles off the coast of Jamaica, and Haiti a little further away but accessible by our fishermen in their little boats. So too Cayman. Ppl from each ctry travelled back and forth but in my mind the other islands didn't get our genes even with intermarriage
Get it?
3/x
Get it?
3/x
As for the rest of the Caribbean, if they had a fast runner my instinctive thought was "he/she must have a Jamaican parent" (eg Ato Bolton)...Same if I saw a black Ath representing ctries in Europe/UK...This was my reflex position.
In some ways I miss my simplistic views
4/x
In some ways I miss my simplistic views
4/x
Nothing beat seeing a Jamaican Ath on the Oly podium, or hearing/seeing West Indian cricketers whitewash England and beat the Aussies...Funny, I could accept cricketers from other Caribbean islands as being phenomenal without JAM genes! 
I lived in a sweet sports bubble.
5/x
I lived in a sweet sports bubble.
5/x
I think that is why I get the zealous way in which ppl/media buy into thier Aths being clean but who are losing to "dirty" Aths from other ctries of course led by those darn Russians & Marginal gains/unique science is only available to select ctries with no knowledge transfer
6/x
6/x
I went into the anti-doping in sport world as a zealot myself. My goal was to try to save our "clean" Jamaican Aths from being exploited by dirty Aths from other ctries. In my mind it was "us vs them". For ex I worried about racial EPO testing by my pal @RobinParisotto1 et al
7/x
7/x
I tried to find out about testing of US black Aths in Colorado & Chinese Aths (done in pre-testing phases b4 the Sydney OLYs). I wondered if the Aths were unknowing guineapigs ala the infamous Tuskegee syphillis testing in the US. In essence was there anything to see here
8/x
8/x
ICYMI
The Infamous 40-year Tuskee Study https://www.history.com/news/the-infamous-40-year-tuskegee-study
The Infamous 40-year Tuskee Study https://www.history.com/news/the-infamous-40-year-tuskegee-study
Those of you who know me or have followed my tweets that I was obsessed with "following the treads of the spider's web re doping in sport."
The thing is that in my journey I gradually took off my rose-tinted glasses. I saw the sheer intermingling of sport/sponsors/politics.
10/x
The thing is that in my journey I gradually took off my rose-tinted glasses. I saw the sheer intermingling of sport/sponsors/politics.
10/x
The more I delved into the swamp of doping I learnt never to vouch for any Ath, coach, support personnel.
No country was/is "pure". Many vocal "Aths" have pushed the envelope/maybe walked on the dark side.
I no longer cheer.
I don't believe in miraculous gains. NONE.
11/x
No country was/is "pure". Many vocal "Aths" have pushed the envelope/maybe walked on the dark side.
I no longer cheer.
I don't believe in miraculous gains. NONE.
11/x
I find the current "Russian bogey man" fervor tedious. And Grigory's rewriting of his own time in the swap to be boring, frankly...Very little is new for those of us who have delved into the int'l doping arms race & the need to top the OLY medals table. No hands are clean.
END
END
*swamp
