Annie Skinner, a spokeswoman for USADA, sent me this note today: “Erin Hannan in our office forwarded your inquiry to me, and I wanted to make sure to get back to you with some follow up information. There is a section on the USADA website that can help athletes understand whether they need a TUE or not. According to USADA policy, athletes not currently in a registered testing pool are considered Level 2, or Non-National Level Athletes. This group of athletes may include recreational level, Masters level, or even elite level athletes that do not presently meet the criteria for pool inclusion. Level 2 athletes are not required to submit a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) in advance of use in sport for certain prohibited substances.
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October 27, 2011
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Trent Lane in 2006.
According to
this obituary in Louisiana, services were held today for M100 thrower
Trent Lane, who died at his home Thursday. What a loss. He would have been the oldest entrant at Sacramento worlds, but he never showed up. The funeral home says he set 17 world records “that still stand.” Not sure of that. But he certainly was a centenarian role model. His age at death follows a family pattern, according to a previous story: “Lane is not the only member of his family to live so long. His father lived to 100, an uncle to 103, and a grandfather to age 93. Whether Lane’s vitality results from genetics, activity or both, he still astounds those he encounters.”
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October 26, 2011
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B.J. Duhon
A third American bites the dust.
USADA yesterday announced “that
Byron Duhon, of Elk Grove, Calif., an athlete in the sport of Track & Field, has accepted a two-year suspension for an anti-doping rule violation based on his refusal to comply with the sample collection process. Duhon, 53, refused to comply with the sample collection process for an in-competition doping control test on July 13, 2011, after being notified by a USADA Doping Control Officer at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Sacramento, Calif. Under the USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Anti-Doping Rules, both of which have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code, an athlete’s refusal to comply with the sample collection process when notified that he has been selected for doping control, constitutes a rule violation.”
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October 26, 2011
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La Mesa Patch won a dozen awards at last night’s San Diego Press Club awards banquet. Very proud of my year-old site. (See story here.) But my wife, Chris, kicked my butt in first-place awards. She won three for her photos. I won none. (I got six second-place certificates and a pair of third-places.) In all, Patch won 18 awards in the county, compared with 24 for the Big Gorilla, aka The San Diego Union-Tribune. My biggest award was third place for overall news site. I finished behind the San Diego Daily Transcript site and the U-T site, called SignOnSanDiego.com (my former employer).
W55 wife Chris with three of the four photo awards she won at SD Press Club.
October 26, 2011
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First Marie-Louise Michelsohn claims two WRs shortly after turning 70. Now it’s Jeanne Daprano’s turn. Five weeks after hitting 75, Jeanne journeyed from Atlanta to run at the Club West Masters Track Meet at Moorpark College on Sunday — about midway between traditional site Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. Carmel Papworth-Barnum shared the results: “Jeanne Daprano broke two world records. She ran 3:07.35 for the 800m (WR was 3:13.66) and her 400m was 1:22.59 (WR was 85.40). I haven’t see Jeanne for awhile and she looked so good, I can’t believe that she is 75! She said that her body is feeling great at the moment — no injuries no aches or pains. I don’t think that happens very often to masters.” Haven’t seen other results, but what a great meet for Jeanne. Age-graded, her times are worth 1:44.97 and 48.54. Congrats, superstar!
Kathy Bergen (left) and Jeanne after W70 final in Sacramento worlds 200.
October 23, 2011
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Bob Weiner
of the USATF Masters T&F Executive Committee reminds me that I
posted a note after 2010 Sacramento outdoor masters nationals about the option to get a post-competition TUE — or therapeutic-use exemption. Elites don’t have this option. But masters do. Here’s what I wrote after attending a USADA briefing: “Post-event TUEs will be allowed. That means if you test positive for a banned substance, you can submit a request for a waiver … after the meet. (That doesn’t guarantee your TUE will be accepted, however. It’s just a convenience for all concerned.)” Now Bob is asking why that option wasn’t used in the
Kathy Jager case.
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October 23, 2011
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Sprinter Steve
— a Masters Hall of Famer, world record holder and world champ many times — sent me his thoughts on drug-testing in masters track. He discusses potential advantages some masters have over others. (It remind me of a post I once did on performance-detracting substances.) In any case, this is a grown-up take by a giant in our sport. So lissen up. Can he be wrong? Steve writes: “I don’t understand this obsession with drug usage among masters athletes. If I have it right, the argument is all about fairness. Athletes who use ‘illegal’ drugs, even if their doctor prescribes it, is a no-no because it gives those athletes an unfair advantage.”
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October 23, 2011
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Winston at Sacramento General Assembly.
of Great Britain, a masters official who wears many hats, sent me a note under his own name, and not as a WMA or BVAF honcho. He writes: “As I do not spend my time trawling websites, I only get on your site every now and then, and having been reading the points on doping suspensions,
Craig Shumaker, Kathy Jager. I would like to take up a point that seem to have been taken for granted and yet has never been tested. Craig make the point and others seem to be followed it, that he did not apply for a TUE ‘because he knew he would not get one.’ Perhaps he could also tell how he knows he would not get one, when there are provisions for him to possibly do so having applied. The point was also been made that the anti-doping standards are the same as those of the open internationals (yes, they are) but the TUE standards are different, whilst it cannot be possible to have different standards in testing, it is possible for TUE’s to be granted to Masters for specified medicated substances and procedures.”
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October 22, 2011
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Kathy at Berea. Jeremy Langton photo for USATF
In a series of responses,
Kathy Jager emailed yesterday: “I have never nor will I take medication for the purpose of performance enhancing. I train hard, but take pride in my honestly earned accomplishments.” So she says she’ll return in 2013. She made a similar comeback in 2001 after her first two-year suspension. In one note, Kathy said: “I did want to point out a link to a medical condition called
lipodystrophy which I have and which explains my physical body uniqueness. There are some good articles which some of your opinionated writers should read before being so judgmental about why I appear so muscular. There are some good pictures that illustrate characteristics of my body. Some of these comments were very hurtful to me. I appreciate everyone’s prayers and support as I deal with my health and personal issues and being open-minded.”
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October 20, 2011
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In 1999, Kathy Jager was handed a two-year drug suspension after testing positive at Gateshead worlds for a menopause medicine (which she freely admitted to). Now she’s been sanctioned another two years for a positive test at Berea nationals. This changes things. How can she account for this? The Washington Post brief is here. More details to come. USADA’s press release from yesterday is below. This is second bust from Berea, following the punishment of thrower Craig Shumaker, who signaled his retirement from the sport. Geeezerjock magazine editor Sean Callahan wrote about Jager (JAY-ger) for Salon about six years ago.
Kathy is interviewed by Sean Callahan at 2004 masters nationals in Illinois.
October 19, 2011
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