For a country with only twenty million people we don't do too badly....

[BoyBrumby]

Each British boxer receives a "salary" of 75,000 quid per annum plus housing

Not true. DeGale currently gets £1500 per month from the ABA. From The Guardian.

If the Amateur Boxing Association come up 'with some sensible cheddar', by which he means a four-year contract and more than the current £1,500 a month he gets, the attraction of defending the gold in his home town should be enough to persuade him to stay in the crazy world of amateur boxing.

[Samuel_Vimes]

Ignorance I think.

Well, they have no national anti-doping agency, so doesn't the athletics federation runs the anti-doping programme?

Also, would be surprised if any of the tests can detect HGH anyway. Regardless of country of origin.

[Burgey]

We're a country who loves to follow their teams/players etc, and we love it when they win. For me, personally, I'm happy for my taxes to go towards these athletes achieving our goals. They work much, much harder at their occupations than I do, so good luck to them. It's important for Australia's to be competing with the big guns.

Fixed.

[social]

Not true. DeGale currently gets £1500 per month from the ABA. From The Guardian.

If the Amateur Boxing Association come up 'with some sensible cheddar', by which he means a four-year contract and more than the current £1,500 a month he gets, the attraction of defending the gold in his home town should be enough to persuade him to stay in the crazy world of amateur boxing.

Truth is somewhere in between.

ESPN was referring to amount of "benefits" UK boxers get (trainers, expenses, etc) and referred to it as salary

DeGale is talking about cash in hand

BTW, this guy sign with Frank Warren, turn pro and cash in on current fame - he's a pretty average fighter (as were most of the Olympians) and he's bound to get starched before too long and his market value will plummet

[roseboy64]

Well, they have no national anti-doping agency, so doesn't the athletics federation runs the anti-doping programme?

Also, would be surprised if any of the tests can detect HGH anyway. Regardless of country of origin.

The IAAF and WADA do most of the testing. Unlike the US and UK so it'd be far more difficult to hide a positive test.

[Goughy]

The IAAF and WADA do most of the testing. Unlike the US and UK so it'd be far more difficult to hide a positive test.

If Bolt is on substances then I doubt he is the only one. Im certainly not accusing him of anything.

However, the testing system in Jamaica has been very poor during the offseason and there has not been any domestic testing program.

I would agree though that if caught, it would be harder to hide a positive. On the other hand it would be harder to get caught.

A strange situation.

[GIMH]

I'd be devastated if Bolt was a drugs cheat. I guess many people were when Ben Johnson turned out to be one

[Goughy]

I'd be devastated if Bolt was a drugs cheat. I guess many people were when Ben Johnson turned out to be one

Toughen up lad. Its a hard World out there.

[roseboy64]

If Bolt is on substances then I doubt he is the only one. Im certainly not accusing him of anything.

However, the testing system in Jamaica has been very poor during the offseason and there has not been any domestic testing program.

I would agree though that if caught, it would be harder to hide a positive. On the other hand it would be harder to get caught.

A strange situation.

He'd have to have been on them when he was 15 and running phenomenal times. Someone from the rural area and from a school that he went to wouldn't be able to do that stuff.

How has the system been poor? All or most athletes get tested in competition from high school to the top level. Also, most of the top athletes get tested regularly by the IAAF and WADA. Powell was tested pretty much every week or so when he was breaking his world records and not by Jamaicans either.

There's a program and policy, there just isn't a high-class doping lab. Not exactly priority in a country with other pressing concerns and when the highest authority in the sport does the testing for you.

[Goughy]

He'd have to have been on them when he was 15 and running phenomenal times. Someone from the rural area and from a school that he went to wouldn't be able to do that stuff.

How has the system been poor? All or most athletes get tested in competition from high school to the top level. Also, most of the top athletes get tested regularly by the IAAF and WADA. Powell was tested pretty much every week or so when he was breaking his world records and not by Jamaicans either.

There's a program and policy, there just isn't a high-class doping lab. Not exactly priority in a country with other pressing concerns and when the highest authority in the sport does the testing for you.

Thats the point though. The off season testing schedule has not been as rigorous as elsewhere and that is when athletes use the stuff.

In competition testing is pretty useless and catches only a few very obvious cases.

Im not saying Bolt has taken anything. Just that it wouldnt suprise me if he had (as I wouldnt be suprised if anyone was taking stuff) and, that from the reports Ive read, with training in Jamaica it would be more difficult to catch as there was no real off-season drug testing program.

For the sake of this argument the points are unrelated. Im not accusing an Jamaican athlete of taking anything. However, if they had, the system was poorly setup to catch it.

[Samuel_Vimes]

Tried to find some links on these claims. According to the IAAF, Bolt's been tested 13 times this year, 6 of which were out-of-competition.

That's a decent number. Apologies, Xavier - clearly I have been taking the claims of "no anti-doping agency" at face value - it doesn't seem likelier that he's doped than all the others.

[Goughy]

Tried to find some links on these claims. According to the IAAF, Bolt's been tested 13 times this year, 6 of which were out-of-competition.

That's a decent number. Apologies, Xavier - clearly I have been taking the claims of "no anti-doping agency" at face value - it doesn't seem likelier that he's doped than all the others.

Did you look?

Here is one that refers to it.

He said there was no routine off-season testing from October to January, when cheating athletes use steroids in combination with intensive weight training. Testing at major competitions and between grand prix meetings was ineffective.

As Ive said, I dont suggest any Jamaican took any think untoward. My point is that Jamaica has had possible holes in its testing.

2 seperate issues.

[Samuel_Vimes]

As Ive said, I dont suggest any Jamaican took any think untoward. My point is that Jamaica has had possible holes in its testing.

2 seperate issues.

Was actually referring to my own comments which have been a tad suggestive.

Nevertheless: the source you link to is in jail ffs. Leaving aside him being bitter about being caught, there's the side issue of how the hell he, sitting in the US, would know what the WADA/IAAF-program is up to in Jamaica.

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Ignorance I think.

Jamaica shouldn't ignore drug use, IMO.

[The Baconator]

Vaguely related to the thread title, here's a countdown of which countries won the most medals per capita.