There was an interesting little article on doping in sport in 'The Times' today and it put forward this interesting little theory that a French lady, Christine Arron, who ran a 10.73 100 metres at the European Championship in Budapest in 1998, is possibly the fastest "clean" woman ever. Everyone has heard of Flo-Jo (Florence Griffith-Joyner) and we all know Marion Jones but have you heard of Christine Arron? Well, I hadn't until today.When asked how she felt about Marion Jones being sent to prison, Ms Arron could not hide the fact that she felt some satisfaction and she added that she feld more than a little bitter about being deprived of her place in athletics history by Jones.
At the Beijing Olympics an unprecedented 4,500 drugs test are being planned by the IOC. However, there are already serious doubts being expressed by Australian doping experts as to how serious those tests. Whaterver the results, they are sure, that they cannot be trusted.1
Christine Arron was interviewed by "die Sueddeutsche Zeitung" before the 2005 World Championship and when asked, if she thought she were the real world record holder, she answered, "yes, when you look at the people who have run faster than me."2 Those people were Flo-Jo and Marion Jones. Methods of doping are becoming increasingly sophisticated and doping is becoming increasingly difficult to detect, especially using the current testing procedures. There is evidence, especially with China's dubious record in positive testing, which would appear to suggest that the "false negatives" will once again be in the ascendency and that there is no place in history for the Christine Arrons of this world. When the national anthems are being played though, this will matter little.
The picture above is of Christine Arron
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""He who reigns within himself and rules his passions, desires, and fears is more than a king." — John Milton"
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