Is Ledecky clean?

Olympic Truth wrote:

OLD SMTC SOB wrote:

Well, be that as it may, and what I know about the USA Swimming structure and integrity of the coaches and orginazation, that's my assessment. I stand by it.

That just makes you look worse. Lance Armstrong said the same thing. And your stance further makes me think I'm right. Such a blind view of an organization, that is having problems world wide, but YOU think USA swimming is above it. YOu cannot possibly know even a large majority of people well enough to make that claim, much less spend time with them day in and day out How across the US. I stand by my view which is of course they use, but everyone does so the best still win.

Katie Ledecky (whom the post is about) is not Lance Armstrong. She's a 19 year old kid (just 15 in her previous olympics) who lives with her parents for christ sake. Would take some despicable parents to put their kid through that. While of course I don't know every swimmer and every coach in the US, I know enough (future olympic gold medalist included that I trained with in an age group club.......when I was a masters swimmer) to know that USA Swimming does more than any other organization to combat doping........USATF included. I certainly can't speak for any other country's system, with which USA swimming has no jurisdiction.

She is clean. Swimming is just piss weak. Especially women's swimming. It's like women's shotput. Adams is probably clean too just nobody does it.

Marion Jones was a kid who lived at home before college. Still had to lawyer up for doping allegations in HS.

OLD SMTC SOB wrote:

Katie Ledecky (whom the post is about) is not Lance Armstrong. She's a 19 year old kid (just 15 in her previous olympics) who lives with her parents for christ sake. Would take some despicable parents to put their kid through that. While of course I don't know every swimmer and every coach in the US, I know enough (future olympic gold medalist included that I trained with in an age group club.......when I was a masters swimmer) to know that USA Swimming does more than any other organization to combat doping........USATF included. I certainly can't speak for any other country's system, with which USA swimming has no jurisdiction.

So, just my opinion, but the problem w/ this kind of dense is that it doesn't really take despicable parents to do something like that. There are lots of ways this happens and a reason that ~10% of all high schoolers use hgh or steroids. They are extremely pervasive. Sometimes it happens without parental involvement (yes, even in "good" homes). sometimes parents think they are doing their best by their kids to support their use.

It's pretty naive to think otherwise.

Again, I don't know if she is or is not using and don't even really want to weigh in on the possibility. I just don't think this is any sort of compelling defense.

I know YOU sound like Lance. So children that live with their parents who never take PEDs? I am glad you are letting mild personal experience influence rational thinking. And sorry USA swimming has normal people that are just like the others in track. My point is not that you know them all, but you do not know that many and you have a small data group to make that assumption. Either way you think she is great and clean, I think she is great at uses PED. I have integrity and I am educated I have researched the topic of PEDs for over 15 years and I have followed numerous people over the years, and to me its VERY CLEAR .

Toohee wrote:

jeff tallon wrote:

how is it possible "clean" aussies,americans,and brits are beating people on drugs? it isnt.theyre doping,too.yes,they all work hard,but the drugs give them the edge.ledecky isnt clean.why are they breaking swimsuit affected records from a few years ago?hard training,and top grade performance enhancing drugs.

What this guy said. Karma Police is dumb. Doping to the extent that you're breaking age-old records like they're nothing only makes it more obvious. You don't do that unless you know no whistleblower can bring you down.

Back to the "she's good therefore she dopes" argument. And I'm dumb? I can actually speak fine, thanks.

Karma Police wrote:

Toohee wrote:

What this guy said. Karma Police is dumb. Doping to the extent that you're breaking age-old records like they're nothing only makes it more obvious. You don't do that unless you know no whistleblower can bring you down.

Back to the "she's good therefore she dopes" argument. And I'm dumb? I can actually speak fine, thanks.

its not "she's good" its she waaaaay better than other people that dope and the Olympics and swimming have a problem... so she dopes

A 15 year old who lives with his mom:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HorLQHQ3pMc

I believe ledecky is clean. No one has proved she should be suspected otherwise as far as I can tell on this thread. I think she is awesome and headed to the Wheaties box. And she will continue to break records and improve. That is not suspicious, it is admirable.

Well then, please provide me the evidence that Ledecky dopes. As far as my "mild" personal experience, I've been a competitive swimmer my entire life, and been associated with a fairly large number of USA Swimming clubs, athletes, parents and coaches, in a number of capacities. Not even a hint of doping in any. I would suggest to you that my experience is considerably more then the sum total of all posters on this board, but certainly feel free to form your own uneducated opinion.

Metric Miler wrote:

She is clean. Swimming is just piss weak. Especially women's swimming. It's like women's shotput. Adams is probably clean too just nobody does it.

"Piss weak"? You dumb turd. Your ignorance is astounding.

And if you're talking about women's distance events, then check out how high KL sits among the men's rankings, and get back to me.

And if you're talking overall, men and women, you're a complete fool.

To the lifelong swimmer guy, yes, track people don't "get it". The culture of US swimming is one of absolute dedication and hard work, and most often involves entire families. It is also overwhelmingly middle-class and white, and it is also the case that most of the parents were swimmers at one point.

A close personal friend of mine holds a bunch of masters WR's in a young masters category, in the very competitive sprints...and he's absolutely clean. He also is single, has a public-sector job mostly so that he can use the university pool free, and has gone to bed every single night at 8pm, sometimes earlier, for decades, after having his milk and cookies. He is, I believe, the oldest-ever (or maybe 2nd-oldest-ever) male qualifier for Olympic Trials (London), and just missed out on it this time, 4 years later.

I KNOW that he has done this cleanly, through sacrifice. The poor guy has had essentially no life whatsoever, and sacrificed essentially his young adulthood: in short, almost everything. That's what it takes to do it cleanly, but it CAN be done. At an Arena Pro Series meet this year, he told me that he finally felt old, standing on the pool deck.

KL can, and has, done this totally cleanly, unless like I said earlier she has been unknowingly doped by someone spiking her food or drinks--and if that's the case, it is DEFINITELY not someone from within her family.

I can't stress this enough. I wouldn't say this about any other national-class swimmer, because I honestly just don't know enough to be 100% confident...but about KL, my confidence is 100%.

So you believe that USA swimming is incorruptible based in your knowledge of the sport. It is possible to have faith in one or many swimmers and a sport but still posses acceptance that swimmers and coaches are humans and can make mistakes just like any other sport. Your faith in the sport is dangerous if not held with an open mind. Your "knowledge" of the sport must also include all the shameful lifetime bans for coaches under rule 3. You can't paint a sport based on 1 or 2 or even 100 such individuals. Not fair.

Not is it fair to simply say you (an anonymous poster) know the sport so well that your judgments should supercede others based on common sense and their own personal experience.

Swimming needs advocates like you but don't kid yourself you come in with a predisposed bias on which you base your faith. There were a lot of Russians who like you would have sworn on their faith too.

Again I think ledecky is clean. She got the golds and deserves the Wheaties box. She is a hero. To me. I got no problem if my kids grow up like her. Phelps not so much. But you are blind if you think swimming in the USA is immune to doping - and a bit foolish if you think it is so based on a culture of race and wealth.

And candidly you have gone on too too long prattling about your experience. Take yourself to the swimming boards where the topic is bandied about quite a bit instead of playing your imaginary swim experience trump card. And playing it and playing it and playing it. You're a believer, we get it.

Not even a hint ever? You may not be as old as you think:

http://www.usada.org/u-s-swimmer-burke-receives-suspension-for-doping-violation/

Isn't that the predecessor swim club for Bethesda athletes?

Ledecky is clean and has tested clean. Should be end of discussion on her. USA swimming does an awesome job and is pretty clean, but you can't say not even a hint. Just look at the USADA list.

OLD SMTC SOB wrote:

Raadle wrote:

Yeah and a family with 100s of millions of dollars, sports connections, and basically unlimited resources.

You're all a bunch of cynical pinheads. Idle speculation with no basis in fact. My suggestion is to let the testers do their jobs, watch the Olympics and wish you had the talent and drive to either have been there, or were there. Then STFU.

Hahaha "Let the testers do their jobs" hahah

So you mean let them continue to accept bribes and sweep positives from superstars under the rug? Nice one, Pinhead Larry

Kuwabara wrote:

OLD SMTC SOB wrote:

You're all a bunch of cynical pinheads. Idle speculation with no basis in fact. My suggestion is to let the testers do their jobs, watch the Olympics and wish you had the talent and drive to either have been there, or were there. Then STFU.

Hahaha "Let the testers do their jobs" hahah

So you mean let them continue to accept bribes and sweep positives from superstars under the rug? Nice one, Pinhead Larry

Do you have evidence that this occurs in the sport of swimming here in the US? If so, please provide..........articles, data, conversations with swimmers you've had etc. Also, if you have specific inside knowledge that this has occurred specific to Katie Ledecky, since she is the subject of the thread.

Curl Burke swim club wrote:

Not even a hint ever? You may not be as old as you think:

http://www.usada.org/u-s-swimmer-burke-receives-suspension-for-doping-violation/

Isn't that the predecessor swim club for Bethesda athletes?

Ledecky is clean and has tested clean. Should be end of discussion on her. USA swimming does an awesome job and is pretty clean, but you can't say not even a hint. Just look at the USADA list.

I'm talking about my personal experience, over the years. I don't read the swim boards, don't really have enough time for these but can't help myself when I see someone like this being maligned for no apparent reason except perhaps they don't like her hairline.

There's corruption in every sport, and those who dope should pay the price. My point is that based on my experience its not as widespread as others on this board would have you believe, most who have no experience in the sport at all.

Colonel Jessup you said "not even a hint of any"! You said "my experience is considerably more then the sum total of all posters on this board"!

We don't need you on that wall Colonel Jessup. Stand down.

Curl Burke swim club wrote:

OLD SMTC SOB wrote:

There's corruption in every sport, and those who dope should pay the price. My point is that based on my experience its not as widespread as others on this board would have you believe, most who have no experience in the sport at all.

Colonel Jessup you said "not even a hint of any"! You said "my experience is considerably more then the sum total of all posters on this board"!

We don't need you on that wall Colonel Jessup. Stand down.

Sorry bucko, I said not a hint of any based on my personal experience, which is considerable. I stand down to no man, or woman, or beast.

No you said what you said. It was bombastic and grand. Not qualified as you now try to make it sound.

Takes a big man to concede. But either go all in or satay all out. Halfway is quibbling and sad. Leave the beasts out of it.