10 reasons to be hopeful in the wake of the latest doping scandal
By Kevin Byrne, guest columnist These are obviously bad times for the sport. That cannot be overstated. All it takes is a quick Google news search for the word “athletics” and you’ll see how bad the situation is. In the nuttiest of nutshells: Russia – one of the strongest athletics
Barr’s Olympic ambition: “I’d love to be in the final”
It starts tomorrow. After the season of his life, followed by three weeks exploring Kenya, a surfing trip to Portugal, and one exhaustive day spent doing interviews with the national press, it’s now time for Thomas Barr to get back to work. In 10 months’ time, the Waterford athlete will, barring injury, compete at
Barr, English, and Heffernan to contest Irish Athlete of the Year
Athlete of the Year Thomas Barr, Mark English and Robert Heffernan are set to contest the National Athlete of the Year award at the GloHealth National Athletics Awards on Wednesday 25th of November from 12.00-3.30pm in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Northwood. The nominations have been announced for the awards ceremony
Britain’s first openly gay athlete: “I don’t want this to define me”
Race walker Tom Bosworth has become the first British athlete to come out as gay. The 25-year-old, who finished 12th in the 20km race walk at the European Championships in Zurich last year, revealed to BBC Sport how difficult the decision was. “Even in 2015, it’s difficult for people to
[Video] Gene Editing: Doping Of The Future
Gene Doping The editing of genes could be the future of doping in athletics, with the ability to alter defective genes in the human body becoming a real possibility. About 50% of what determines how fit you are comes from your genome, the other 50% is training, according to Dr.
Barr and English the leading lights in memorable year for IUAA
As the new intervarsity season prepares to get under way, it seems as good a time as any to reflect on what a memorable 2015 it was, a year when two of our leading lights, Thomas Barr and Mark English, took home medals from international competitions. English, a medical student at
After rollercoaster year, Merritt on the road to recovery
By Dave Hunter Stories of athletes overcoming physical adversity to stage dramatic comebacks are omnipresent in sports. Think of the numerous NBA players who rehab and return from debilitating ACL injuries. Or, the many Major League pitchers who work hard to perform well after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Successful and
Women’s 400m record under cloud after fresh doping allegations
Fresh doubts have been cast on the legitimacy of the women’s 400m world record after allegations from one of Germany’s leading anti-doping experts that Marita Koch was part of the state-sponsored doping programme in East Germany. Koch, who was Olympic 400m champion in 1980, set the current world record of
After rollercoaster year, Jager reflects on the rise and fall
When Evan Jager walked off the track at the Zurich Diamond League last month, having finished a tired third in 8:18.39, he knew, there and then, his season was over. The residual fatigue from a summer in which he climbed some lofty peaks — though never quite reached the highest summit
Kenya steps up fight against doping as police raid chemists, arresting five
Kenyan police have conducted raids on chemists in Nairobi and Kapsabet over the past two days, stores which are believed to be behind much of the doping problem in the East African nation, arresting five pharmacists and doctors on suspicion of supplying banned performance-enhancing drugs. In Nairobi yesterday, police attempted
