British distance running star Mo Farah has refuted suspicions that his startling form is due to drugs, saying that it was solely hard work that got him atop the podiums at last year’s London Olympics and this year’s Moscow World Championships in Athletics.
“I work hard at what I do,” Farah told the Daily Telegraph from his altitude training base at the French Pyreanean town of Font-Romeu.
“If I didn’t I wouldn’t be up here in the mountains, spending more than six months a year away from my wife and kids. That’s why it hurts,” he said.
DOUBLE
Farah backed up his 5,000m and 10,000m double at the London Games with a similar feat at last month’s world championships in the Russian capital to ensure his place among the top distance runners there have ever been.
However, he has had to battle back against allegations that his streak to podium-topping form was down to doping.
“Look at my success, I didn’t achieve it overnight. It has been the product of many years’ struggle, and every year my times have shown gradual improvement,” he told the Telegraph.
Farah even refutes claims that his times have improved exponentially since his move to the US under coach Alberto Salazar.
“I was running sub-13 minutes for 5,000 when I was still coached by Alan Storey, and I won double gold at the Europeans in 2010,” he said.
BELL
“Even if you compare my world-title run over 10,000 this summer to six years ago, I was still there at the bell in Osaka, too. It was only in the last 200 that I fell back to sixth,” he said.
“All of this hurts, because deep down I know that I’m probably the most tested athlete in the world. I have to give up a one-hour slot every day, no matter where I am on the planet,” Farah said.
“I only wish that other countries had the same system. What we need, to get on top of this problem, is to apply the same rules worldwide,” he said.
For my part, I know that Alberto is a great coach, and that for all my blood tests I work with Barry Fudge, the top physiologist at UK Athletics. I never go outside the system,” Farah said.
His next outing will be against former winner Haile Gebrselassie and fellow Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele in the half-marathon at Sunday’s Great North Run.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but