# Olympic Dope?



## SpeedNeeder (Aug 19, 2013)

I feel a little sad. I watched a Norwegian man win a cross country skiing race, what was his name? Anyway he was 40 or 41, and my first thought was, is he dopin???
I should just be glad someone near my age can still be the best in the world!


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## Alaska Mike (Sep 28, 2008)

Ole Einar Bjørndalen is no flash in the pan. He's been a major force in the sport since the mid-'90s. He's a machine.

While I wouldn't doubt doping has been rampant in the sport, there's not much linking him to it. His VO2max is nowhere near LeMond's, and only a couple ticks higher than Lance's. Obviously there's more to the sport than just that, and biathlon is a discipline that requires a very unique skill set.


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## Coolhand (Jul 28, 2002)

cross country skiing and biathlon both have doping issues I believe. And seeing big money isn't involved (e.g. Euro football or American football) they seem to be caught.


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## aclinjury (Sep 12, 2011)

trying to shoot a gun immediately putting in a world-class hard effort. Any dope to help this?


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

aclinjury said:


> trying to shoot a gun immediately putting in a world-class hard effort. Any dope to help this?


yes. 
EPO, blood doping etc. if you come in to the shooting range with a slightly lower heart rate you have a huge advantage.


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## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

den bakker said:


> yes.
> EPO, blood doping etc. if you come in to the shooting range with a slightly lower heart rate you have a huge advantage.


Looking at the WADA drug list, it is interesting to see things like beta blockers are banned for events like shooting and archery because of the HR lowering effect. But they are not banned for endurance events like cycling and XC skiing as they provide no advantage and likely decrease performance, if anything. But I wonder how biathlon is classified, since it has aspects of both type of events?


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## Hiro11 (Dec 18, 2010)

There's lots of rumors flying around about Norwegian or other Nordic countries doping in XC. For example:
Former Norwegian anti-doping official accuses country?s athletes of doping in*book | SI Wire
...or here:
Following a blood trail | antidoping blog

...there's reason to doubt.

More generally, the wide variances in doping control quality between various sports and various geographic locales makes any sort of cross-sport or cross-locale comparison of the prevalence of doping pointless. Nothing is consistent and nothing is fair these days. Three recent examples:

- no elite Kenyan distance runner has ever (ever!) been tested out of competition. They disappear into remote training camps, pop out to run major events and then disappear again. Given that these are the most dominant marathoners in the world, this is a ridiculous state of affairs. Even if the Kenyans are not not doping, the disruptions and limitations imposed on other marathoners through onerous doping controls vs. Kenyans who can work in monastic, never-bothered isolation indicates that this is hardly a level playing field.

- that in the nine-month run-up to the 2012 Olympics, no Jamaican athlete was ever tested out of competition. This is when people dope: in the run up to major events. The entire board of the Jamaican anti-doping organization just resigned in disgrace, Jamaica is now looking to outsource doping control to the US.

- a wide variety of obscure swimmers every year come close to breaking world records at the Chinese national championships, an event infamous for lax doping controls. The vast majority of these swimmers never compete internationally, but their times stand. The results from last year's meet are particularly ludicrous: no-name 18 year olds turning in Ryan Lochte-like times.

...etc. Given all of this, I basically don't buy anything I see in sport these days. Cycling is the tip of the iceberg.


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## The Tedinator (Mar 12, 2004)

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/02/0...ge-but-stain-of-doping-lingers.html?referrer=


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## SpeedNeeder (Aug 19, 2013)

*sigh*


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## aclinjury (Sep 12, 2011)

I think I'm just gonna doubt all pro athletes, period. 
Guilty until proven innocent.


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## SpeedNeeder (Aug 19, 2013)

That's about where I'm at. 
Sadly so.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

aclinjury said:


> I think I'm just gonna doubt all pro athletes, period.
> Guilty until proven innocent.


Amateurs dope too, btw. 

Perhaps we should doubt everyone, in every aspect of life? After all, there are cheaters in every human endeavour.

It's a cynical, sad view of the world, in my view. 

I'd rather just celebrate the accomplishments, enjoy the spectacle, say "holy ****!" when they do something amazing. 

After all, what is sport, to a spectator? Just entertainment. 

In a sense, no different than admiring the beauty of a movie star while being entranced by the storyline of a great script. Who cares that the movie star wears makeup, pushup bra, has had cosmetic work done, and uses a body double for the nude scenes?


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## SpeedNeeder (Aug 19, 2013)

Creakyknees said:


> There are cheaters in every human endeavour.


Rationalizing?
I have said before that it's not a penalty if the ref doesn't call it. But this is different. We're talking about blatantly breaking the rules, not bending them. There is no subjectivity in the call. To me it's like using a cork filled bat, it's like having your boyfriend wack your skating opponent on the knee just before competition. It's just wrong.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

SpeedNeeder said:


> it's like having your boyfriend wack your skating opponent on the knee just before competition. It's just wrong.


Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy


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## Hiro11 (Dec 18, 2010)

Creakyknees said:


> After all, what is sport, to a spectator? Just entertainment.


I don't buy this argument. The allure of sports spectating is primarily driven by emotional involvement not spectacle. We want to see people succeed through talent, grit and determination. Shortcuts are rightly seen as shameful. This is especially true in cycling where pain tolerance is "the coin of the realm" as Bob Roll puts it. The reason cycling is so compelling is because it takes a combination of hard work, talent and fearlessness to go on a suicidal break or attack on the Galibier. This is why Jen Voight is the most popular rider in the peloton, it's why people enjoy watching riders who will throw their cards down and show what they've got in the last 5 K of a race. Riders like Pantani were idolized because they had panache, they attacked because they had ego, they just didn't give a **** about pain, they had the talent, they had style and because it's what tradition as leaders demanded.

Doping subverts all of that. Now Pantani is just another cheater. He stuck needles in his arms in sleezy hotels rather than put in a 200K ride in the rain. He was hooked up to taped blood bags on team bus windows. He's an honorless liar to the press and used team mates who may in fact be more talented but don't have access to the best doctors disposably. Doping reduces cycling to who is favored, who has access to the best medical freezers and who is best at lying with a straight face and being sneaky. Nothing we see is real, the best athletes or the ones who work hardest don't win. It robs the sport of meaning. You might as well watch robots ride a pre-programmed "race".

To extend your entertainment methaphor, doping is like lip synching at a rock concert: it cheats the audience.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

Hiro11 said:


> Doping subverts all of that. Now Pantani is just another cheater. He stuck needles in his arms in sleezy hotels rather than put in a 200K ride in the rain.


is that how you think doping works?


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## sir duke (Mar 24, 2006)

Creakyknees said:


> It's a cynical, sad view of the world, in my view.
> 
> I'd rather just celebrate the accomplishments, enjoy the spectacle, say "holy ****!" when they do something amazing.


Sounds awfully like something I once heard from some 'entertainer' on a podium in Paris just before he retired... No-one hates a cynic more than a cheater. Cheaters try to keep reality at arms length.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

SpeedNeeder said:


> Rationalizing?
> I have said before that it's not a penalty if the ref doesn't call it. But this is different. We're talking about blatantly breaking the rules, not bending them. There is no subjectivity in the call. To me it's like using a cork filled bat, it's like having your boyfriend wack your skating opponent on the knee just before competition. It's just wrong.





sir duke said:


> Sounds awfully like something I once heard from some 'entertainer' on a podium in Paris just before he retired... No-one hates a cynic more than a cheater. Cheaters try to keep reality at arms length.



sooo.. thanks for the gratuitous veiled insults. If you're going to call me a cheater, at least have the balls to say it straight out. But you won't, because all you have is a vague suspicion that clouds all of your judgement about everyone's character. 

Which, really, reinforces my point which everyone seems to have blown by: e.g. what's it matter to you if some dude you don't even know is cheating or not? Why are you so emotionally involved in a sporting event that, really, has nothing at all to do with you?

And, btw, nobody here is saying that cheating is "ok" 

All I'm suggesting is that it's a bit silly to get so wrapped up in what is basically nothing more than a tv show.


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## Fireform (Dec 15, 2005)

This is a little disingenuous. Is it getting too wrapped up in it to comment that doping is cheating and wrong? If I really was as disinterested as you suggest I should be, I wouldn't bother to watch at all. Or watch some other bogus spectacle like pro wrestling or "reality tv". 

You care enough about it to post here. Maybe you're too invested?


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## SpeedNeeder (Aug 19, 2013)

Creakyknees said:


> sooo.. thanks for the gratuitous veiled insults.


I did not intend any insult, just trying to understand your rationale, which after reading your last post, I realize that won't happen. This is not an insult in itself, simply a recognition that you value things differently than I do, and therefore we will not reach the same conclusions on this subject. I suspect you think the same of me at this point.

Thanks


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

Creakyknees said:


> sooo.. thanks for the gratuitous veiled insults. If you're going to call me a cheater, at least have the balls to say it straight out. But you won't, because all you have is a vague suspicion that clouds all of your judgement about everyone's character.
> 
> Which, really, reinforces my point which everyone seems to have blown by: e.g. what's it matter to you if some dude you don't even know is cheating or not? Why are you so emotionally involved in a sporting event that, really, has nothing at all to do with you?
> 
> ...


Huge +1. Oh wait, this is trolling.....

I'd agree that there's a certain amount of inherent cheating that is always present in all walks of life. I got enough shady stuff going on around me to worry about.


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## Local Hero (Jul 8, 2010)

Hiro11 said:


> Now Pantani is just another cheater. He stuck needles in his arms in sleezy hotels rather than put in a 200K ride in the rain.


Rather than? More line_ in addition to_. The dope allowed guys to train longer and harder.


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## mpre53 (Oct 25, 2011)

spade2you said:


> Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy


Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee???


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## Hiro11 (Dec 18, 2010)

den bakker said:


> is that how you think doping works?


Ok, instead I'll say:
1. He injected EPO in suspension. Probably used some HIF stabilizers as well.
2. He then did a bunch of hard workouts.
3. he repeated this process. 
4. After each cycle, he would centrifuge his blood and measure his hematocrit levels.
5. When hematocrit reached high but still legally allowable levels, he would draw blood. He carefully timed this to ensure that:
a. his blood was clear of EPO or other drugs.
-and-
b. he had enough time to rebuild his blood supply prior to a major event.
6. Prior to racing, he would carefully plan when to transfuse the blood based on location, logistics of getting the blood to him and stage in the race.
7. During the race, he would transfuse the boosted blood as scheduled. This would increases his aerobic capacity and allow him to tolerate pain better on key stages.

Is that better, Mr. Picky Pants? Yes I read Tyler's book.

The. Point. Remains.


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## Cinelli 82220 (Dec 2, 2010)

I heard an interview with the head of WADA today. Three athletes (he didn't name them) did not show up in Sochi. Guess they mis-timed their micro dosing.


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## davidka (Dec 12, 2001)

Hiro11 said:


> Ok, instead I'll say:
> 1. He injected EPO in suspension. Probably used some HIF stabilizers as well.
> 2. He then did a bunch of hard workouts.
> 3. he repeated this process.
> ...


That's a nice list of details but it's not "how it works". 

How it works is, the products enhance the athlete's immediate ability as well as their capacity to recover from training stress. Given equal motivation one cannot outwork another who has a greater capacity to work. Forgetting for a second that it's cheating, it is literally the longer, harder road to take.


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## sir duke (Mar 24, 2006)

Creakyknees said:


> sooo.. thanks for the gratuitous veiled insults. If you're going to call me a cheater, at least have the balls to say it straight out. But you won't, because all you have is a vague suspicion that clouds all of your judgement about everyone's character.
> 
> Which, really, reinforces my point which everyone seems to have blown by: e.g. what's it matter to you if some dude you don't even know is cheating or not? Why are you so emotionally involved in a sporting event that, really, has nothing at all to do with you?
> 
> ...


I think you're being a little dramatic here Creaky. There is absolutely no intent here to cast doubt on your honesty. I really don't see any insult to you (veiled or otherwise) or anyone else. My point was simply this,
without 'cynics' like David Walsh and Paul Kimmage calling 'bullshit' and going about their job as journalists we'd still be kowtowing to Big Tex and his Big Lie.

The only people who have any right to call you a cheat Creaky are your wife, kids, taxman and the guys you race against. Since I am not any of those I think it highly unlikely my claims would have any validity. So let's put that silliness back where it belongs. Like you said, why would I even care if some dude I don't know is cheating or not? If you want to hang out in the doping forum you need a couple more inches on your epidermis. If it's entertainment you're after we can always talk boobies and turtles in The Lounge.


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## Nubster (Jul 8, 2009)

Doping goes all the way back to high school sports. Heck, probably middle school sports and I don't doubt there's parents out there sick enough to dope their kids playing little league and peewee football. I can't imagine a sport or event that is dope free.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

Nubster said:


> Doping goes all the way back to high school sports. Heck, probably middle school sports and I don't doubt there's parents out there sick enough to dope their kids playing little league and peewee football. I can't imagine a sport or event that is dope free.


I knew a few steroid users and went to a tiny Podunk high school.


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## misterwaterfallin (Sep 14, 2012)

spade2you said:


> I knew a few steroid users and went to a tiny Podunk high school.


I didn't know any, but looking at the 280lb linemen that come out of high school ready to play college football, it doesn't take a genius to figure out there might be something going on there. Then when they get to college they add 20-30 pounds of muscle before their first season, and can squat 600 pounds for reps. Yea, they might have had some help. 
This is also coupled with the fact that testing in high school/college is basically non existent so no one is worried about being caught


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

Yeah, I don't think all of that is natural. 

LOL, growing up Catholic and working in an academic hospital has taught me to trust very few people.


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## DrSmile (Jul 22, 2006)

It seems very obvious to me that the Europeans have caught up to the Americans with their olympic doping regimen. It's a weirdly more even playing field. The only problem is that I no longer watch because I know they're mostly dirty. Kind of like cycling.


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## Wookiebiker (Sep 5, 2005)

I thought we were talking about the guy that designed and tested the Speed Skating suits for Team USA ...


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## crit_boy (Aug 6, 2013)

DrSmile said:


> It seems very obvious to me that the Europeans have caught up to the Americans with their olympic doping regimen. It's a weirdly more even playing field. The only problem is that I no longer watch because I know they're mostly dirty. Kind of like cycling.


I was thinking that everyone cleaned up a bit. It doesn't seem like this Olympics is breaking world record after world record. 

I watch football, the Olympics, and bicycle racing because they are entertaining. I listen to music as well. I am under no illusion that any of them are made without the influence of performance enhancing drugs - the form of performance enhancement (music v athletic) is just different. 

As soon as society starts vilifying artists for using drugs (e.g. taking away grammy awards, removing paintings from museums, etc.), I will start to believe that people want their entertainment to be clean and drug free.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

DrSmile said:


> It seems very obvious to me that the Europeans have caught up to the Americans with their olympic doping regimen. It's a weirdly more even playing field. The only problem is that I no longer watch because I know they're mostly dirty. Kind of like cycling.


well yeah cause the Germans, or Russians , or Belarus, or British, or Greeks, or Moroccans have no history of doping.

Doping at the Olympic Games - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## SpeedNeeder (Aug 19, 2013)

atpjunkie said:


> Doping at the Olympic Games - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Wow, I am naive! I hadn't realized how rampant drug use is in sports.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

crit_boy said:


> I was thinking that everyone cleaned up a bit. It doesn't seem like this Olympics is breaking world record after world record.
> 
> I watch football, the Olympics, and bicycle racing because they are entertaining. I listen to music as well. I am under no illusion that any of them are made without the influence of performance enhancing drugs - the form of performance enhancement (music v athletic) is just different.
> 
> As soon as society starts vilifying artists for using drugs (e.g. taking away grammy awards, removing paintings from museums, etc.), I will start to believe that people want their entertainment to be clean and drug free.


Musicians lip synch, use auto tune, and often hire uncredited musicians in the studio.


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## mpre53 (Oct 25, 2011)

crit_boy said:


> I was thinking that everyone cleaned up a bit. It doesn't seem like this Olympics is breaking world record after world record.
> 
> I watch football, the Olympics, and bicycle racing because they are entertaining. I listen to music as well. I am under no illusion that any of them are made without the influence of performance enhancing drugs - the form of performance enhancement (music v athletic) is just different.
> 
> As soon as society starts vilifying artists for using drugs (e.g. taking away grammy awards, removing paintings from museums, etc.), I will start to believe that people want their entertainment to be clean and drug free.


Many of the winter game sports don't recognize world records. Courses aren't standardized except for events like speed skating. Every ski hill is different, gate judges set the slalom gates all over the place, luge/skeleton/bobsled runs are all different, and a lot of events are judged, and different judges look for different things when judging the style elements.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

mpre53 said:


> Many of the winter game sports don't recognize world records. Courses aren't standardized except for events like speed skating. Every ski hill is different, gate judges set the slalom gates all over the place, luge/skeleton/bobsled runs are all different, and a lot of events are judged, and different judges look for different things when judging the style elements.


in addition, all outdoor event had horrible conditions. cross country in 18C for example.


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## SpeedNeeder (Aug 19, 2013)

I agree 100% on the conditions, not very wintery!


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

SpeedNeeder said:


> Wow, I am naive! I hadn't realized how rampant drug use is in sports.


old as the hills

first Olympic Doping bust was over 2 beers. (said to have been used to calm the nerves)

but doping in the Olympics wasn't illegal until athletes started dying. Up until that point athletes weren't being tested so we have no idea how rampant it was. My guess is many were using speed


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## Local Hero (Jul 8, 2010)

Nubster said:


> Doping goes all the way back to high school sports. Heck, probably middle school sports and I don't doubt there's parents out there sick enough to dope their kids playing little league and peewee football. I can't imagine a sport or event that is dope free.


At least one guy at my Orange County California high school was on human growth hormone. His 5'7 father, a physician, wanted a taller son. We played football together. He was a beast. We both started on offense and defense. As tailback, I liked having such a monster fullback in front of me. As a defensive back--often the strong safety--I liked that he could shut down the tight end and stuff up the run. I think a lot of people knew about the hgh but nobody cared...it was prescription.


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## Cinelli 82220 (Dec 2, 2010)

SpeedNeeder said:


> I agree 100% on the conditions, not very wintery!


The conditions are a bad joke.
Goes to show how political the selection of Sochi was. The IOC knew what Sochi's weather is like but they picked Sochi ahead of better candidates. Slushy downhill ski runs, slushy luge/bobsled courses, a sporting-oriented IOC would not allow that.


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## Local Hero (Jul 8, 2010)

SpeedNeeder said:


> Wow, I am naive! I hadn't realized how rampant drug use is in sports.


It's not just drug use. Autotransfusions will give a huge boost in aerobic performance without the risk of a positive drug test.


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## mpre53 (Oct 25, 2011)

Cinelli 82220 said:


> The conditions are a bad joke.
> Goes to show how political the selection of Sochi was. The IOC knew what Sochi's weather is like but they picked Sochi ahead of better candidates. Slushy downhill ski runs, slushy luge/bobsled courses, a sporting-oriented IOC would not allow that.


Weather can be a crap shoot anywhere. If I remember correctly, the 1988 Calgary Olympics were affected by warm Chinook winds for some of the skiing events. I never heard of Sochi before the Olympics, but I do know that a lot of Northern Europe has had an unseasonably warm winter. My wife has quite a few friends and relatives in Finland, and they have had very little snow this winter, and only a short spell of sub-zero F temps. For most of the winter, the only appreciable snow they had was way north in Lapland. Right now, according to my phone's weather app, it's 34F in Helsinki, at 10 PM.

Vancouver isn't exactly a cold weather venue either. There's a history of the winter games being awarded to cities with sketchy winter weather. Calgary can be -20C or +20C depending on the Chinooks.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

mpre53 said:


> Weather can be a crap shoot anywhere. If I remember correctly, the 1988 Calgary Olympics were affected by warm Chinook winds for some of the skiing events. I never heard of Sochi before the Olympics, but I do know that a lot of Northern Europe has had an unseasonably warm winter. My wife has quite a few friends and relatives in Finland, and they have had very little snow this winter, and only a short spell of sub-zero F temps. For most of the winter, the only appreciable snow they had was way north in Lapland. Right now, according to my phone's weather app, it's 34F in Helsinki, at 10 PM.
> 
> Vancouver isn't exactly a cold weather venue either. There's a history of the winter games being awarded to cities with sketchy winter weather. Calgary can be -20C or +20C depending on the Chinooks.


average high in Sochi for feb. is +10C, average low: +1C. 
average high for Calgary: -0.1C, average low for Alberta: -12C. 
feel free to tell us that's an equal crapshoot.


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

den bakker said:


> average high in Sochi for feb. is +10C, average low: +1C.
> average high for Calgary: -0.1C, average low for Alberta: -12C.
> feel free to tell us that's an equal crapshoot.


Alberta's weather is a crap shoot all year round. I've seen snow in the August long weekend and 15C weather in January. It all depends on the wind.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

Local Hero said:


> It's not just drug use. Autotransfusions will give a huge boost in aerobic performance without the risk of a positive drug test.


and were legal in the 84 LA Olympics

Lasse Viren (sp) showed how it was done in 1976 if memory serves me right


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

They've got their first positive: 

German athlete returns abnormal doping test in Sochi | Sports | Reuters



> An unnamed German athlete has returned an abnormal doping sample at the Sochi Winter Games and a second sample will be tested later on Friday to determine the presence of banned substances, the German Olympic Committee (DOSB) said.


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## Fireform (Dec 15, 2005)

Dollars to donuts it was a skater or Nordic skier.


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

Fireform said:


> Dollars to donuts it was a skater or Nordic skier.


I read in another article it was either xcountry skiing or biathlon. Didn't specify male or female.


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## SpeedNeeder (Aug 19, 2013)

I was watching speed skating the other day. 
One of the commentators said, wow, it's like these Dutch skaters don't wear out, they just keep going!
After they swept the medals in the event, the broadcast showed some Olympic data regarding a country dominating an Olympic event. The last time speed skating was so dominated was 1988 East Germans.


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

SpeedNeeder said:


> I was watching speed skating the other day.
> One of the commentators said, wow, it's like these Dutch skaters don't wear out, they just keep going!
> After they swept the medals in the event, the broadcast showed some Olympic data regarding a country dominating an Olympic event. The last time speed skating was so dominated was 1988 East Germans.


I was speed skating and can't believe how they dominate in the sport. They are a pleasure to watch, their strokes are almost soothing.


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## mpre53 (Oct 25, 2011)

Fireform said:


> Dollars to donuts it was a skater or Nordic skier.


Also could be a bobsledder, especially a pusher. They recruit the pushers from track and field, and we all know how clean that sport is. :lol:


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## Fireform (Dec 15, 2005)

Biathlon, which I would include with the other Nordic ski events


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

love4himies said:


> I was speed skating and can't believe how they dominate in the sport. They are a pleasure to watch, their strokes are almost soothing.


I think the Netherlands did well because it was low altitude ice. Wasn't 'gliders' ice but grinders ice and the dutch grind. Check US Skaters records in the world cup events. High altitude they have dominated, low altitude, not so much


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## SpeedNeeder (Aug 19, 2013)

That's pretty... optimistic. I would be surprised if the answer was that simple.

On another note, how about the russian men sweeping the 50k cross country skiing?
That's pretty impressive for a country that had never won gold in any cross country skiing event!


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

SpeedNeeder said:


> On another note, how about the russian men sweeping the 50k cross country skiing?
> That's pretty impressive for a country that had never won gold in any cross country skiing event!


well except the ones they won of course. 
2006, Turin: Yevgeny Dementyev (RUS)
2010 Vancouver: Nikita Kriukov (RUS)


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## SpeedNeeder (Aug 19, 2013)

My apologies, during the coverage I thought the announcer said they hadn't won gold before!


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

SpeedNeeder said:


> My apologies, during the coverage I thought the announcer said they hadn't won gold before!


Was it Phil Leggett commentating?


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

SpeedNeeder said:


> My apologies, during the coverage I thought the announcer said they hadn't won gold before!


In 2002 the gold medal was taken away from Spain due to doping and given to Russia. So technically he's right if he said no Russian stood on the podium for gold. 

Edit: this if for the 50km event only.


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## dot (Mar 4, 2004)

SpeedNeeder said:


> On another note, how about the russian men sweeping the 50k cross country skiing?
> That's pretty impressive for a country that had never won gold in any cross country skiing event!



Seriously? When was it the first time you heard about XC skiing, like two weeks ago?
Look up a bit on russian/soviet ski medal history:

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## dot (Mar 4, 2004)

den bakker said:


> well except the ones they won of course.
> 2006, Turin: Yevgeny Dementyev (RUS)
> 2010 Vancouver: Nikita Kriukov (RUS)


Devyatyarov, Prokurorov (both USSR/Russia), Smirnov (USSR/Kazakhstan) and so on


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

dot said:


> Seriously? When was it the first time you heard about XC skiing, like two weeks ago?
> Look up a bit on russian/soviet ski medal history:
> 
> FIS Nordic World Ski Championships - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


if you combine them with their former Soviet selves they are 3rd on the list just below Finland and above Sweden


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