Twenty years after the biggest doping scandal in Olympic history, it was as inevitable as the sunrise that world records would be followed by questions about doping - and one of Jamaica's team doctors was ready.
Minutes after Usain Bolt smashed the 200 metres record with a stirring 19.30-second dash, Herb Elliott was heading off speculation that the world's fastest man was fuelled by performance enhancers.
"I test in Jamaica, and I have tested Usain 15 times since November of last year," said Elliott, an internist and former track athlete for the Caribbean island. "He's been tested another six times since he's been here, including blood tests.
"Anybody who wants to cast aspersions on our program for drugs, I say one thing [to them]: Go to hell."
Jamaican sprinters had said - only half-seriously - before the Olympic track meet that they'd been asked for so many blood tests that they were afraid they'd be too weakened to run their best.
But the suspicion has lingered over the world's top sprinters since Canadian Ben Johnson set a world record for the 100 metres while on the steroid stanozolol at the Seoul Games in 1988. Elliott was reminded that Johnson's coach, Charlie Francis, had made similar denials because his charge was passing tests.
"Charlie Francis was an idiot," Elliott countered. "He had [the late doctor] Jamie Astaphan and he was lying about it. I don't have to lie."
Elliott, who said he has known 6-foot-5 Bolt since he was "a gangling boy of 13," said he didn't resent being quizzed about whether the new world's fastest man is running a clean race. "I don't resent the questions," he said. "All people are entitled to ask."
He said Bolt had been fast from childhood "and he's still the [junior] 400-metre record holder from the boys school championships. He wanted to up his speed, so he dropped down to the 200 and 100.
"His coach, Glen Mills, has done a great job, and his parents have kept him down to terra firma."
Another Jamaican team physician, Warren Blake, said all eight finalists in the 100 metres were tested after Bolt smashed the world record with a time of 9.69 seconds.
"It validates all results," he said. "It has come to the time when the cheats are on the back foot."
JUST THE OTHER DAY IOC president Jacques Rogge criticized Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt Thursday for showing a lack of respect to other competitors after his record-breaking gold medal performances in the 100 and 200 meters.
“That’s not the way we perceive being a champion,” Rogge said.“I have no problem with him doing a show,” Rogge said in an interview with three international news agency reporters. “I think he should show more respect for his competitors and shake hands, give a tap on the shoulder to the other ones immediately after the finish and not make gestures like the one he made in the 100 meters.”
These Haters stay nitpicking for every little thing. Sir Bolt just turned 22 years-old and is tearing up the track. Who gives a crap if he didn’t shake hands. Let the man enjoy his victory. (SMH). source Bossip.com
T4R:
BIG UPS SIR BOLTS!!!! Do what you do best!!
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