Astonishing article by Francis

[Asterix]

From another angle, quoting Francis:
>"It’s now a matter of record that the
>systematic use of performance enhancing drugs in
>sport for more than 50 years has punted
>performance standards clear out of sight, so far
>out of sight that no human can attain them
>without chemical assistance."

Good summation of Francis' arguement. However, as has been pointed out previously, this was his "official" line circa 2000. When he was involved with Jones and Montgomery almost a year ago, he publicly changed his tune to state his belief that humans could run that fast without chemical assistance (I'm sure someone can look up a specific reference). Now whether you believe he was being fully honest or just grasping at straws in order to maintain his business with Marion and Tim is an exercise left to the reader.

[michael lewis]

Thanks Asterix. And thanks for getting me up to date on cf's current stance. And who knows, maybe even Charlie Francis could make himself believe whatever was necessary to retain such illustrious students! Glad to see though that they never stuck around.

[DentyCracker]

I would be more interested to hear what Astaphan has to say than what Francis has said

[fucking lane 10]

I agree totally. I don't beleive everything CF says. I can't stand his website and the people who worship him. I know an athlete who has trained with him and was brainwashed into thinking you had to use drugs

[rmayes]

And now Montgomery's been subpoenaed to testify against BALCO and is also listed as one of their clients. At the time I wanted to believe Charlie had changed his attitude about drugs but I think given the current state of affairs it's fairly obvious he was just saying what he thought everyone wanted to hear. The guy has been talking about how dirty track and field is for over a decade now and then all of sudden says he thinks world record times can be achieved cleanly when he has the opportunity to coach two world class sprinters again.

[Guest]

>>He made the semi AFTER he started taking drugs
>again. He was busted later that summer. The
>jump in his improvement, as I pointed out
>earlier, precisely matched when he started up
>again. He was literally going nowhere with his
>career that year until he got back on the
>juice. He started up again after a poor early
>season, and then taking a several week
>"break" while he got his therapeutic regime
>in place.

Wow, RMc, you apparently understand Ben's motives and drug program much better than the rest of us. Can you please document these "jumps in improvement" post-90? And how on earth do you reason the "several week break"?

[RMc]

>>>He made the semi AFTER he started taking
>drugs again. He was busted later that summer.
>The jump in his improvement, as I pointed
>out earlier, precisely matched when he started
>up again. He was literally going nowhere with
>his career that year until he got back on
>the juice. He started up again after a poor
>early season, and then taking a several
>week "break" while he got his therapeutic
>regime in place.

Wow, RMc, you apparently
>understand Ben's motives and drug program much
>better than the rest of us. Can you please
>document these "jumps in improvement" post-90?
>And how on earth do you reason the "several
>l week break"?

I managed to get my timelines a bit confused. On the other hand, the characterization of Johnson's 1992 Olympic performance also was misleading. The bottom line is that my original statement still appears to be correct. Here's the correct timeline after digging through my old TFNs:

Johnson ran 10.16 in the '92 Canadian Nationals to make the Olympics. That was his best time in his 2 year comeback. He ran 10.30 in the Olympic QFs, and 10.55 in the semis--hardly impressive from the "greatest ever talent." He was busted again in January 1993. He had run 5.73 for 50m behind Surin's NR 5.67, and then 6.62 for 60m, just being nipped by Surin's 6.60. Surin lead the world that year with a 6.45. That's the performance surge that I was alluding to.
TFN in its May 1993 issue at p.55 said:
"His performances last year were decidely lackluster, but this season had started to produce eye-opening times. The marked improvement had fed rumors that the 'Old Ben' was back."
Note that Johnson was busted yet again in Nov. 99 after a test he asked for himself. Three strikes...