Run to Win

Less than a month after the World Anti-Doping Agency passed the Madrid Resolution, WADA President Dick Pound met with former BALCO owner Victor Conte about ways to prevent and catch athletes using performance-enhancing drugs. The Madrid Resolution calls for stiffer penalties for those caught cheating, as well as the ability to offer reduced penalties for those who help bring in others.

These changes go into effect in 2009, whereupon athletes serving bans for illegal doping will no longer be allowed to train with their parent organizations.

Victor Conte seems to be turning over a new leaf now that he is out of prison, and is providing WADA with the different methods that he encouraged athletes to use when he was developing his drugs.
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This week last year culminated in some reviews for Marathon Rookie and an article about hyponatremia, but most of the week dealt with cheating at various sports.

• Michelle Wie was DQed after cheating in her first professional golf tournament.
• This year, I could again talk about that first run back after being sick. Maybe it’s a seasonal thing.
• Trials began for another round of match-fixing in professional soccer.
• On the drug front, Victor Conte went to prison.
• I described hyponatremia and discussed how I do not believe that it is as large of a problem as everybody makes it out to be.
• I wrote my reviews of Marathon Rookie, a book about how to train for your first marathon. I had a seperate review for the website and for the book itself. I also made recommendations for who should and should not buy the book.

Victor Conte, the founder of Balco, was sentenced to four months in prison this week. He will then have to serve another four months of home confinement. Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds‘ friend and personal trainer, also got a slap on the wrist for his involvement in the drug trafficking and money laundering.
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