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Good morning, Pigale!
Glad to hear you are getting some relief from the rain!
It is very bad in parts of Australia, now!
I remember reading about some of the East German athletes who were forced to take drugs.
Some of them had permanent damage to their health.
Not sure if Marita Koch's world records are still there or not, but they were for over 30 years.
Drug induced records.

Hi, Rusty!
I think I must live in a dream world...or else I go around like the proverbial ostrich , burying my head in the sand......
I had never heard of "mechanical doping" - just imagine the concept of hiding small motors in racing cycles?........ but don't they make a noise that can be heard?
As regards Seb Coe - I really wanted to believe that he was "on the level". He comes over (to me, at any rate) as so genuine.
Having watched that programme about doping a while back - the one presented by Steve Cram; I think you saw it? - I really believed in Seb's sincerity - most probably because Steve seems to do so, and I have a lot of time for both Steve Cram and Brendan Foster
(I think they are the good guys)
I don't want the scales ripped from my eyes.....



Hello, Pigale!
I am glad to hear that you are having some of this lovely weather too!
Yes, there has been a lot of talk about legalising drug in sport - it was even being discussed on LBC the other morning.
I cannot see it as a practical solution - it would be impossible to monitor and compare and to me seems a ridiculous and thoroughly dangerous (health-wise) proposition.

Hello, Elle!
It's a wonderful day!
The corn is high as an elephant's eye!
The most recent case that I know of a motor concealed in a bike was of a girl, whose name escapes me.
Think it was in an off-road event somewhere on the Continent.
She is now banned.
I do not think a small electric motor would make much of a noise. Racing tyres are noisy, anyway.
I know I have witnessed accelerations from a rider and wondered how that was possible.
I have Cram and Foster on a higher level than Coe.
Why was Coe on Nike's payroll?

Elle,
Type, Femke van den Driessche into your search box and you will find the story of the first bike to be found with a motor hidden in it.
Femke got a 6 year ban.

I looked the lady (?) up rusty. That is cheating with a capital C. If drugs in sport were legalised, all serious sportsmen and women would have to take them, to the detriment of their health.
I can see no way round the problem, except ever stricter testing. How long before a race is breathing of oxygen useful for making someone go faster? I used to enjoy watching sport but with spitting footballers (though I never was interested in football) grunting tennis players and cheating almost everyone, what's to like?
The stuff coming out about Blatter is disgusting.
We cannot put the genie back in the box, or make a level paying field. Maybe we have to thow away the box

Hi, Rusty!
"The corn is high as an elephant's eye
And it looks like it's climbing clear up to the sky"
Yes, indeed a glorious day! and very hot now!
I have duly typed Femke van den Driessche into Google and have read all about her.
She is a name new to me.......
An incredible situation but at least she got a six year ban for such an infringement.
Did she serve the full term?
Nowadays, a ban seems to be over in the blink of an eye......
I wonder indeed what will happen with the Russians and the Olympic games?

You'll know on June 17th, elle! I just read the conditions under which Russians will be allowed to continue in international sport. Some seem to me verifiable and some not (how could it be proved all ties with known drug suppliers were broken? And what about unknown ones? What is to stop the ties being reconnected?)
Quis cusdodiet ipso custodes

I didn't know that there was a deadline, Ros?
Seb was saying yesterday that he was reporting back to the Committee(?) and a decision would be made.
But I don't think they should be reinstated.
Yes, indeed......"Who will guard the guards themselves?"

Hello, Rosalind.
I like your final quote.
Much more elegant than my "who tests the testers"!

Hello, Elle,
It was fairly recently that Femke was found out, so she has a good while to go.
Now, on a more positive note, Rachel Atherton of Salisbury has just won the Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup at Fort William for the NINTH successive year!
I am very pleased for her!

Hi, Rusty!
Well, that is some positive good news to hear! Well done, Rachel!
I was beginning to feel very depressed - as I do each time we discuss the problem of sport and drugs!
It has been a scorching afternoon! Much too hot out for me! I feel very ungrateful to be complaining about the heat - I should be thankful after our recent cold spell, but hot weather and I do not get on very well!!
Fortunately for the dog, she is going to the groomers tomorrow morning for both a bath and a trim.
She has a very shaggy coat, so I have for once timed this event extremely well!
Did you get out for your walk? how far did you venture?