OK - I’ll bite, only because I’m not the type of person that says they don’t read these boards. Plus I always post under my own name, so I can’t hide from this.
Agree, saying I can 100% confirm…..was a bad choice of words and any normal person would forgive me and understand this is a very stressful time. I am not with my athletes 24/7 (I work a full time job and earn no income from my coaching), so all I can rely on is the 8 years I’ve coached Pete, the character traits he’s displayed over those 8 years and my gut feel. So I have to put 100% trust in him, like he puts 100% in me as his coach. If anyone has followed my twitter account ‘fast8trackclub’ you’d know that we are open and transparent about our training. We are not the type of group that disappears on training camps or not constant on the racing circuit. If you wanted to find any of my athletes, you’d just need to open tweeter.
Clearly I can’t say too much, as we still need to make sure the process is followed in it fullest and await the B results. I’m not going to claim that I don’t know what EPO is, but the only real knowledge I really have is watching those documentaries on Lance Armstrong and that ICARUS Netflix program. Plus what the experts on letsrun tell us on these boards. Last week was the first time I googled rEPO and tried to learn more about the testing process. It just not something that I’ve every thought I needed to be across and even now I feel uncomfortable about trying to learn more.
I’d also like to address Pete’s 1500 results last year, as this seems to be the evidence that he is taking drugs. If you look back at Pete’s 1500 results, you’ll notice that he only ever runs one in January at the start of our Australian summer season and he wins a majority of the time. I don’t think he’d been in a race that went sub 3:00. We’d always want to run a fast 1500 in Europe, but never got the chance. This year he got to run one when he was in peak shape and the result is a true reflection of what I thought he could run. I thought he was in 3:34 shape (and maybe the super spikes have helped a little, but that’s another thread). His 800m results has been a steady progression over the last 8 years.
There is something very confusing about the positive test result, but I’m not an expert, so I’ll need to trust that they’ll get to the bottom of it. It’s not in line with the other 27 blood and urine test results he was subjected to in 2022. Here in Australia, athletes are charged $1250 to obtain a copy of their testing package, so it can be an expensive exercise asking for all of them. But if it’s what we have to do, we’ll do it so we can get to the bottom of things.
Lastly, I’m not angry at the people throwing hate or shade our way, as I have been guilty in the past of thinking the same way when there has been a positive test result. I love this sport (or the 800) has much as everyone and all we want to to see people competing on a level playing field. I would never do anything to jeopardise that.
JR