2018 Pyeongchang Olympics | SPEED SKATING | Feb 10th - 24th

Aladyyn

they praying for the death of a rockstar
Apr 6, 2015
18,092
7,213
Czech Republic
I`d be happy. She already is a legend and is still relatively young. If she wants it, she has a shot in Beijing.
I guess I'll be both. Happy about the medal, sad that her incredible run of just styling on everyone all the time is over. Still unbelievable that this skinny girl from a country with no speed-skating track somehow became the long-distance GOAT.
 

Eisen

Registered User
Sep 30, 2009
16,737
3,101
Duesseldorf
I guess I'll be both. Happy about the medal, sad that her incredible run of just styling on everyone all the time is over. Still unbelievable that this skinny girl from a country with no speed-skating track somehow became the long-distance GOAT.
You`d have expected her to become an alpine skier. ;)
 

Fighter

Registered User
Jan 1, 2004
11,687
902
Trieste, Italy
Too bad we couldn't see a direct showdown between legend Lee Sang-hwa and Nao Kodaira: so happy that the japanese won gold, with the Olympic Record too!
 

Havre

Registered User
Jul 24, 2011
8,459
1,733
Crazy. Finally Norway have a good 500m guy and he ends up winning. Historically we have been crap crap crap on the shorter distances (at the moment we are quite poor in general of course).
 

Havre

Registered User
Jul 24, 2011
8,459
1,733
Yes its called asthma and other med abuse. Norway is going to win the medal count and most of their athletes are guzzling this stuff.

zzzzzzzzzz.

Unlike the Russians Norwegian athletes tell the world what they are taking. So if it works it is up to anyone else to do the same. Not that I expect anyone called "RossiyaSport" to understand that.
 

Eisen

Registered User
Sep 30, 2009
16,737
3,101
Duesseldorf
zzzzzzzzzz.

Unlike the Russians Norwegian athletes tell the world what they are taking. So if it works it is up to anyone else to do the same. Not that I expect anyone called "RossiyaSport" to understand that.
It's still suspicious that half the team is taking it without diagnosed asthma. At least the Norwegian team is investigating it openly.
 

Havre

Registered User
Jul 24, 2011
8,459
1,733
It's still suspicious that half the team is diagnosed with asthma. At least the Norwegian team is investigating it openly.

How is that suspicious?

There is not a single fan, athlete or anyone involved in cross country skiing that do not know these days (and have for years) that many Norwegian athletes (and of course athletes that are not Norwegian) are using asthma medicine. Do you believe then, in the open, that Norwegian athletes are able to get away with anything that either a) everyone else could also do (if it benefits healthy athletes as well as those that got asthma) and/or b) no-one else are able to stop?

This is a general medical question. Of course Norway is a "superpower" within the sport, but to think that Norway, to its benefit, can dictate what is medically allowed within cross-country skiing, biathlon etc. is quite odd (for biathlon a country like Germany is much more important than Norway - so if one wants to think along those lines the Germans could influence it in another direction).

Just so that is said. I don't have a view on the medical side of it. I expect every Norwegian athlete to follow the rules. I supported the ban Johaug got - as an example.
 

Eisen

Registered User
Sep 30, 2009
16,737
3,101
Duesseldorf
How is that suspicious?

There is not a single fan, athlete or anyone involved in cross country skiing that do not know these days (and have for years) that many Norwegian athletes (and of course athletes that are not Norwegian) are using asthma medicine. Do you believe then, in the open, that Norwegian athletes are able to get away with anything that either a) everyone else could also do (if it benefits healthy athletes as well as those that got asthma) and/or b) no-one else are able to stop?

This is a general medical question. Of course Norway is a "superpower" within the sport, but to think that Norway, to its benefit, can dictate what is medically allowed within cross-country skiing, biathlon etc. is quite odd (for biathlon a country like Germany is much more important than Norway - so if one wants to think along those lines the Germans could influence it in another direction).

Just so that is said. I don't have a view on the medical side of it. I expect every Norwegian athlete to follow the rules. I supported the ban Johaug got - as an example.
Johaug wasn`t banned for asthma medicine, though. And it seems that not the asthma medicine but the overuse of asthma medicine is the problem.
Here's a short article on it.
Norway's cross-country Olympic success clouded by asthma drug ethics
I edited my original post but you still got my old one, which was not really correct.
 

Havre

Registered User
Jul 24, 2011
8,459
1,733
I know Johaug was banned for something else. Just an example of a ban of a Norwegian athlete that I supported (these things tend to be clouded by the country you are from - Norwegians supporting Norwegian athletes, Russians blaming the world etc.).

The headline is quite misleading. It's not that easy to determine what kind of medical problems one should be allowed to treat and too what extent. One could make all asthma medicine illegal and every single Norwegian skier using them would stop the day after. They would then not be able to compete of course. Maybe that is fair? I honestly don't have much of a view on that.

I do not however find it "clouded" by anything or suspicious that athletes are using medication openly. It's written down on lists. Anyone could check them. Even Johaug wrote down before the test that she had used the product that contained the substance she was later caught taking. That should not be mixed with the general discussion what athletes should be allowed to use or not.
 

Eisen

Registered User
Sep 30, 2009
16,737
3,101
Duesseldorf
I know Johaug was banned for something else. Just an example of a ban of a Norwegian athlete that I supported (these things tend to be clouded by the country you are from - Norwegians supporting Norwegian athletes, Russians blaming the world etc.).

The headline is quite misleading. It's not that easy to determine what kind of medical problems one should be allowed to treat and too what extent. One could make all asthma medicine illegal and every single Norwegian skier using them would stop the day after. They would then not be able to compete of course. Maybe that is fair? I honestly don't have much of a view on that.

I do not however find it "clouded" by anything or suspicious that athletes are using medication openly. It's written down on lists. Anyone could check them. Even Johaug wrote down before the test that she had used the product that contained the substance she was later caught taking. That should not be mixed with the general discussion what athletes should be allowed to use or not.
I agree. I'm not sure how to deal with that as well. And I like it that the Norwegians are very open about it. It's an ethical and medical question. I do follow the sports but not enough to follow why some substances are banned and others aren't. I know that some media mentioned it (sounded like complaining).
 

SirKillalot

Registered User
Feb 27, 2008
5,863
274
Norway
It's an ethical and medical question.
Problem is that it's too many uneducated "fans" out there who compare asthma to doping. Where the first one gives people the chance to compete with those who have clear airways, while the second one give you a clear advantage over anyone.

The second part is that the same "fans" say that they give medicine to healthy athletes, when several studies has showed that giving a healthy athlete asthma medicine doesn't change anything, because they already have clear airways.

Where Norway might be the clear frontrunner is that they seem to be better at treating athletes who have irritations in regards to airways (within the rules), while other countries don't do anything or little about it.

Would be interesting to see if other countries would be open to what they have of medications and what they use, like the Norwegians are being (even though they don't have to).
 

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