BBC reports Charlie Francis, White, 61, dead from Cancer. He coached Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, Ben Johnson. Apparently steroids shortened his life considerably. Such are the risks dopers take ;-{
BBC reports Charlie Francis, White, 61, dead from Cancer. He coached Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, Ben Johnson. Apparently steroids shortened his life considerably. Such are the risks dopers take ;-{
Anyone have a list of Charlie Francis's disciples. Coaches, athletes, doctors, trainers, massage therapists, agents, etc. ?
Will be interesting to see how many of his ex-athletes pay tribute to him.
Certainly not an ex-athlete, but a fellow Coach, who chose a different path, but I still have the greatest respect for Charlie's incredible brilliance and knowledge and passion for the sport.
RIP, my friend, and all condolences to your family...
A much better article appears here:
In that article, Francis is praised by the current head of Athletics Canada.
Jesus Christ, Gardiner's quotes are terrible.
From a post to the Track-Canada list by Doug Consiglio, former NCAA 1000m record holder and member of the 1988 Canadian Olympic team:
Cancer is a terrible disease and losing a parent/partner this way is something that no one should wish upon anyone. In my opinion, he had the wrong views on sport but he wasn't a terrible person. Regardless of the drugs, he was brillant in his field. My thoughts are with his family during this difficult time.
If he was black like Ben, Marion, and Tim then he'd be villified and his grave trampled upon by the White media. Instead, they make him out to be some kind of victim of over-zealousy.
Shocking to hear he has died without public warning to his condition. Though the person quoted in the post above may disagree, this is a terrible loss to the track and field community.
Charlie was a rare individual who spoke his mind and did not follow the crowd. He was the even rarer track coach willing to share his training methods. They are all available via his books, videos, website forum, and seminars he personally hosted in Toronto. And they are used by countless sprint coaches the world over, whether they're willing to admit or not.
Devastated by this loss.
The country's governing body, Athletics Canada, barred Francis for life but he was unrepentant.
In a 1990 interview with CBC he said: "The only way to go back into [track] is to sort of act like, 'Oh, I was wrong. Drugs aren't necessary, gee kids,' and adopt the party line and go through some miraculous Saul-like conversion and come back out and toe the party line, and I'm not prepared to do that."
from this article below...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/may/13/charlie-francis-ben-johnson-cancer
joel wrote:
Shocking to hear he has died without public warning to his condition. Though the person quoted in the post above may disagree, this is a terrible loss to the track and field community.
People active on Charlie's website knew that he was very sick with Mantle Cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. For quite some time, those of us who knew were sworn to secrecy. Charlie himself wanted this private and that's why there was no public statement.
Make no mistake, he was guilty of the doping charge. But he was very giving of his good advice, and he was probably the sharpest mind in sprinting.
charliefrancis.com remains by far the best source of sprint information and methodology on the planet (with all drug talk banned).
People remember the Gebs, the El Gs, the Bolts, the Michael Johnsons, the Flo Jos, the Bekeles, the Kochs, blah blah. And they all doped. Ben Johnson got caught because he was stupid.
Charlie was a great, GREAT coach, and he was honest about the fraud that is track and field.
Don't forget Lance Armstrong.
Forgetful wrote:
Don't forget Lance Armstrong.
And 80% of the NFL...
And 80.01% of MLB, 80.02% of NHL
The famous quote from the Durbin Inquire:
There is a level playing field. It's just not the playing field you thought it was.
After Balco, you could say Charlie had the last laugh.
It's not about whether CF told the truth, it's about him painting it as a desirable outcome. Piss on CF's legacy.
General Mills wrote:
....and he was honest about the fraud that is track and field.
WHEN he got caught, that is.