www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/11285757/Athletics-doping-scandal-where-the-suspected-athletes-come-from.html
Two Japanese athletes included.
Two Japanese athletes included.
This was maybe the most entertaining marathon in years. After rocking the 2nd leg at last year's Hakone Ekiden Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) ran an incredible 1:01:01 CR for the 21.9 km New Year Ekiden 2nd leg last month, equivalent to a 58:47 half marathon. That predicted a 2:03:27 marathon if he ever ran one, and when Yoshida announced he was debuting at this year's Osaka Marathon he wasted no time in saying it'd be a shot at the 2:04:55 NR. Things went out fast enough with a 14:50 split through 5 km, 2:05:11 pace, but Yoshida just couldn't hold back and took off at 8 km. He clearly DGAF about what was probably going to happen as his projected finish kept getting faster, 2:04:41, 2:04:15, 2:03:51, 2:03:40, edging closer and closer to what his New Year time predicted, but not helped along by the fact that he missed 4 out of his first 5 drink bottles. People laughed, and then cheered him on. 30 km was the first time he slowed, his finish projection dropping to 2:03:53, an...
Comments
Correct me if I am wrong, but this was leading up to the London Olympics, right? The London Olympics were a resounding failure for Japan, so if there was doping going on, they were obviously not doing it very well.
I can only think of one athlete from Japan who might be doping. The thing is though, the kind of drug that they potentially could be using does not affect their blood values and cannot be detected presently, so it is probably the right thing to take.