The first three in the race are tested for drugs at every meet. Others are tested at random. Bolt may be under the Jamaican system, which needs improvement, but he gets tested at every international meet simply because he always wins. He also gets called up for random testing. Just how much testing has to be done to convince people?
Another thing. We know that during the 70s, 80s and 90s there was loads of drug use and that the testing systems were crap. Now the testing systems have been improved but we still see athletes beating world records. Has nobody asked whether the illegal drugs actually gave as much improvement as was claimed? 100 metre running is about coordination and a good nervous system as it is about strength, possibly even more. It's also about having a large proportion of the right type of muscle fibres (type 2b). One thing we know about stimulants is that they can damage coordination. Steroids cause muscle growth to occur faster than the nervous system can adapt. Is it not possible then that all those years the drug cheats and their coaches were actually missing the point. Coaches selected the wrong athletes, namely people who were too short to reach a very high speed, and then assumed that quickly piling on muscle would make them faster. That's perhaps just not how it works with sprinting.
Another thing. We know that during the 70s, 80s and 90s there was loads of drug use and that the testing systems were crap. Now the testing systems have been improved but we still see athletes beating world records. Has nobody asked whether the illegal drugs actually gave as much improvement as was claimed? 100 metre running is about coordination and a good nervous system as it is about strength, possibly even more. It's also about having a large proportion of the right type of muscle fibres (type 2b). One thing we know about stimulants is that they can damage coordination. Steroids cause muscle growth to occur faster than the nervous system can adapt. Is it not possible then that all those years the drug cheats and their coaches were actually missing the point. Coaches selected the wrong athletes, namely people who were too short to reach a very high speed, and then assumed that quickly piling on muscle would make them faster. That's perhaps just not how it works with sprinting.
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