That was Charlie's metaphor for needing to dope at the highest levels of
sprinting ... because other people were doping.
That is what Charlie said, not me. I did not intend to convey that drugs
give a 1 meter advantage or that Charlie said that, or that a doped Ben
Johnson could finish 1 meter ahead of a non-doped Ben Johnson, or any other
sprinter.
The story that Francis discussed that in, was posted on this board about 5
months ago.
The "blocks 1 meter behind" metaphor was his way of saying: you dope, or you
are at a disadvantage to the other runners.
If I had the article handy I would post it.
I should know better than to comment at all about sprinting.
-----Original Message-----
From: Nick Linthorne [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2000 7:06 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: t-and-f: Drugs and sprinting
Re the coment on the advantage of drugs in sprinting.
<
Read what Charlie Francis (Johnson's coach) had to say about what kind of
doping it takes in order for you not to be "setting up your blocks 1 meter
behind the rest of the field".
<
1 m is worth 0.09 seconds for a top level male sprinter running at 11 m/s.
Nowhere near the 0.34 seconds (9.79 to 10.15) difference claimed by Brian
Mcewen for Ben with and without drugs.
Charlie is claiming that Ben would have been a 9.88 sprinter without drugs.
Not that I believe Charlie's "1 m" advantage is exactly right.
Nick
Dr Nicholas P Linthorne
School of Exercise and Sport Science
The University of Sydney Phone +61 2 9351 9135
PO Box 170 Fax +61 2 9351 9204
Lidcombe NSW 1825 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
AUSTRALIA http://www.cchs.usyd.edu.au/Academic/ESS/
