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Carlsen vs Karjakin: A Contextually Fascinating Duel

In a small auditorium located in the Seaport District of Lower Manhattan, two men possessing supreme intellectual and computational capabilities are slated to do battle for the title of “FIDE World Chess Champion”. The match is a best of 12 series, with each match scored, 0 points for a loss, half a point for a draw, and 1 point for a win - with the winner declared the individual who reaches 6.5 points or more first. Chess is a sport which shares unexpected similarities with far more popular televised sporting pursuits. The games often take a great deal of time, whilst not to the extent of a cricket match, the current World Championship series is through 5 games, with average play time close to 7 hours per game. A sport of cricket’s ravenous world-following may appear a foolish comparison in regards to spectator statistics, but chess should not be underestimated. The official World Championship website offers paid live, commentated streaming, of which well over a million viewers have purchased, with popular sites and applications such as Chess24, chess.com and lichess recording download numbers ranking chess as one of the most popular computer games globally. Further strengthened by the governing global body “Fédération Internationale des Échecs” (FIDE) boasting 185 member nations. Whilst the game duration may intimidate or bore many, the two personalities set to do battle for the title of World Champion, accompanied by a 1 million Euro prize, is where the game becomes accessible for those less initiated in the specifics of the game. It is important to note, that chess is played globally with a points ranking system, similar to tennis, players compete in tournaments to earn Elo ranking points, which are allocated based upon the strength of a player relevant to his or her competitors defeated. The system ranges from 1200 to 2700 points and above, with “novices” considered as 1200 point players or lower, whilst Carlsen and Karjakin have current respective Elo rankings of 2853 and 2772. The World Championship series is inherently fascinating, given the game is an intellectual pursuit, the professional construct pits two individuals against each other in a game which is of such absurd complexity that there are 400 different possible positions after one move each, 72,084 different possible positions after two moves each, 9 million different possible positions after three moves each and 288 billion different possible positions after four moves each. With an oft cited fact suggesting that the number of distinct 40 move games possible is greater than the number of electrons in the observable universe. Once you’ve wrapped your head around that concept, an understandable line of curious contemplation develops, who are these two individuals vying for the title of world champion? Magnus Carlsen is the Pele, Tendulkar, Jordan, Bekele equivalent of Chess, a grandmaster at 13 (the 3rd youngest in history), Carlsen has held the title of World Champion since 2013 whilst being ranked world number 1 since 2010, paired with his Elo rating of 2882 (2014), he is the highest ranked chess player of all time. Carlsen’s celebrity is substantial, both in the chess world and in his home nation of Norway, with 3 million of Norway’s 5 million residents tuning in to the Norweigan television coverage of the current World Championship match, Carlsen is a man set to well and truly drag chess into the mainstream of sports coverage. The 25-year old Norweigan’s playing style is characterised by the level at which he has studied the game, rarely relying on the same opening twice, Carlsen is feared for his prowess in “endgame” situations, a position of extreme difficulty among grandmaster’s, as one of two superbly skilled individuals needs to make a direct blunder, or be outsmarted with a ruse of sorts, to lose a game. In a sport rife with computer analysis, Carlsen is best typified by a statistical measure known as “nettlesomeness” - a rating which identifies a players ability to cause opponents to make mistakes, largely due to Carlsen’s creatively mixed strategies, which pressure opponents to play through irregular situations, subsequently rendering Carlsen a frighteningly difficult opponent to ‘study’ or ‘plan’ for. Carlsen’s opponent was determined via a system similar to those used in combat sports, with the “challenger” having to win through a number of tournaments, the specific “World Chess Candidates” tournament, explained thoroughly in this short documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMbtMku_1Ww The winner of the “2016 World Chess Candidates” tournament was Sergey Karjakin, a politically polarising figure. Karjakin, 26, born in Ukraine, has represented Russia since 2009. A worthy opponent, the stammering Russian caused controversy in 2009, seen as abandoning Ukraine, a native of Crimea, Kajarkin developed pro-Putin political views, and moved to Russia to receive sponsorship from the FIDE Vice President, President of the Russian Chess Federation, Andrey Filatov. The move enabled Karjakin access to better training, but resulted in the divorce a wife, a highly politicised change of nationality, and an immediate assertion of support for the Russian annexation of Crimea, all predictably controversial decisions, given Karjakin, the youngest Grandmaster ever, held a societal position of patriotic pride for many Ukrainian’s. Karjakin has well and truly felt the glare of international spotlight throughout his career, existing in a pressurised sporting environment since achieving the title of Grandmaster at the age of 12 years, 7 months, which remains the current world record. The current World Championship series of matches can be rapidly summarised by the following image.

Karjakin has frustrated Carlsen throughout the series, with 5 consecutive draws highlighting the Russian’s ability to defend under pressure. Karjakin has quickly been labelled across twitter as the “new Russian Minister of Defence”, as Carlsen (pictured above), has become increasingly snappy and aggressive at post-game press conferences. Kajarkin heads into the 6th game with a sizable advantage, as playing colours are alternated, given white’s ability to move first, the Russian is suspected to employ a bolder strategy in the next two games as he plays as white, whilst Carlsen has vowed to take a far more aggressive approach playing as black, as his frustrations reach a veritable boiling point. Yes, the games have press conferences, often comprehensive in nature, requiring players to explain key positions and why they made a particular move, an intellectual post-mortem of sorts. Notably, the sponsor signage behind the players is adorned by the logo of the two main sponsors, Phosagro and EG Capital Advisors. If ever an indication of the sport’s popularity or patriotic pride was required, Phosagro (a Russian phosphate producer) posted revenue figures in 2015, just shy of $2 billion US Dollars, whilst EG Capital Advisors manage $3 billion USD in assets. Prime indicators that the worth of a sport is not determined or defined by its play style or duration, yet is constantly under revision, improvement or decline, based upon the personalities and competitive stories that exist within a sporting arena. A concept a few unnamed sports might do well to take note of. If this all sounds like something that might be interesting to you, yet you don’t feel like learning algebraic notation to follow the game, visit https://chess24.com for brief highlight videos of each game, or https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/ for entertaining game commentary and schedules.

Impressive video of the day:

If you weren't a relatively keen observer of world football, and can't figure out the first tracksuit top Edin Dzeko is wearing in the first interview in this clip, you might struggle to ascertain a) where he was born or b) what his 1st language is... Plot twist - in the above clip Dzeko fluently reels off interviews in:

Bosnian, English, German, Czech and Italian. Dzeko has played for AS Roma of Italy for roughly 8 months, spending just under a year in the country at absolute best - he now speaks the language fluently enough for what appears to be a rapid-fire interview of sorts. Sure, professional athletes don't have too much to do other than train, recover, and probably hire a tutor - however Dzeko's proficiency in 5 languages remains properly impressive.

An open letter to draft-legal triathletes Whatever happened to your aerobars? Whilst age group and long course triathlon are almost exclusively non-draft events, draft-legal triathlon remains the Olympic format and a pinnacle, if perhaps a parallel one, to the long course and ironman world. Furthermore, with the recent change to draft-legal rules for age-group sprint distance world championships perhaps we will see a resurged interest in draft-legal and ITU racing. The casual observer would be forgiven for thinking that aerobars are not permitted in elite triathlon, such is their scarcity at ITU events. In fact short aerobars have been legal equipment since triathlon switched to draft-legal racing in the early 1990’s. In these days and up until the mid-2000’s aerobars were still common place in elite fields, but no more. So why this trend? The State of Play There is a perception surrounding draft-legal triathlon, both externally and to a certain extent, internally, that cycling is not important as drafting has reduced triathlon to a running race with an extended warm up. This is not without some truth. With many athletes closely packed out of the swim, the lead bike pack is often very large and prevents small breakaway groups from escaping. This makes swimming and running more critical as drafting can level out the playing field on the bike. But this is not universally the case. Recently we have seen some big races unfold where small breakaway groups have formed out of the swim and have proceeded to build large advantages on the bike, giving the leaders a substantial head start on the run. This was seen in the men’s triathlon at the Rio Olympics with the top 3 athletes all coming from the breakaway group. This relegated strong runners like Richard Murray, Mario Mola and Ryan Baillie to a chase position and held them off the podium. A repeat situation was seen at the WTS grand final in Cozumel. Ignoring the otherwise unique dynamics of the finish of this race, the swim and bike unfolded much the same way as Rio. A small group escaped after the swim resulting in the same top 3 and then the fleet footed Murray, Mola and Baillie coming in 4th, 5th and 6th respectively. A similar scenario played out in the women’s race with Flora Duffy, Lucy Hall and Jessica Learmonth turning a 9 second advantage out of the water into over a minute by the end of the ride. This strategy showed that Jorgensen is not infallible if athletes are willing to attack on the bike to build an advantage. These events highlight the dynamics of draft-legal triathlon and reinforces the significance of the bike leg. At the elite level the time gaps after 2 hours of racing can be very tight, and differences exiting the swim can be greatly magnified by the end of the ride. So why then are almost no athletes using aerobars? I have raised this question many times, being a former professional license holder and having a long history of draft-legal racing. Remember that this is a piece of equipment that when introduced to professional cycling totally changed the landscape of time trials. The consistent mantra I hear from athletes is that “we draft so we don’t need aerobars.” Now the only real case I can see for this is if your name is Brownlee or Gomez where you are swimming in the top 5 and consistently racking up fastest run splits. But even these guys a swapping off podiums and have not been undefeatable. Furthermore, it is often the Brownlee brothers that are instigating the pace on the bike to try create breathing room from the likes of Murray and Mola. So if even the guys with some of the quickest swim/run combos in the world are attacking the bike, why is no one being more discerning with their bike setup and riding position? It is not as if athletes are ignoring aerodynamics. Almost all athletes are riding deep section carbon wheels and aero helmets are now a common sight. It seems that only the aerobar is taboo. The Science It was due to this odd trend that I set out to investigate the potential advantages of using aerobars compared to relying on the drops. There is a significant body of research showing the large performance gains, through drag reduction, when comparing a modern time trial positon to a road bike with drop bars. However, the benefits of short draft-legal had never been publicly studied. To investigate, wind tunnel tests were conducted at Monash University in Australia and the subsequent findings published in Sports Engineering and Technology by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers1. This included testing an athlete riding in the hoods, drops, drops with a bent arm to lower the torso and then draft-legal style aerobars. Taking the most conservative comparison; the aggressive drops position against the relaxed aerobar positon, the aerobars offered over 5% drag reduction. In flat fast riding conditions this translates to a power saving of the order of 5%. And this is being conservative as most triathletes do not hunker down on the bike in the way that professional cyclists tend to. Taking a more conventional drops posture as reference, aerobars can offer 13% reduction in drag; 15% if you are aggressive in your aerobar posture. This equates to some very significant power savings. And remember that these saving do not only apply when on the front of the pack. Proportional savings can also translate when drafting, so as an athlete you are saving energy everywhere. The Sceptics Despite this compelling data there remains scepticism from within the draft-legal community. One common misconception is that because modern ITU courses are multi-lap and technical it does not warrant aerobars. It is true that you can not use bars to the same extent that you could in most long course races. However, average speeds in ITU racing are still high, especially given the technical and hilly nature of some courses. Therefore there will almost always be sections of the course where an athlete can benefit from these savings. Really the only detraction from aerobars in the weight penalty. And for short bars we are talking in the realm of a few hundred grams (1 lb). So unless you are doing the l’Alp d’Huez triathlon this is not a significant penalty. Not compared to the potential aerodynamic savings. This can be deduced from the validated power model of cycling by Martin et al.2 Summary Given the intensity we are seeing in ITU racing why aren’t more (any) athletes using aerobars. The likes of Mola, Murrray, and Jorgensen to name just a few are missing the lead pack by only seconds and it can potentially cost them races. And if the WTS grand final is anything to go by, potentially even World Championship titles could be on the line. With so much to gain why aren’t elite triathletes taking advantage of the equipment available to them?

Elite fields for the Berlin Marathon are out, won 7 men under 2:05 & Kenenisa Bekele will face off against Emmanuel Mutai (2:03:13) and former WR holder Wilson Kipsang (2:03:23), can the 5k & 10k WR holder challenge his 2:05 PB from Paris?

David Rudisha raced the other day, sit back and enjoy watching what happens when Kipyegon Bett, a cheeky young upstart from Kenya, decides to challenge Rudisha down the back straight. A phenomenal example of gear-changing 101.

Wayde Van Niekerk. The name of the man that upstaged Bolt on his history making night, he did so by breaking the 400m record in 43.03 seconds. A record that Michael Johnson had previously held for 17 years with a time of 43.18 seconds. He wasn’t being talked up in the same breath as Kirani James and LaShawn Merritt who had both previously won Olympic gold themselves. Wayde did this amazing achievement from lane 8. Winning the Olympic final from lane 8 was unheard of but to do it in a world record time was unfathomable. He is the first athlete to record times under 10 seconds for the 100 (9.98 PB), 20 seconds for the 200 (19.94 PB) and under 44 seconds for the 400. His splits for this great race were even more intriguing clocking 10.7 at the hundred, 20.5 at the 200, 31.0 at 300 beating his 300m PB unofficially and finishing in 43.03. Michael Johnson was a bit premature in his speculation of Van Niekerk running a negative split. He recorded 20.5/22.53 and never saw another runner in the race. The rest of the field were no slouches either with the entire field completed before 44.62, the best 400 field ever in history and he completely annihilated them. It made for special viewing as the lane 8 runner usually starts like a bat out of hell and is out of petrol tickets by the home straight and to the viewers it looked like the bold run from the South African would fade as the two main favourites would do battle. Yet he surged again and was a sight of biomechanical perfection as he blew away the field powering home in the last 60 meters showing no sign of fatigue. Kirani and LaShawn both comfortably went under 44 seconds and were nowhere near the gold. Wayde’s coach is a 74 year old great-grandmother just adding further intrigue to the new champion of athletics. She will go home happy she could convince him of tackling the longer sprint after having a background in the 100 and 200. The exciting prospect is he and Kirani are both under 25 years of age and a new rivalry that could span another Olympics or two has begun. Wayde has come a long way from the world championship he won in 2015 and consequently was hospitalized after he overdosed on hydrogen ions and copious amounts of lactic acid, (think Sally Pearson and her foray into the 400 relay where she collapsed). For those hoping sub 43 is going to be achieved it very well could have been had he gotten a slightly quicker reaction time. He recorded 0.181 off the line which was equal third slowest. With a continued focus on 400m training who knows what this biomechanically gifted runner can achieve. Here’s hoping Wayde can go sub 43 and inspire young kids as Michael Johnson no doubt inspired him as a youngster. Final thoughts – The debate around whether or not lane 8 helped Wayde is an interesting one, supreme confidence in his own training/ability and having to run scared probably gave him the edge not having to worry about his opponents, food for thought. Also kudos to Kirani James and LaShawn Merritt who had just lost out on Olympic gold and put aside their disappointment by being the first to hug Wayde and looked legitimately happy. Great sportsmanship.

Athletics Day 2: Heartbreak for Jarrion Lawson in long jump final

Jarrion Lawson, the 22-year old American, entered the competition with a personal best of 8.58 metres, and NCAA titles in the 100m, 200m and long jump events, a feat achieved at one championships meet, a feat not managed since the legendary Jesse Owen. Lawson’s tumultuous night in the sand showcased the jarringly individual nature of Athletics. Whilst a number of track-based running events allow plenty of time for conscious thought, many would argue even the 5,000m and 10,000m event are somewhat instinctive, with thought often contained to the immediate race situation. Field events separate themselves from the track in this respect, as attempt based events allow comparitively lengthy breaks where an athlete has ample time to contemplate their next jump, next throw, and the consequences of those actions. Field events allow an athlete significant enough time to endure a cocktail of emotions, pertaining to both their current competitive situation and how their future might be effected by a variety of outcomes. A cocktail of stress and adulation, the Men’s long jump final was one for the history books where stress is concerned. Lawson entered the final listed as the final jumping competitor, a place some athletes view as advantageous, as athletes know precisely what is required of them to win the competition. In this instance, this difficult wait would’ve been nothing short of torture for Lawson, waiting and watching as jumper after jumper stepped up and did their very best to reshuffle the medal order. A process worsened by Lawson’s fouls in the 2 rounds preceding his final attempt. Sitting 4th in the rankings, Lawson knew he needed a jump greater than 8.38m to leap into the gold medal position. Whilst this task may seem a functionally competitive movement to an outsider, this final jump represented years of work for Lawson, who whilst a veritable youngster, has had a fairy tale season, signing a professional contract with Asics. Lawson steadied himself, his split-shorts of yesteryear billowing in the light breeze, and launched all of his 10.04/20.17 100m & 200m speed down the runway. Sailing through the air, extending as far as he could, Lawson bounced out of the pit upon landing, a picture of jubilation, clapping and yelling as he focused on his landing scene. The initial mark appeared to be in the region of an 8.40-50m jump, the conseqeunces of which very clearly sunk in for Lawson as he waited upon his jump to be measured, at the very least celebrating that he had rescued a medal in the final jump of a competition that represents the utmost competitive pinnacle of the sport.

What followed was a slow, torturous example of what an athlete looks like as a career-defining win is correctly (albeit very emotionally) whisked away. What Lawson had failed to realise following his final jump, was that his left arm had brushed the sand during his landing, a full 40-50cm behind where he finally landed in the sand. As long jump rules measure from the indentation closest to the takeoff board, Lawson’s errant left hand was measured as his “attempt”. Lawson and his coach were visibly enraged, with a wave of boo’s emanating from the confused crowd, until the video replay showed in harrowing high-definition, Lawson’s hand had brushed the sand. Lawson argued with officials, politely, given the immense emotional pressure of the situation. However as officials explained the situation to Lawson, viewers gradually watched Lawson’s expression of anger and protest subside to one of resignation and horror, as he realised the error of his ways, an action he would’ve performed thousands, if not tens of thousands of times throughout his competitive career. A jump of truly world-class proportions, under the severest of consequential stakes, denied by a technical error one would attribute to an absolute novice, not a man who has dedicated most of his existence to converting blinding speed to horizontal propulsion. Whilst Jeff Henderson (USA), Luvo Manyonga (RSA) and Greg Rutherford (GBR) completed a lap of track, flags in hand celebrating their respectively gold, silver and bronze medals, Lawson was left to collect his kit and trudge back to the stadium exit tunnel, a lonely figure left to 4 long years of “what if’s”. The simplicity of Lawson’s error was an emotional equaliser, whilst the viewer at home might not have understood the precise effect this event may have on Lawson’s life, one could appreciate the emotional see-saw he had endured. In the space of 2 minutes, from thoughts of being an Olympic champion, standing atop the dais, rapidly reduced to 4th place, the most difficult position in Olympic competition, rendered a man in waiting for the next 4 years. Other incidences worth a brief mention: - Farah win’s 10,000m in 27:05 --> a win in the 5,000m will place him in the “G.O.A.T.” argument no doubt - 800m Semi-Finals take massive casualites, with Tuka (BIH), Aman (ETH) and Kszcot (POL) all eliminated, Rudisha is now 2 laps from athletic immortality, defending an 800m title, a feat not witnessed since the 1960′s (Peter Snell) - The “Big 3″ progress to the 400m final, Kirani James, LaShawn Merritt and Wayde Van Niekerk will line up once again in an Olympic final that truly places the World Record of 43.18 (Michael Johnson, USA) under a tremendous threat (11:00am AEST time, Monday morning).

Rio Athletics Day 1

If you’re searching for reports specifically regarding the Australian contingent, please head over to Athletics Australia’s website, it’s their specific job to cover the lads and ladies in the green and gold kit. I’ll certainly jot down a few things about the Australian team given a few athletes pulled out enormous performances, but that’s not the specific reason for this little operation.

Read on if you’re curious about that mysterious international contingent.

The Big 5 Things That Happened:

1. Ayana demolishes the 10,000m World Record: Both sides of the argument

Alright, let’s cover this bad boy in a rapid format. First things first, there is not one person reading this barring Ayana herself who knows whether or not she truly competed clean or not, as she has expressed in her post-race interviews, “Jesus is my doping” – and all power to her if that’s her jam. Two approaches unfold: 1. Ayana is a doper: supported by the following speculative bits of reasoning - Ancient WR drops, run by a notoriously purposefully doped athlete - Percentage of WR knocked off is surprising to those of the athlete community, shock spreads - Doping control, particularly out of competition borders on non-existent in Ethiopia - Only Ayana’s 2nd attempt at the distance, in a major championship race no less 2. Ayana is clean: supported by these tid bit’s - She’s a phenomenal athlete, the Bolt of distance running, has come extremely close to breaking the 5000m WR in difficult conditions, such as her attempts this and last season in which a pacemaker simply didn’t exist that could last further than 2km - Ayana hails from a nation of the finest distance running pedigree, keep in mind, Kenya has never won a gold medal in the Women’s 10,000m – Ethiopian domination is par for the course, why couldn’t Ethiopia, of all places, produce the next global phenomenon? - As Ross Tucker has kindly pointed out here: (http://sportsscientists.com/2016/08/world-records-fossils/) Ayana’s record is nowhere near as suspect as many are happy to point out, myself included, if you reduce the improvement to a relative percentage to the 2nd fastest time ever. Similar improvements have occurred in swimming this very week (see: Ledecky, Hosszu) albeit in smaller chunks, and even one of the greatest critics of doping, the ever-controversial Paula Radcliffe of “suspect blood value after a hot half marathon in Portugal” fame toppled the women’s marathon WR, a performance 2.3% better than the 2nd fastest women’s marathon ever, the current single greatest 1st to 2nd percentage gap in an athletic event. Ayana’s improvement equals 2% if the prior Chinese WR is ignored; otherwise it is a “mere” 0.8%, within the realm of comparable feasibility. - Ayana debut the other month was the fastest debut ever, with a performance of 30:07 at first calling potentially indicating an untapped talent over the 25 lap event

2. Valerie Adams doesn’t win!? Valerie Adams, holder of the longest winning streak historically in shot put, had spent portions of this season recovering from injury. The fairy tale script was not to be, as Michelle Carter broke the American Record (20.63m), and stole the competition away from Adams (20.42m) on her final throw. A career-defining performance in possibly the greatest sporting pressure cooker imaginable, an Olympic final.

3. Men’s 800m Heats: Result in truly outrageous semi-final draws Following the slightly surprising elimination of Nijel Amos, following an injury hampered season, the London 2012 Olympic silver medallist is sent to the sheds early, leaving semi-finals of truly nightmarish construction: Semi-Final 1: (SB/PB) Q = First 2 in each heat plus 2 fastest non-auto’s 1. Arroyo (PUR) (1:45.78) 2. Davide (BRA) (1:45.79/1:44.21) 3. Bosse (FRA) (1:43.88/1:42.53) 4. Makhloufi (ALG) (1:43.92/1:43.53) 5. Rotich (KEN) (1:44.05/1:42.84) 6. Lewandowski (POL) (1:44.59/1:43.72) 7. Rimmer (GBR) (1:44.93/1:43.89) 8. Smaili (MAR) (1:45.05) Semi-Final 2: (SB/PB) 1. Bube (DEN) (1:46.21/1:44.89) 2. Van Rensburg (RSA) (1:45.67/1:45.40) 3. Kipketer (KEN) (1:43.73) 4. Berian (USA) (1:44.20/1:43.34) 5. McBride (CAN) (1:43.95) 6. Aman (ETH) (1:44.70/1:42.37) 7. Hethat (ALG) (1:45.00) 8. Tuka (BIH) (1:45.23/1:42.51) Semi-Final 3: (SB/PB) The True Semi of Death 1. English (IRL) (1:45.36/1:44.84) 2. Benedetti (ITA) (1:46.47/1:44.67) 3. Kszczot (POL) (1:44.49/1:43.30) 4. Murphy (USA) (1:44.76) 5. Rudisha (KEN) (1:43.35/1:40.91) 6. Souleiman (DJI) (1:44.06/1:42.97) 7. Belferar (ALG) (1:45.01) 8. Mohamed (EGY) (1:45.25/1:44.98) Dead set, try shoehorning all of the useful human beings out of those semi’s in to a final of 8, beserk.

4. Eloise Wellings has a fair-dinkum screamer of a run Wellings managed to judge the early pack-splitting exceptoinally well. Given the top 8 women decided world record pace was appropriate, one could be forgiven for getting a bit sucked in to the hot pace and the grandeur of the event. Not Wellings, picking up the wreckage's that remained of early-stage overambitious athletes, the Australian 10,000m Champion slashed over 30 seconds off her previous best time, running 31:14 for 10th, vaulting to 3rd all-time on the Australian Women’s 10,000m list.

5. Van Niekerk waltzes to semi-final Running the first 100m with serious intent, Van Niekerk blitzed past the gents in his outside lanes, appearing to run at full pace for roughly 200m, maybe 250m at most. Van Niekerk had plenty of time coming into the final bend to look left and right, continuing to throw more head checks than a learner driver navigating a 9-lane freeway, cementing his spot in the next round with a 45.18sec run. Big Casualities: Borlee (BEL), Brown (BAH), Rooney (GB)

50 Shades of Doping

What a time the 70s were. Cars were designed with soul, the world was beginning to travel and buying a house was actually achievable. Sport was just starting to pick up in its complexity and after Australia came home from the 76’ Montreal Olympics with zero gold medals the AIS was implemented which changed sport globally with other nations adopting similar models. Competition was rising and with it methods of improving elite performance. With the fall of the Berlin wall and the Eastern bloc crumbling away, systematic doping was identified with many great East German athletes being discovered to be pumped up with more than just adrenaline. With this fall we’ve seen different phases of doping in sports, coming to a climax with Lance Armstrong’s incredible career at the top of Le Tour. A new method of doping has reared its head of late. The GP is now signing off on drugs for elite athletes that double as performance enhancing for very questionable ailments. This method of doping is difficult to assess and has many shades of grey. It isn’t as open and shut in its ability to convict dopers as athletes hide behind illegitimate health claims that doctors have prescribed. One important fact a TUE (Therapeutic use exemption) allows an athlete to have a drug with performance enhancing benefit if it is medically required.

Let’s look at three cases that have entered the forum lately.

Nike Oregon Project – Middle to long distance events in Athletics Much has been said and many accusations thrown at head honcho of the NOP (Nike Oregon project) Alberto Salazar, who has helped revive distance running in America. Amongst more damning accusations such as testosterone doping, one stands out: the administration of thyroid medication under the guise of a TUE (Therapeutic Use Exemption), this improves thyroid levels of his distance runners. Thyroids help to maintain the metabolism of the body through hormones. Let’s just quickly state that the use of prescription thyroid medication is not against the rules however the rate of his athletes that have allegedly been using thyroid enhancing medication is suspicious when you compare to the national averages being 1 in every thousand people suffering hypothyroidism. Having said this, thyroid medication in a performance enhancing aspect is negligible and difficult to measure. Too much thyroidal hormones and hyperthyroidism occurs leaving the athlete fatigued, anxious and experiencing heart arrhythmias. Dr Jeffrey Brown is a leading endocrinologist who works with the Nike Oregon Project and is central to all this speculation. Alberto took his prodigal son Galen Rupp to see Brown in 2006 where he diagnosed Rupp with hypothyroidism and prescribed him with a dose of hormone each day in the form of a pill. With continued investigation by USADA into the NOP practices yielding little with Brown not having to testify under oath at court at this stage leads to further speculation. Let’s just hope that these medical situations are legitimate along with the great revival of American distance running. Maria Sharapova Occupation - Tennis extraordinaire Ahh Maria, everyone crying foul about her 2 year sentence by WADA because she was blissfully ignorant that the medication she so desperately needed was now on the banned list. Well call me cynical but a star athlete worth 90 million US with a professional team around her still didn’t pick up WADA updating their banned substances list. Unbelievable really but hey I’m rambling let’s get down to the nuts and bolts of what she did. She took a banned substance called Meldonium which aids performance by improving the oxygen carrying capabilities of the cardiovascular system to muscle tissue, it’s also only produced in Latvia which of course has a very clean history of doping (soz, I should stop being sarcastic). She took this substance during the Australian Open which usually tips the mercury levels around high 30s. She took it under the advice of a doctor in 2006 to help irregular heart beat and a family history of diabetes. Now my stalking levels aren’t going to be put to use on the Sharapova family but she kept this from her coaches and my bullshit detector is off the chart. What’s even more unbelievable is she kept taking it after it was placed on the banned list, surely she could afford a sport scientist (plenty out there looking for work) to oversee her supplement program?! Despite all this, the average pundit believes she was incredibly hard done by which I had the pleasure of arguing over on a community radio program. I can feel my blood rising just by typing this paragraph. Point is another case of a dodgy therapeutic use exemption being used in the first place by a doctor. Kind of scary when you think Serena Williams still spanked her not on drugs… Sun Yang Occupation – Swimmer and golden boy of a billion people Ahh old mate Sun Yang, doesn’t the media love this story and didn’t it start the games off with a bang! Served a 3 month suspension from the Chinese arm of WADA for taking Trimetazidine four months after it had been added to the WADA list. Again a case of being blissfully unaware it was on the banned list after a doctor had prescribed the medication for heart palpitations. The CHINADA (Chinese Anti-doping agency) just sort of.. kinda.. maybe.. failed to let WADA know about the incident until after he had served his suspension, and for a moment there I thought China actually had a legitimate anti-doping agency! The drug in question, Trimetazidine, helps oxygen utilisation within the body. Sun took this substance under the advice from a doctor to help heart palpitations. These symptoms involve an irregular heart beat and is caused by anxiety or stress. In minor cases it can be serious but most of the time it is harmless. Another case of a doctor subscribing medication that just happens to also have a performance enhancing side effect. Again the chorus of passionate Chinese fans are asking for an apology with the truth being muddled by calls for legitimacy due to health reasons. Unfortunately Sun doesn’t have good character that might help to legitimise his claims with previously being jailed for driving without a licence after crashing into a bus and assaulting a fellow female swimmer at last year’s world champs. Well there you go folks! Doctors are becoming a more important branch of an athlete’s support staff to help improve performance. I tip my hat to athletes adapting to the system and the honest truth is individuals will continue to seek out any advantage they can get over their competition. I hope to see a hardline taken with anyone trying something unethical. People say the sentence to these acts should be kinder, that the athletes should have the benefit of the doubt. My view is these individuals forfeited their credibility with the general public the moment they took unnecessary drugs. Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile, remember these are only the cases we hear about publicly. They should be punished as harshly as any other doper. Hiding behind a fake illness is pathetic. Tony Crawford

PS – Sorry for contributing to the Sun Yang story it’s been done to death.

Running, jumping and throwing. One of the most traditional Olympic sports, athletics has been part of the Games since Athens 1896, the first of the modern era. Today, no other sport offers more medals: 141, 47 of which are gold.

Day 1 Olympic heat lists have been posted, feast your eyes on the lot! Initial readings suggest that the Aussie 800m boys have avoided the Rudisha heat, which is a nightmare’ish heat including Calyton Murphy (USA), Michael Rimmer (GBR), and the usually rather competitive Van Rensburg (RSA).

A Heated Draw Keeps Australia’s Men’s Water Polo Hopes Alive

Australia have had a tumultuous start to the Men’s Water Polo tournament, narrowly losing to Brazil 8-9, Australia required a win or a draw against Hungary to keep their quarter final hopes kicking.

For the uninitiated, Water Polo is a truly horrifying spectacle, physical contact is an essential element of the game, with the underwater portion of the game notoriously difficult to referee. As a veteran of an Australian University Games Division 2 medal winning Deakin University team, I can attest to the exhausting physical nature of the game, typically made more difficult by a number of cordials the night prior, swimming and hangover’s are a balance-related nightmare. One of the oldest Olympic sports, included in 1900, the sport is often described as a unique “rugby in the pool” variant, the sport is physically demanding with athletes treading water continuously throughout four of the eight minute quarters, touching the bottom of the pool or the side of the pool during play is in fact disallowed. Hungary are historically not described as “chumps”, a historical powerhouse, the Hungarians are a seriously frightening mob. The smallest & lightest player on the Hungarian team is 19-year old Krisztián Manhercz (185cm, 84kg), whereas the largest player on the team is Adam Decker (203cm, 110kg), with the average weight and height of the Hungarian team checking in at 99.3kg & 195cm (6″4 in the old language). Sufficed to say, I’d prefer not to pick a competitive or physical fight with these gentleman. Hungary boast a record of 15 Olympic medals, 10 World Championship medals, 5 FINA World League mdeals, 8 FINA World Cup medals and 21 European Championship medals, most recently winning Gold at the 2000, 2004 & 2008 Olympic Games. Australia took a typically positive attitude into this one, fighting tooth and nail to equalise with 26 seconds remaining in stunning circumstances. Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQXFL4pMX88 Be sure to watch through until the end of the highlights, as tensions boiled over after the final whistle. Hungary, embarrassed by a draw, decided that the best way to finish off proceedings involved a brawl. Ultimately resulting in Aussie Aiden Roach requiring a large cut to be glued back together above his eye, don’t let the speedo’s fool you folks, this Olympic sport is the most ferocious sport held in the pool.

Day 2 Rio Wrap: Mr. 2nd Place Reigns Supreme In Calamitous Road Race

The Olympic Cycling Road Race involved 270 odd kilometres of two 24km and 25km circuits, the contents of which were clearly put together by some sort of cunning psychopath. Therefore, the race was a phenomenal viewing experience for spectators, but a war of attrition for those attempting to complete the race. With a 2km stretch of cobblestones included, riders could be forgiven for briefly mistaking Rio for the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix. Following the cobbled sectino of the first circuit, the two feature climbs of the first loop began in earnest, as riders climbed 126 metres in the next 1.2km, later approaching the second climb at the 9km marker, featuring 2km of uphill work. The second circuit was more dastardly in nature, containing perilous descents that would ultimately select the race’s finishing order. The second circuit’s first climb features a rapid 500m ascent, coupled with a 6km descent lined with ski-style crash nets guarding riders from a cliff-face drop to the jungle floor. The race start featured 31 degree temperatures, with no rain in sight to relive riders. Germany shouldered most of the early work, as a breakaway of six formed with roughly 200km remaining. Whilst this particular breakaway was allowed to develop a gap, local commentary by the legendary Phil Liggett, made sure to remind viewers that such a long climb-filled course may just favour the miracle breakaway situation that so rarely succeeds in Grand Tours. With Italy, Britain, Spain, France, Australia and Columbia the strongest of teams on pre-race paper form, major nations launched the return to normal programming with 150km remaining, hunting down the breakaway that had sneakily worked to an 8-minute advantage. Each time the peloton were forced to traverse the cobbled sections, a variety of humans beings hit the dirt on each occasion, with chains and mechanical features of bikes dying off with alarming pace. I’m certainly not a cycling journalist, so here’s the best way to fast forward to the relevant happenings. Over the course of next 100km or so, a variety of teams tried to launch their favourite rider into an advantageous position, the lack of coordination in a slew of national attacks resulted in 3 split groups of contenders, with the highest profile leading trio of Nibali (ITA), Henao (COL) and Majka (POL), breaking clear, looking to assert a medal-securing position. Nibali Attack: https://cdn.streamable.com/video/mp4-mobile/0i9o.mp4 Nibali & Henao Attack: https://cdn.streamable.com/video/mp4-mobile/f6dm.mp4 This all appeared somewhat predictable, Nibali is a superb descender, and clearly figured his best bet for gold was to violently gamble against the nerve of his Colombian and Polish assailants, unfortunately for Nibali, his greatest strength this professional season, became his undoing, as Nibali and Henao crashed out in spectacular fashion, leaving Majka all on his lonesome with roughly 12km remaining. Nibali & Henao Crash: Majka thus found himself in a tricky position, nobody to work with, 12km to go, and the wrath of the entire peloton worht of chase groups now in full swing as news of the crash filtered back to contenders in the peloton. Chasing down one world-class individual is a far simpler prospect than chasing 3 superstars, as a chase group of 8 swung into action, sniffing medals on the horizon, containing Fuglsang (DEN, one hell of a surname!) and Van Avermaet (BEL). Fuglsang’s skittish series of attacks eventually broke the group, as only Van Avermaet was able to hang onto his wheel, bridging the gap to Majka.

Last 3km: https://streamable.com/lq6j Final Sprint: https://streamable.com/njbh Slomo/Helicopter Goodness: https://streamable.com/an8c The final sprint between Majka, Fuglsang and Van Avermaet read “advantage Van Avermaet” relatively early on, given his comparitively greater sprint powers, shown when the Belgian rider backed his own sprint, jumping first, decisively claiming gold, followed by the money shot of the big Belgian’s teammate Laurens De Plus openly sobbing as years of near-misses on the professional tour converted to an Olympic Gold medal for his teammate. Belgian team feeling feels: https://cdn.streamable.com/video/mp4-mobile/zvo6.mp4 Year’s of near misses source: http://www.bmc-switzerland.com/us-en/experience/racing-teams/bmc-racing-team/team/greg_van_avermaet/ (Namely, multiple Paris-Roubaix misses :(( ) Other important bits: I’ll be frank, Channel 7 are going to cover the swimming to within an inch of it’s very existence, you’ll be able to smell the chlorine from your living room by the end of the aquatics program. You’ll have to pardon me from getting too caught up in Australia’s swimming brilliance, we live on the largest island on planet Earth, I’d be horrified if we weren’t patriotically dominant at a function most of us are dragged down to our local pool to dutifully learn to avoid any sort of drowning in our later years. If you’re in search of a slightly different aquatic event, be sure to catch the Men’s and Women’s Water Polo. Australia went down last night 7-8 to Brazil, with the Women set to play Brazil tonight. Water Polo is an immensely popular sport in Europe & Eastern Europe, with nations such as Serbia, Hungary, Montenegro, Spain, Italy and Croatia likely to make up the medals, with nations such as Australia and the USA likely to sneak into contention (more likely on the Women’s side of the draw). Australian Men’s Archery Team Does Good Thing! Knock me over with a feather, the never favoured for a medal Aussie lads upset the usual Central and South Asian dominance found in Archery, polishing off China in the bronze medal match, shooting 59/60 in the final round to collect Bronze! Basketball Things Both Men’s and Women’s team won by 20 point plus margins, as the Women defeated Brazil, and the Men abusively took care of France, with Talismanic Dandeong resident Andrew Bogut completing a number of spiffy dunks: Bogut discovers the “alley-oop”: https://cdn.streamable.com/video/mp4-mobile/7xvo.mp4 Bogut figures this alley-oop thingo could be a useful way to score: https://cdn.streamable.com/video/mp4-mobile/wrwk.mp4 Bogut’s really getting on this alley-oop train, figures it’s probably a glitch in the Delly matrix: https://cdn.streamable.com/video/mp4-mobile/jk46.mp4 Bogut hones in on newfound ability to jump within reaching distance of the rim whilst catching a ball, a.k.a the alley-oop: https://cdn.streamable.com/video/mp4-mobile/9unt.mp4 Old mate Turnbull is really having to consider getting on the phone to whoever the French ambassador might be to calm this Bogut-Gate alley-oop fest down a touch: https://cdn.streamable.com/video/mp4-mobile/wc68.mp4 Bogut incredulously beats a man off the dribble and SLAMS it home! (With bonus points for horrified French commentators): https://cdn.streamable.com/video/mp4/l72p.mp4 Delly and Bogut have clearly developed a quarterback/wide-receiver-esque relationship at this point, will struggle to do so against the dreaded defences of Spain or the USA, as one might suspect, but for now lets just enjoy all this tomfoolery! Men’s Box Score & other game box scores: http://www.fiba.com/ls/#8092&BKM400A01 Team USA continue to make basketball look very easy, beat China 119-62

As evidenced by Jimmy Butler and DeMar DeRozan playing rock, paper, scissors, to decide who would take technical free throws: https://cdn.streamable.com/video/mp4-mobile/dovc.mp4

Rio Olympic Games: Day -2/-1/0 Review I bet you didn’t know you secretly enjoyed Archery, strap yourselves in folks, the weirdest and most wonderful stories of Rio, coming straight from the bloke who isn’t leaving the couch for 2 weeks. See that beautifully confident young gentleman pictured above? I’d bet $3 to $17 that most of you plucky upstarts have never heard of him, let alone be privy to what this 24-year-old South Korean has oh so casually achieved in the last 24 hours.

Whilst every other athlete spent time prepping their uniforms, Kim Woo-Jin decided he better turns things up a notch in the Archery qualification round, casually setting a World Record, the first of the 2016 games. Kim Woo-Jin had 72 arrows to shoot during qualification, with a maximum possible score of 720. Old mate Kim decided this “arrow goes in colourful target” bit was all a bit of a cakewalk, promptly scoring 700, eclipsing the 2012 world record of 699 points. But wait, this story gets better, this world record setting feat requires insane concentration and consistency. With 12 arrows remaining, Kim required 118 out of a possible 120 point, he shot 59/60 in the penultimate round, requiring a similar feat during his last 6 shots, he nailed 4 straight 10′s in rapid-fire succession. Kim’s 5th shot dropped less than a centimetre outside the 10-ring, something his coach called as the arrow was in-flight, as you do. Kim steadied himself, remembered he was in fact the ballsiest archer on planet earth, and slammed his final arrow in for a 10 - calmly turning to the spectators, grinning, exclaiming “new world record!”. Important Context: The “ten-ring” is 12cm wide, the Olympic archery distance is 70 metres, thus your Olympic archer needs to land an arrow inside a ring they can barely see, let alone logically aim for. Beserk.

In other news: Women’s soccer is underway (as is the men’s, but a certain Australia mob didn’t qualify, whoops) and the Aussie women lost 2-0 to Canada on Day -2, a bit of stumble as far as sneaking out of their group goes, but all media interviews have suggested it was nothing more than a stumble, with the Aussie women insisting that they view themselves as a competitive threat at these games. On tonight:

Men’s Road Race (Cycling); Boy oh bhooooooooooooy. Froome vs Planet Earth begins, with what’s been described as an “extremely difficult” 237km road race kicking things off. This course is ambitiously hilly, favouring the Froome’s of the world to be frank, but he wont be short of competition, with names such as Porte (AUS), Yates (GBR), Valverde (ESP), Aru (ITA), Nibali (ITA), Bardet (FRA) and Mollema (NED). Enjoy the next fortnight folks.

What happened while you were sleeping? In what the twitter-verse of journalists seem certain is a first, the USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) website has been down for the last few hours - whilst this is mildly tin-foil hat-esque, it does seem a politically odd hour for USADA to be unable to release official responses via their lone website? Suspicious mumbling encouraged.

Paul Pogba: Juventus starlet and midfielder of choice for the entire world - what’s he up to?

According to the French publication, of usually credible claim, L’Equipe - Pogba’s long rumoured transfer back to Manchester United is complete. The English club where Pogba first rose to prominence as a much-hyped academy player, prior to being shipped out by Sir Alex Ferguson due to not being “1st team material” *gulp*, appears to be the destination of choice for the French-international for the 2016-17 season. The price is the wow-factor here, with United reportedly happy to front between 101-120 million euro’s. If successful, Pogba would become the world’s most expensive player as a 23 year old. Source: http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Paul-pogba-juventus-transfere-a-manchester-united-c-est-acte/708459?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#link_time=1469038457

Rio testing laboratory regains WADA accreditation at the 11th hour

Source: https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2016-07/wada-reinstates-rio-laboratory-accreditation-in-time-for-the-rio-games Given the very same laboratory was suspended from operation, due to not meeting ISL standards (International Standard for Laboratories), on June 24th - the timely reinstatement of said accreditation is worrying to even the most hopeful sports fan.

Niklas Kaul breaks World U20 Decathlon Record: sort of** Source: http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-u20-championships/iaaf-world-u20-championships-bydgoszcz-2016-5680/news/report/men/decathlon-u20/1500-metres Whilst Germany’s Niklas Kaul’s point score of 8162 was the most points ever scored in a Decathlon at the World U-20 Championships, there has been a higher point score in a Decathlon by an U-20 athlete... with senior specification implements! A statistical peculiarity, the U-20 Decathlon World Record remains in the capable hands of Torsten Voss (East Germany) the 1988 Olympic Silver medalist, 1987 World Championship Gold medalist, Decathlon PB of 8680pts, and a 3 time Bobsled World Championship medalist to boot, who scored an enormous 8397 points in a senior decathlon whilst under the age of 20. The IAAF have suggested that if an U-20 athlete were to break the 8397 point barrier with U-20 implements, said score would replace the current record, yet until that occurs, the multi-event fan base will have to be happy with a record accompanied by a mildly interesting anecdote. World U-20 Championships

Whilst it is tempting to writer chapter and verse on the current events, as I’m sure everyone has noticed, there are some people far more useful than I that are dedicated to the coverage of the championships. I’ll stick to various odd bits and pieces, whilst supplying the link for full results here: http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-u20-championships/iaaf-world-u20-championships-bydgoszcz-2016-5680/timetable/byday

Kiplimo Stuns at World U-20 Championships What’s wrong with this image?

Take a few seconds... In 3rd position there’s a young lad from Uganda.

Early this morning, Jacob Kiplimo, officially listed by the IAAF with a birth date of “14 November 2000″, ran 27:26. Kiplimo is currently 15 years, 8 months and 6 days old. His PB’s are as follows: 1500m - 3:50.24 (2016) 3000m - 7:52.94 5000m - 13:19.54 10,000m - 27:26.68 “World Age Bests” are rather murkily recorded, with the top source (http://age-records.125mb.com/) listing the 10,000m World Age Bests as: 15 years old: 31:19 (Laurie Reilly, GBR, 1970) 16 years old: 29:03.27 (Yuki Sato, JPN, 2003) Kiplimo presents an interesting conundrum, either he has rewritten the age group world best list rather permanently - or he’s slightly older than suggested. Either way, he has been named to the Ugandan Olympic team and surely poses a case for the youngest individual to successfully compete in the Olympic Track & Field program. Source: (http://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1429883/uganda-team-rio-2016-olympics)

Gyulai Istvan Memorial - Rudisha Negative splits 1:43 whilst Riseley continues to improve on SB.

McLaren Report Summary

This evening, the McLaren report was made avaialable for public reading, namely via the information medium that is Twitter. I had planned on nodding off around midnight, but the sheer gravity and enormity of the findings in this document were too good to pass up. Thus, 2 hours later I find myself sitting here completely flabbergasted. The following notes will indicate beyond any reasonable doubt, that Russia, for at least the last 6 years has been successfully running a nation-wide doping program, advising athletes as to how best avoid doping detection, and in a number of cases, expressly falsifying positive tests of Russian athletes. The scope of this doping is by no means limited. Whilst the report was initially to focus upon doping at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, as research progressed, a number of major championships were involved, including the IAAF World Championships, 2012 London Olympics, 2013 World University Games and the 2012 London Paralympics. Whilst I understand this does appear word dense, the shock of the report’s claims are well worth the reading (even if you skip selectively to the bold sections!). WADA Statement and subsequent recommendations (detailed in full at bottom of this article, also): https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2016-07/wada-statement-independent-investigation-confirms-russian-state-manipulation-of Richard McLaren - who is he?

- Law professor at Western University, Canada; CEO of McLaren Global Sport Solutions Inc.; counsel to McKenzie Lake Lawyers, LLP and long standing CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) arbitrator - Former member of WADA's 3 person independent comission, which exposed widespread doping in Russian athletics.

Who assisted McLaren?

Included were: - Chief Investigator Martin Dubbey - Montreal Anti-Doping Laboratory Director, Dr. Christiane Ayotte - Lawyer and the IP Russian language support, Diana Tesic - WADA investigation department Mathieu Holz, Richard Young, Esq., - 2 Western University Law students, Karen Luu and Kaleigh Hawkins-Schulz - Expert forensic personnel were engaged who were capable of performing marks and scratches detection, DNA analysis and finger printing, digital data review and analysis, including restoration of deleted data and other cyber forensic personnel. - Dr. David Cowan Director of the Drug Control Centre and the DNA analysis unit at Kings College, London (“DCC”) provided the use of his laboratory and did the laboratory analytical work for the IP.

McLaren was asked by the IOC and IAAF to establish (explicitly) whether:

1. There has been manipulation of the doping control process during the Sochi Games, including but not limited to, acts of tampering with the samples within the Sochi Laboratory.

2. Identify the modus operandi and those involved in such manipulation.

3. Identify any athlete that might have benefited from those alleged manipulations to conceal positive doping tests.

4. Identify if this Modus Operandi was also happening within Moscow Laboratory outside the period of the Sochi Games.

5. Determine other evidence or information held by Grigory Rodchenkov.

The full report (barring the yet to be published "conclusions and recommendations" is available at: http://www.insidethegames.biz/media/file/37086/Independent%20Commission%20report.pdf

Page indicated key notes within the report:

Initially I had planned on attempting to keep this highlighting process extremely brief, but the more I read, the more difficult this became. The report is frightening, displaying a level of corruption truly unseen since the Soviet doping programs of yesteryear, the complexity of corruption and bribery utilised to ensure Russian sporting dominance is indicative of the level at which a nation can tamper with their own national anti-doping program.

I have done my best to embolden the text portions that may register with readers as “most shocking”. Pg.1 Key Findings 1. The Moscow Laboratory operated, for the protection of doped Russian athletes, within a State-dictated failsafe system, described in the report as the Disappearing Positive Methodology. 2. The Sochi Laboratory operated a unique sample swapping methodology to enable doped Russian athletes to compete at the Games. 3. The Ministry of Sport directed, controlled and oversaw the manipulation of athlete’s analytical results or sample swapping, with the active participation and assistance of the FSB, CSP, and both Moscow and Sochi Laboratories Pg.4 "The IP investigative team has developed evidence identifying dozens of Russian athletes who appear to have been involved in doping. "

Pg.5 "The IP has gathered and reviewed as much evidence as could be accessed in the limited 57 day time frame in which this Report was required to be completed. More evidence is becoming available by the day but a cut-off had to be implemented in order to prepare the Report. "

Pg.6 "This Report contains evidence that the IP considers to be established beyond a reasonable doubt. There is more data that needs to be further analysed but does not affect the factual findings in this Report. "

Pg.6 "The investigation has established the Findings set out in this Report beyond a reasonable doubt. The IP can confirm the general veracity of the published information concerning the sample swapping that went on at the Sochi Laboratory during the Sochi Games. "

Pg.6 "The surprise result of the Sochi investigation was the revelation of the extent of State oversight and directed control of the Moscow Laboratory in processing, and covering up urine samples of Russian athletes from virtually all sports before and after the Sochi Games. "

Pg.6 "The IC exposed State involvement in the manipulation of the doping control program operated by Russian Anti-Doping Agency (“RUSADA”) and within Russian Athletics"

Pg. 7 "The State implemented a simple failsafe strategy. If all the operational precautions to promote and permit doping by Russian athletes proved to have been ineffective for whatever reason, the laboratory provided a failsafe mechanism."

Pg.7 "The State had the ability to transform a positive analytical result into a negative one by ordering that the analytical process of the Moscow Laboratory be altered. The Ministry of Sport (“MofS”), RUSADA and the Russian Federal Security Service (the “FSB”) were all involved in this operation."

Pg.8 "The IC uncovered a system within Russia for doping athletes directed by senior coaching officials of Russian athletics. That was accomplished by the corruption of Doping Control Officers (“DCO”) working under the direction of RUSADA. "

Pg.8 "The coaches were also able to achieve their objectives of doping athletes under their direction by knowing the wash out periods for various performance enhancing drugs (“PED”)."

Pg.9 "With the additional evidence available to the IP, this Report provides facts and proof beyond that of the IC and describes a larger picture of Russian doping activity and the sports involved beyond merely Athletics"

Pg.10 "The Sochi Laboratory urine sample swapping scheme was a unique standalone approach to meet a special set of circumstances. "

Pg.10 "The Disappearing Positive Methodology was used as a State directed method following the very abysmal medal count by the Russian Olympic athletes participating in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. "

Pg.10 " A new Deputy Minister of Sport, Yuri Nagornykh, was appointed in 2010 by Executive Order of then Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin ... Nagornykh...reports to the Minister of Sport, Vitaly Mutko. --> Mutko.. is also the chairman of the organising committee for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia and is a member of the FIFA Executive Committee."

Pg.11 "Nagornykh, as the Deputy Minister of Sport, decided who would benefit from a cover up and who would not be protected. "

Pg.11 "In total violation of the WADA International Standard for Laboratories (“ISL”) all analytical positives appearing on the first sample screen at the Moscow laboratory were reported up to the Deputy Minister after the athlete’s name had been added to the information to be supplied. The order would come back from the Deputy Minister “SAVE” or “QUARANTINE”. If the order was a SAVE the laboratory personnel were required to report the sample negative in WADA’s Anti-Doping Management System (“ADAMS”). Then the laboratory personnel would falsify the screen result in the Laboratory Information Management System (“LIMS”) to show a negative laboratory result. The athlete benefited from the cover up determined and directed by the Deputy Minister of Sport and could continue to compete dirty."

Pg.12 --> The report mention that RUSADA faced an issue of having independent testers present at major international events such as the 2013 IAAF World Championships, and the 2014 Sochi Olympics - this was defeated by, and this is a direct quote: "Through the efforts of the FSB, a method for surreptitiously removing the caps of tamper evident sample bottles containing the urine samples of doped Russian athletes had been developed for use at Sochi. The IP has developed forensic evidence that establishes beyond a reasonable doubt some method was used to replace positive dirty samples during the Sochi Games"

Pg.12 "The IP investigation, assisted by forensic experts, has conducted its own experiments and can confirm, without any doubt whatsoever, that the caps of urine sample bottles can be removed without any evidence visible to the untrained eye. Indeed, this was demonstrated in front of Professor Richard McLaren. "

Pg.13 "The FSB developed a method to surreptitiously open the urine bottles to enable sample swapping. This keystone step cleared the way for the development of a clean urine bank as a source from which to draw urine samples for swapping"

Pg.13-15 - These pages detail, comprehensively, the full procedure used by Russian government officials, to swap out dirty samples with 'clean urine' samples, from a building located directly next to the Sochi testing center - this is about as cloak and dagger as one could imagine, let alone actually be confirmed to have been carried out with near daily regularity.

Pg.15 --> Chemistry/Avoidance of testing positive - often achievable via simple methods, as suggested: "Dr. Rodchenkov’s role in the sample swapping scheme included ensuring that the substituted sample was manipulated to match as closely as possible the Specific Gravity (SG) indicated on the original Doping Control Form (“DCF”) taken at the Sochi venue. This adjustment was accomplished by adding table salt to raise the clean urine SG or distilled water to dilute the clean urine sample so as to closely match the SG number on the DCF. "

Pg.15 "The London WADA accredited Laboratory, at the request of the IP, advised that of the forensically representative samples tested, 6 had salt contents higher than what should be found in urine of a healthy human. The forensic examination for marks and scratches within the bottle caps confirmed that they had been tampered with. "

Pg.16 "The Disappearing Positive Methodology was used during the summer of 2014. As a consequence, Dr. Rodchenkov knew that he would have dirty B samples from that period. A number of dirty samples had been collected and reported as negative, and were stored in the laboratory. The solution to the problem in part was to destroy thousands of samples obtained and stored prior to 10 September 2014, being the minimal 90-day period of storage as prescribed under the ISL. However, the massive destruction of samples only got rid of part of the problem"

Pg.17 "Dr Rodchenkov prepared a schedule of 37 athletes whose samples were potentially a problem if another accredited laboratory were to analyze them. A meeting was held with Deputy Minister Nagornykh in which the jeopardy of the laboratory was discussed were something not done to deal with the selected samples. The upshot of that meeting was that Deputy Minister Nagornykh resolved to call in the “magicians”. That night the FSB visited the laboratory and the next day sample bottles were in the laboratory without their caps. The IP found that these samples all had negative findings recorded on ADAMS. "

Pg.25 "Olivier Rabin wrote to Dr. Rodchenkov in December 2014 requesting to secure and save all the samples being held at the Moscow Laboratory. There were some 10,000 samples in the Laboratory at the date of that letter. Shortly after its receipt in Moscow, the Laboratory destroyed some 8,000 samples it held dated prior to 10 September 2014"

Pg.26 "There is no doubt there is more to be revealed. However, we are confident that what we have found meets the highest evidentiary standard and can be stated with confidence. Any matters where I felt the evidence did not meet the standard of beyond a reasonable doubt have not been included in this Report. "

Pg.28 "The IC Report identified issues of “… grave concern in regard to integrity, corruption, handling of testing analysis, process of samples and in a separate matter, the deliberate destruction of a large number of samples prior to a WADA onsite audit in December of 2014” (p.193). "

Pg.29 "...the IP concludes that the Moscow Laboratory was not staffed with personnel who behaved in a rogue fashion for their own financial gain. Quite to the contrary, the laboratory personnel were not permitted to act independently of any instructions that were funneled down to them from the MofS."

Pg.30 "3.1.1 IP Findings 1. The Moscow Laboratory operated under State directed oversight and control of its anti-doping operational system.

2. The Moscow Laboratory personnel were required to be part of the State directed system that enabled Russian athletes to compete while engaged in the use of doping substances.

3. The Moscow Laboratory personnel did not have a choice in whether to be involved in the State directed system. "

Pg.32-35 - Describes, with names of Russian government officials, the exact procedure followed to achieve a "Disappearing Positive" sample, truly harrowing.

Pg.36 "According to the IP witnesses, athletes that were ordered SAVE tended to be medal winners or athletes of promise. Foreign athletes, or Russian athletes deemed unpromising, were ordered QUARANTINE by the MofS and their Laboratory bench work was completed using the regular laboratory analytical process. "

Pg.36 "A total of 643 positive screen Athlete Profile reports were reviewed and catalogued by the IP into a database. From that database, the IP was able to develop certain statistics that explain the overall results of the Disappearing Positive Methodology. For example, the statistics show that the MofS made SAVE or QUARANTINE orders on 577 Athlete Profiles resulting in over 50 percent distribution of SAVEs for Russian athletes. "

Pg.37 Because really, why cover up a positive unless a Russian athlete is involved! As shown by this charming little communication: " Here is an excerpt from recovered digital communication during the 2013 Moscow Championships: “All foreigners – quarantine!” and during another event “Foreigners – Quarantine.”"

Pg. 38 "The IP is aware of at least 1 foreign footballer playing in the Russian League had that benefit of a SAVE order. That SAVE decision was made by Minister Mutko" --> Mutko also, coincidentally, happens to be the President of the Russian Football Federation!

Pg.39 "In total, over the period 2012-2015, the IP found the Disappearing Positive Methodology used on 643 positive samples. The charts detail the findings. Given that it was impossible for the IP to achieve full access to Russian records or the LIMS system, this number is only a minimum."

A MINIMUM - not an exact figure - a conservative estimate puts the number of falsified positive tests at 643 samples - systematic would be a severe understatement when describing Russia's doping program.

Pg.41 - This might almost be the most phenomenal graph of the entire document, wherein each sport containing a 'positive' covered up sample, is listed. Given my current technological inability to embed a graph from a .pdf file, I'll summarise:

Athletics = 139 Weightlifting = 118 Non-Olympic Sport = 35

Notice the rather severe drop off in covered up positives? Thought so.

Paralympic Sport = 35 Wrestling = 30 Canoeing = 28

Pg.43 - That moment when you, in a blind panic, destroy a casual 1000+ samples, right? "The IC has reported on how, in advance of the WADA visit, Dr. Rodchenkov destroyed 1417 samples analysed more than 90 days before 10 September 2016. As a result of the IP investigation the reason for doing so is now known"

Pg.43 - The FSB (State Secret Service/Spies/The new version of the KGB, whatever you would prefer to call them) are constantly referenced throughout the document, highlighted here that the the Minister for Sport referred to the FSB in official communications as "the wizards", noted as individuals that could magically clear up potentially embarrassing issues.

Pg.46 "Further analytical tests on the related A bottle contents were undertaken by the DCC for DNA, salt content, creatinine and steroid profile. As previously noted, Dr. Rodchenkov’s evidence was that salt was sometimes added to the clean replacement urine where necessary to raise the SG of the sample to be consistent with the SG reported on the initial DCF. "

Pg.48 "Of the 12 bottles found to have been tampered with, based on scratches and marks found on the caps, the following sports were involved: Athletics 4, Wrestling 2, Weightlifting 2, Taekwondo 1, Skating 1, Sailing 1, and Judo 1. The names of the athletes involved are being withheld by the IP at this stage for consideration of further results management proceedings. "

Pg.49 "The Steroid Cocktail" saga begins - "After he became laboratory director, and in furtherance of his responsibility to improve Russian sport performance by covering up doping, Dr. Rodchenkov developed a steroid cocktail optimized to avoid detection"

Pg.50 --> You might be forgiven for thinking you were reading a $2 spy novel here... " Initially, that cocktail consisted of Oral Turinabol (Dehydrochloromethyl-testosterone), Oxandrolone and Methasterone. The steroids were dissolved in alcohol (Chivas for the men and Vermouth for the women). The solution was then swished in the mouth in order to be absorbed by the bucal membrane and then spit out. Dr. Rodchenkov’s research indicated that, with the laboratory technology available at the time, the detection window for the steroids in the cocktail would not exceed 3-5 days. "

Pg.50 "While Dr. Rodchenkov’s “cocktail” may sound fanciful, the IP has confirmed with its scientific advisor that indeed steroids dissolve better in alcohol than in water, and that the administration of steroids through bucal absorption, as compared to injection or swallowing the drug, does shorten the window of detectability. "

Pg.54 --> Dr. Rodchenkov email's a colleague "That report starts out “Athletics was always on doping program.” It concludes by saying “The same situation is uncontrollable in weightlifting… The use of anabolic steroids is almost year around…” "

Pg.56 --> IAAF Corruption, not to be forgotten: "Finally, reference is made to the IC Report in which Minister Mutko’s role in the scandal and bribery attempt involving the IAAF and Russian racewalkers was more fully discussed. Dr. Rodchenkov’s evidence is that in September 2012, he met with Minister Mutko to discuss the IAAF’s extortion demand. At that meeting, Minister Mutko asked Dr. Rodchenkov whether the situation was really so bad that he needed to pay all of that money, thereby exposing his knowledge of the doping problem in Russian Athletics. "

Pg.56 ---> Just in case you though the abbreviation sounded like another bunch of not so kind folk: "The FSB is the successor of the KGB and has responsibility for all security operations at home and abroad. "

Pg.57 --> A doping program doesn't get more state support than legitimate assistance from the national secret intelligence service: "Dr. Rodchenkov informed the IP during a face to face interview that when he became the Director of the Moscow Laboratory he signed a document which made him an FSB agent code name “KUTS”. He was responsible for reporting everything to his FSB superior from which the reporting would go up the chain of command to an FSB General. "

Pg.58 "In addition, the FSB had an operations room and a sleeping room on the 4th floor of the Sochi Laboratory and FSB Blokhin had access to the Laboratory as an accredited persons under the cover of being a sewage and plumbing employee of the building service maintenance contractor, Bilfinger. "

Pg.58 --> WADA Officials were kept under official surveillance during the 2014 Sochi Games: "Dr. Rodchenkov’s evidence also notes that Thierry Boghossian, a WADA Science Department employee and member of the Independent Observer Team, was put under FSB surveillance to make sure that if he visited the Laboratory in the middle of the night individuals involved in swapping samples would be forewarned"

Pg.60 ---> McLaren is about as blunt as is humanly possible in this instance: "The picture that emerges from all of the foregoing is an intertwined network of State involvement through the MofS and the FSB in the operations of both the Moscow and Sochi Laboratories. The FSB was woven into the fabric of the Laboratory operations and the MofS was directing the operational results of the Laboratories. "

Pg.63 "The plan to protect dirty athletes was threefold: (i) develop a “undetectable” pharmacological progamme to administer to athletes identified to go on the programme, (ii) State control of all parts of the anti-doping program, and (iii) State support by means of FSB assistance. "

Pg.64 --> Sometimes the old-fashioned approach works best! "The quaint solution of passing dirty samples through a mouse hole drilled between the aliquoting room in the secure area of the laboratory and the adjacent “operations” room on the exterior of the secure area "

Pg.66 "There were no positive samples at the Sochi Games from any Russian athletes. "

Pg.69 "At a convenient moment, usually around midnight when no one else was in the room, Kurdyatsev would pass the protected athletes A and B samples through the mouse hole in the aliquoting room to the operations room where Dr. Rodchenkov and others were waiting."

Pg.74 --> Provides a morbidly humorous comment: "The DCC analyzed these 40 A samples and found 6 to contain quantities of salt significantly exceeding the levels produced by the human body, absent a serious life threatening medical condition."

Pg.75 "Of these 6 samples, two were amongst the B sample bottles that the IP’s expert confirmed were tampered with. While the athletes’ identities are being kept confidential at this stage, both were medal winners at Sochi."

Pg.76 "The IP is aware that the London 2012 Games, the 2013 IAAF World Championships and the 2013 World University Games presented challenges to the State run system. As a consequence, other tactics had to be deployed. In some cases, such as during the IAAF Championships and the University Games, a hybrid system was used. "

Pg.77 ---> Re: 2012 London Olympics testing system: "Before the London Games, the pre-competition samples were collected in official doping control bottles. The analytical results were reviewed by the Moscow Laboratory to determine the likelihood that an athlete was in danger of testing positive at the Games. That likelihood was characterised by Dr. Rodchenkov as either red where the athlete was going to test positive at the Games and should be replaced; yellow, meant the sample still showed traces of PEDs, but should be clear in time for the Games; and green meant the athlete was cleared to go to the Games. "

Pg.77 "Meanwhile, EPO also used in micro doses until two weeks before departure to reduce the possibility of detection by the Athlete Blood Passport program. Dr. Rodchenkov would later to tell Minister Mutko that if the London samples were ever reanalysed, the Russian Team would be in trouble and predicted that Oral Turinabol, Oxandrololone, Methasterone, Drostanelone and GW1516 would be found to be present. "

Pg.83 "The IP checked the names of the 46 athletes against London Games’ medal winners. Eleven of these athletes won medals at the Games. A number of these medal winners have subsequently been banned for PED abuse and their medals stripped. "

Pg.83 ---> Re; 2013 World University Games: "The spreadsheet identifies 32 athletes along with the substances discovered in their samples. Of these, 17 are Russian competitors."

Pg.85 "Finally, after the completion of the Moscow Championships, the Laboratory held a number of positive samples that needed to be swapped by removing the cap and replacing the athlete’s dirty urine before the samples were shipped to another laboratory as instructed by the IAAF. "

Pg.86 "Key Findings 1. The Moscow Laboratory operated, for the protection of doped Russian athletes, within a State-dictated failsafe system, described in the report as the Disappearing Positive Methodology.

2. The Sochi Laboratory operated a unique sample swapping methodology to enable doped Russian athletes to compete at the Games.

3. The Ministry of Sport directed, controlled and oversaw the manipulation of athlete’s analytical results or sample swapping, with the active participation and assistance of the FSB, CSP, and both Moscow and Sochi Laboratories."

Pg.92-97 provides a communication between Russian government officials, which discusses the current "issues" facing a number of the state-supported doping programs, reasoning what practices may be continued, halted, or modified - all whilst inferring that a number of other major sporting nations have been "unfairly" neglected by WADA. The article is baffling in both tone and confidence of cheating success, I encourage anyone with a specific interest to read through the 5 page letter. UPDATE: Published WADA Recommendations: The WADA Executive Committee’s key recommendations based on the McLaren Investigation Report are set out below. The necessary decisions should be taken by the relevant organizations based on their own rules and regulations. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to consider, under their respective Charters, to decline entries, for Rio 2016, of all athletes submitted by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and the Russian Paralympic Committee. The International Federations (IFs) from sports implicated in the McLaren Report to consider their responsibilities under the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) as far as their Russian National Federations (NFs) are concerned. Russian government officials to be denied access to international competitions, including Rio 2016. The Russian National Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) to remain non-compliant under the Code and its staffing and independence to be further reviewed by WADA. The accreditation process of the WADA-accredited laboratory in Moscow (Moscow laboratory) to be stopped. The FIFA Ethics Committee to look into allegations concerning football and the role played by a member of its Executive Committee, Minister Vitaly Mutko.Professor McLaren and his team to complete their mandate provided WADA can secure the funding that would be required.

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