12/21/24
October 22, 2003
Dwain Chambers tests positive for THG.: It has emerged that one of Britain's top athletes, Dwain Chambers, is among those caught in the THG scandal. The question that's on my mind is: if he can be publicly identified, why can't the American athletes?
It's just an American athletics' rule not to identify anyone until after their B samples have been done too. The British athletics people, on the other hand, are quite happy to point fingers early doors.
posted by JJ at 09:23 AM on October 22, 2003
There's no rule that governs the identification of athletes who fail their A samples - just USATF policy. This should be fun - dopers have been ahead of testers for 30 years, now that system appears to be threatened. I'm loving it.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 09:47 AM on October 22, 2003
rule, policy... potato, potatoe (sic) Interesting factoid of the day: there is more potato in a McDonalds milkshake than there is in their chips (/french-fries/freedom-fries... tomato, tomato)
posted by JJ at 09:52 AM on October 22, 2003
they put spud in my shake? t'aint right.
posted by garfield at 10:14 AM on October 22, 2003
Both products are made from potato starch - and it takes more of it to make the milkshake than to make the chips/fries. Let that be a lesson to Dwain Chambers.
posted by JJ at 10:22 AM on October 22, 2003
I always thought there was a fair amount of pig fat in McD's milkshakes as well, although I may be misinformed. Apparently they have asked to retest lots of samples going back a fair way, so expect a few more British athletes to drop from the tree.
posted by walrus at 10:50 AM on October 22, 2003
People who eat a McDonalds deserve potato in their milkshakes!
posted by billsaysthis at 11:02 AM on October 22, 2003
Potato starch in milkshakes? What's the world coming to?
posted by dusted at 12:27 PM on October 22, 2003
Straight from the clown's mouth: Shake Mix: Whole milk, sucrose, cream, nonfat milk solids, corn syrup solids, mono and diglycerides, guar gum, imitation vanilla flavor, carrageenan, cellulose gum, vitamin A palmitate. I'm not entirely sure, but I think if you were putting pig's fat in a drink, you could use the phrase "mono and diglycerides" to disguise it. But hey, on the other hand, who doesn't love carrageenan?
posted by Samsonov14 at 12:30 PM on October 22, 2003
Read Fast Food Nation. Potato stuff in the shakes is the least of your worries. I just want to see a Vegetarian group sue McDonald's to the point where they have to display signs in store that say: "Shakes may contain meat."
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 01:18 PM on October 22, 2003
Two years ago, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of American Hindus because McDonalds used beef flavoring in their fries. Hindu activitists in India almost rioted as a result, even though McDonalds unequivocally stated that ""McDonald's India does not use beef or pork. We also do not use any animal flavoring or extract for any of our vegetable products, including French fries."
posted by worldcup2002 at 02:03 PM on October 22, 2003
In Fast Food Nation the author investigates the chemical compositions of the smells that are attached to fast food - including McDonald's fries, which apparently uses artificial simulated beef scents in the fries. So its artificial but strange all the same. Smell manufacturing is big in New Jersey according to the book.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 02:17 PM on October 22, 2003
uses artificial simulated beef scents in the fries That there looks like a men's cologne opportunity. Manly scents for manly men!
posted by worldcup2002 at 02:20 PM on October 22, 2003
Manly men who like the smell of beef on other men.
posted by lilnemo at 02:25 PM on October 22, 2003
wc2002, when I did a semester in India in college, I was excited to go to Bangalore because I had heard there was a Kentucky Fried Chicken there. I'm not a KFC fan, but after 6 months of Indian food, just the idea of KFC is enough to make you drool. Well, when I got to the KFC, it was shut down and blocked off by two buses that were full of policemen. Apparently KFC India was using imported chickens, which obviously bothered Indian chicken-farmers. So much so that they showed up in large numbers, and threw both live and dead chickens at the restaurant itself and the people that tried to enter it. Hilarious! I can't believe I only missed that by one day. I talked to the cops and they said that KFC was protested pretty much once a month over there by various groups. Wait... what were we talking about?
posted by Samsonov14 at 02:33 PM on October 22, 2003
the evils of the Fast Food Empire
posted by garfield at 02:38 PM on October 22, 2003
lilnemo: OK, maybe they could market that for women. Scrumptious AND beefy! Samso: Ha! Based on the protests article I posted up there, they were smearing cow-dung on the McD. Throwing chickens has nothing on slinging cow-shit! Yeehaw!
posted by worldcup2002 at 02:38 PM on October 22, 2003
Smell manufacturing is big in New Jersey Absolutely true. My last job in NJ before moving out here was with a company that manufactures those chemicals. Next time you smell your breakfast cereal, think of me.
posted by billsaysthis at 04:08 PM on October 22, 2003
Smell manufacturing is big in New Jersey especially during the warmer months.
posted by garfield at 04:09 PM on October 22, 2003
Yeah yeah, Thanks for disrailing the thread, guys.
posted by salmacis at 05:28 PM on October 22, 2003
The British athletics people, on the other hand, are quite happy to point fingers.
Why is that? Are we American's the only nation to wait for the B results?
posted by lilnemo at 06:05 PM on October 22, 2003
Are we American's the only nation to wait for the B results? We're pretty good at the stall, lilnemo, like the wonderful four corner offense that used to win so many games for Dean Smith.
posted by billsaysthis at 07:14 PM on October 22, 2003
lilnemo: I think your people are more afraid of lawsuits that their British counterparts. Hell, I'll put NZ$100 on the proposition that after failed 'B' tests are announced any attempts to sanction US athletes will be met by lawsuits from at least one of the athletes involved. But I doubt I can get anyone willing to bet against that 8).
posted by rodgerd at 09:14 PM on October 22, 2003
Yup thats us sue-happy Americans all right! :)
posted by lilnemo at 09:37 PM on October 22, 2003
I want to be a real American but I have no one to sue. lilnemo, can you drive up from LA and do something stupid on my property?
posted by billsaysthis at 09:52 PM on October 22, 2003
What was most interesting here was that the Chambers story shared top billing with the results of 4 un-named US athletes on the BBC Sport website, while ESPN.com's newswire led with Chambers alone and hasn't mentioned the US athletes, even to say that they haven't been identified. I'd say that it's symptomatic of what the 'deny first, cover-up second' attitude of US Track & Field has done to press coverage, but anyway. And the Guardian article by Duncan Mackay on the scientific work into detecting THG is essential reading.
posted by etagloh at 12:00 AM on October 23, 2003
I don't think its the British Athletics Association thats released Chambers name - it was the Guardian. And supposedly Chambers threatened to sue them in an attempt to get them to back down and not print this story, but his intimidation tactics didn't work and they went ahead and printed it anyway.
posted by dng at 11:57 AM on October 23, 2003
In light of your question, its amusing how he got nabbed by a "tip-off from the US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada)." I can't wait to see who goes down for this.