To embarrass them further (and why not? to throw away this kind of an opportunity should get one scorned at), let's recap:
- Victoria Baranova (RUS, Track Cycling): Failed pre-Games drug test for testosterone and expelled.
- Nick D'Arcy and Kendrick Monk (AUS, Swimming): Took pictures of themselves with guns and placed them on social media sites. Though allowed to continue to compete, were expelled from the Games by the Australian Olympic Committee immediately upon completion and banned from all social media for one month. Neither medaled.
- Kyung Eun Jung, Jung Eun Ha, Ha Na Kim and Min Jung Kim (South Korea, Badminton), Xiaoli Wang and Yang Yu (China, Badminton), and Greysia Polii and Meiliana Jauhari (Indonesia, Badminton): Four womens' doubles teams were expelled from the Games by the Badminton World Federation for not giving their best effort. At least one of these athletes has permanently retired as a result of the disgrace. Previously covered on Five-Ringed Circus.
- Tameka Williams (St. Kitts and Nevis, Track and Field): Found to have taken "Blast-Off Red", a stimulant, and expelled. (Yahoo's list does not even include Kim Collins, another St. Kitts and Nevis trackster, whom their Olympic Committee expelled from the Games for missing training sessions to be with his wife at the hotel and effectively going AWOL.)
- Alex Schwazer (ITA, Track and Field): Race-walker expelled from the London Games by the Italian Olympic Committee for testing positive for the enhancement EPO. Blood Doping. A twist to the story is that he was the defending champion in the 50-kilometer race walk from Beijing, his samples from which will be retested.
- Gijs van Hoecke (BEL, Cycling) : Thrown out by his national committee after pictures of him drunken and disoriented after leaving a London nightclub were published. Judging from the picture in the source article, I'd say the Belgians made the right call here!
- Dmitrios Chondrokoukis (GRE, Track and Field): Expelled for positive test for Stanozolol, the same drug which Ben Johnson got caught with in 1988. Previously covered on Five-Ringed Circus.
- Amine Laalou (MOR, Track and Field): Refused entry into the country for a doping offense.
- Diego Palomeque (COL, Track and Field): Banned by the IOC for a positive test for excessive testosterone.
- Hysen Pulaku (ALB, Weightlifting): Expelled for positive test for Stanozolol, the same drug which Ben Johnson got caught with in 1988.
- Nicholas Delpopolo (USA, Judo): Stripped of seventh-place finish and expelled from Games for positive drug test for THC/marijuana. Previously covered on Five-Ringed Circus.
- Michel Morganella (SUI, Soccer/Football): Removed from Swiss team for racist tweet against African players. Previously covered on Five-Ringed Circus.
- Paraskevi Papahristou (GRE, Track and Field) Removed from Greek team for racist tweet. Previously covered on Five-Ringed Circus.
- Luiza Galiulina (UZB, Gymnastics): Expelled for positive test for furosemide, a masking agent.
For those athletes still here, the top of the table race is going down to the last weekend:
USA leads with 39 golds and 90 total medals after golds in the decathlon, women's boxing, women's water polo, and women's soccer/football.
China, after a victory in Taekwondo and Diving, has 37 golds and 80 total.
----
And then there's Usain Bolt...
About the only thing he didn't do in London which was expected was put up record times which would obsolete the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes.
And now he and Carl Lewis are having words about Bolt's place in history...
Carl Lewis opened up HIS trap and stated he believes the Jamaicans are doping their way to sprint dominance.
After Bolt's lightning-fast times in Beijing, Lewis said:
"No one is accusing anyone," Lewis told the Telegraph. "But don't live by a different rule and expect the same kind of respect. They [Jamaican track officials] say, 'Oh, we've been great for the sport.' No, you have not. No country has had that kind of dominance. I'm not saying they've done anything for certain. I don't know. But how dare anybody feel that there shouldn't be scrutiny, especially in our sport?
"The reality is that if I were running now, and had the performances I had in my past, I would expect [doping critics] to say something. I wouldn't even be offended at the question. So when people ask me about Bolt, I say he could be the greatest athlete of all time. But for someone to run 10.03 one year and 9.69 the next, if you don't question that in a sport that has the reputation it has right now, you're a fool. Period."
Bolt, in response after his double in London, replied:
"I'm going to say something controversial. Carl Lewis – I have no respect for him," Bolt said. "The things he says about the track athletes are very downgrading. I think he's just looking for attention, because nobody really talks about him. I've lost all respect for him. All respect."
My opinion:
It's not steroids. He's enhanced, but it's not testable yet.
I think Usain Bolt is the first genetic super-athlete, and Jamaica's been making a bunch of them.
(For what it's worth, if that one Chinese female swimmer who out-split Lochte is drug-clean, she's the second...)
I mean, watch the races. His starts abjectly STINK (the official London site has him fifth out of the blocks). His form is seen as terrible. And yet he's the fastest man in history...
No. And it's beyond current human limitation even WITH the steroids.
The New York Times did a chart, and basically put all the gold, silver, and bronze medalists in the 100-meter dash in the same race.
Bolt wins, a meter clear of everybody. His 2008 time is second. It's another meter to meter and a half before you get to any other runner.
No. Especially with his starts, there's no way. The three Americans went Personal Best, Season Best, and matched Personal Best, and lost by .15 second and up -- an eternity over 100 meters.
So I think Carl Lewis is barking up the wrong tree here.
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