Steroid Use In World Records - A Full Breakdown

A few days ago LetsRun put up a poll of world records in track and the % of people who believe the records are false are reflected here.

[C-R-A-C-K-E-R]

A wise man once said "Everyone's on steroids."

[mpf]

I love Carl Lewis and know him personally but the track and field body kept his dirty tests hidden for decades

[CrossForum]

Flo Joe and Bolt. Bolt was a gifted runner in his youth, so not surprised he's got world records and Olympic golds and not suspected of using PEDs. Flo-Joe is another story. I was running college track at the same time in the early 1980s and remember Flo-Joe as being competitive at the national collegiate level while sprinting for UCLA, but not a stand-out nor anywhere close to world class competition at that time (she did qualify for the 1984 Olympics). She disappeared after college and then suddenly re-appeared out of nowhere in 1987 running world-class times, so how did she do that? Makes me wonder. Marita Koch and the women's 800m recordholder have always been suspect. Sydney Maclaghlin is like Usain Bolt, a standout at the youth level so not surprised she doesn't raise much suspicion of PED use.

[GreyBeard_Fit]

I’ve been studying PED use in sports for over 30 years and actually worked in a Human Sports Performance Lab sponsored by Nike in college in the mid 1990s where I researched Olympic athletes as part of the program.

This is an extremely tangled web that I can write about for probably 5-6 hours without having to look anything up.

*East German State Plan 14.25 to Ben Johnson (SpeedTrap) to BALCO*

I was never any elite sprinter but I did run for an adult track club and used to train at Duke and NC State in the early 2000s.

There are at least 8 former elite track athletes that I used to see training that got busted. I know a lot about this group as I was cool with one of the athletes.

*I say all that to say most likely every track medalist is using something*

You *cannot* compete at that level if you don’t.

Some are perhaps coloring just outside the lines while others have created their own new boundaries.

*Track & Field is probably tied with cycling as the 2nd dirtiest sport where drug testing is involved* trailing only Olympic Weightlifting.

[drivero]

I want to add on a note that top 4 of 100m all time sprinters only Bolt was not tested positive. Out of 10 All time 100m runners, only Richard Thompson and Maurice Green haven't tested positive on PEDs, excluding bolt of course (I'm countig Coleman because let's be real). So out of 10, seven of them have tested positive at some point. Whoever than says that Bolt is natural and says that he is a genetic phenomenon who is just running faster than all of the 100m all time sprinters naturally, than that person has an IQ of a light blub. And for Sydney thinking only 18% that she is on PEDs... no comment. Can't believe it that people love an athlete so much to that point they don't care how is she winning and breaking world records by an enormous margins. Saw a comment where already someone said that her trainer is Bobby Kersee, which all of it speaks for itself.

[iancooper]

Sydney McLaughlin's performances should generate a lot more suspicion since she comes from the Bobby Kersee group of athletes. When Canadian sprinter Angela Bailey went to Kersee's group to train, she left saying that Kersee did not not know how to train top level athletes WITHOUT performance enhancing drugs. Has he changed since then?

[waxwars]

Flo jo was on drugs but her time is still too fast even on drugs. Should have been nullified years ago. She had something like at plus 5-7 wind aid in that race. Wind gauge “broke” only for her race. Every other race at the meet that day had 5-7. And it virtually impossible to get a 0.0 wind reading.

[ffvgaming]

Sydney only 18%, even though her coach is Bobby Kersee 💀

[mountbara]

The amount of PED usage in the past 50 years has not decreased, what has changed is the testing and the ability to avoid getting caught. Anyone competing at the very highest level is probably using. In every sport, in every country. I would guess less that 10 percent of actual clean athletes. Again, we are talking about the elite of the elite, not the middle of the pack athlete.

[fattony]

Guess who was Flo Jo's trainer? None other than the infamous, drug pushing Bobby "the chemist" Kersee. The same trainer who was behind her 100m WR and that of Florence Joiner Kersee's Heptathlon and Sydney McLaughlin's 400m Hurdles. It will be decades before those WR's are broken if ever.

[PerryScanlon]

There were news articles about Jamaica's lack of testing.

[gtrdoc]

The sad part is how selective the IAAF is about announcing positive tests. It is now widely known that in the '88 Seoul Olympics, 7 of the 8 finalists tested positive for PED's (some of the positive tests were discovered a few years later through subsequent testing). Yet Ben Johnson had to be the whipping boy. Truly unfair.

[ktube]

Kipchoge's training camp partners, most of which were around 2:04 to 2:05 marathoners, just recently got popped, and wait for it, he's clean and runs 3 minutes faster. Yupp. That unicorn you rode in on to tell me that is beautiful too. The comment about how the track and field world would be devastated if he was found dirty, is just like a cyclist from the late 90's helping boost cycling and brand awareness for a company, and raising millions for charities and medical research. Call it what it is, sport it dirty.

[Yellow_Afryca]

The better question is poll which PEDs you think were being taken

[stefanoviviani]

I'm surprised Kipchoge is not more suspected. I really hope he's clean, but considering where he comes from, the environment he trains in and his age. Well... I wouldn't bet my shoes (also because I love my Endorphin Speed 😄)

[larey]

“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.” Carl Lewis

THE CAST AGAINST BOLT

Huge early promise as an athlete (a precursor rather than an indicator)
Huge leap in ability over a short period of time
Astonishing athletic achievements (untouchable)
Dirty Sport (that suits doping — huge infrequent events, large off season, one primary physical attribute)
Dirty Team
Questionable coaching/medical staff

And here are some that may indicate why he wasn’t exposed earlier:

Huge sponsorship deals
Big personality
An inspiration to millions, raising awareness of a sport
Never tested positive in a test

Even an exceptionally talented athlete like Bolt cannot compete against a talented athlete on drugs. But an exceptionally talented athlete on drugs is likely to be the one breaking records.

[jaymcbakerk]

Bolt lives on an island where the only way in or out is a crappy little airport. And when surprise testing officials flew in, guess what, Bolt was often nowhere to be found for several days. Excuses like training in remote areas with no cell reception and so on. Bolt had lots of people on his payroll to protect him

[monsieurLDN]

Are you joking? You never spoke about PEDs in sports, you just repeated the results of a random poll about how people feel. At least show some evidence

[TheShepdawg]

Bolt was absolutely juiced. Check out his timing progression

[MrBendybruce]

I have to believe the vast majority of world records are not clean. I make that statement because I believe drug use is a systemic problem, not just in athletics, but in any sporting pursuit that attracts global attention and more importantly, global money.