Mennisco wrote:This weakens your argument, contrary to what your reasoning skills have led you to believe. "Hey, it happens all the time! "Everyone" is doing it! What's the big deal?" If it is "almost" inevitable, then it is not inevitable, and this is not an excuse. The fact that so many Brits have missed tests may just as easily mean they are adept at evading them..
The UK system is/was stupid and it was inevitable that many missed tests would ensue. I'm proud that Britain takes drug testing so seriously but as it is at the moment the testers make no attempt at all to contact an athlete who is not at the right location instead they wait around for an hour, leave and mark it down as a missed test. The vast majority of these missed tests would never have occurred if any effort had been made to inform the athlete. The system as it is makes no attempt to make sure if a test is done when that should be the single most important thing. Trapping people in to missing tests doesn't catch drug cheats and simply makes UK Athletics look as if has a possibly drug problem. I don't that Christine would have got a ban in any other country for missed tests because the test would have been done and we would know if she passed or not.
Mennisco wrote:Certainly I have no way of knowing with absolute certainty whether Ms. O was evading tests, or was just incomprehensibly careless. .
And that's exactly why the testing procedure should do everything in its power to make sure that the test is taken. Remember TBO couldn't have been evading these tests because she didn't know they were going to happen. It’s not like the Thanou case where she was told to be somewhere at a particular time and then didn’t show Christine had no idea anyone was coming to do the test and simply wasn't at her given place when the testers turned up. If you were going to try and evade testers by not being where you have said you will the you would have to do that every single day which clearly wasn't the case as she was tested numerous times during this period at the correct location.
Mennisco wrote:but if British athletes are being tested "frequently" then it behoves them to be intelligently responsible and sufficiently frequently prepared, so as to avoid, at the least, the appearance of deliberate evasion. .
Which is happening now. The cases of missed tests plummeted after Christine's case. Whilst obviously some blame must be laid on the athletes the most blame in my opinion should go to UKA who said up a complicated unwieldy, inflexible system and then compounded the mistake by not doing anything like enough to make sure that all athletes understood it. Now everyone does hut it's completely typical of UKA to let something turn into a complete disaster before doing what should have been done at the very beginning,
Mennisco wrote:Finally, are you saying that Britain tests more than any other nation? Is there another nation that tests as frequently? If so, do the athletes of that country miss tests as frequently as British athletes? How does the British record of missed tests : total tests compare with that of other countries? These are important questions, too.
I don’t know where but I saw a chart once that said the per capita the UK tested the most other than Sweden (I think). I doubt very much that any other nation had as many missed tests because there system is unlikely to be as stupid as our one. A phone call or a text would in most cases mean that the missed test didn't happen. I don't instead of pointlessly waiting one hour somewhere the testers in other countries would do all they could to make sure their job is fulfilled something which didn't and I'm pretty certain still doesn't happen in the UK.
