Printable View
Apparently she did very well in a poll for the "Greatest Irish Woman of All Time". I remember when someone in our office oganised a congratulatory fax after she won the medals, I refused to sign it.
She still has the medals and nothing has ever been proven so it's a difficult one but I still wouldn't vote for her in any poll.
Can I ask why you refused to sign it.
No pen?Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingdom
No hands? I'll get my coat...
What I mean is/was - she was never found guilty of anything. If she wasn't married to that fool there would be no problem.
I just didn't believe that she could improve so much in such a short space of time. So I wasn't sure and didn't want to sign something and then feel a right fool if it came to light she was cheating.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingdom
I know innocent until proven guilty. I enjoyed the victories just as I enjoyed Cian O'Connor's win at the time but I think subsequent events have tainted Michelle's wins.
It's the olympics - every medal is tainted imo.
I thought we were safe with a horse though (Cian O'Connor's nag). I sat through a lot of that and was thrilled that we won and got a bit emotional when the Soldier's Song was played and what happens next ? We hear that the horse is a crack addict :eek: . Sad :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Macy
Has it not been categorically established that she interferred with the samples?Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingdom
That can only lead to one question - why?
which in turn can only lead to one answer - there was something in the sample she didn't want the testers to find.
I see the vet is after getting stung for tax evasion now...!Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
Rovers having an effect on South Dublin Council already too! :p
(May want to move this to a separate thread, incidentally...just fitted in with the O'Connor mention.)
From Aertel...
173 NAMES PUBLISHED BY COMMISSION
-------------
173 people have had their names published after they made settlements with the Revenue Commissioners totalling E21 million.
The bulk of the money was paid up following an investigation into bogus non-resident account holders who handed over E14 million.
Among the names was show jumper Cian O'Connor's vet James Sheeran and South Dublin County Council.
In a statement, South Dublin County Council said the under-declaration of VAT was not intentional and a settlement has been paid in full.
Didn't Michelle carry her husband over the threshold of their new house when they got married, instead of him carrying her?!!! The powers that be didn't catch that one,huh?. :D
Yea, whiskey! She didnt want people to know she had a drink problem!Quote:
Originally Posted by Lionel Ritchie
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lionel Ritchie
She was tested repeatedly at the Olympics and at the European Championships when she first came to the fore. The question has to be asked - why would she have tampered with a sample if there was nothing to hide, but NO illegal substances were ever found in her tests afaik.
Tom Humphreys articles on the matter in his 'best of' collection are excellent.
The one thing she did do for the country however, is highlighted the need for a 50m pool - there are now two.
I think theres clearly a big problem with drug taking in irish Olympic sports.
When you consider how few athletes we send to the Olympics a big enough percentage have cheated with drugs - Michelle Smith (most blatant), Cathal Lombard (stupid but at least he held his hand up & admitted) & Cian O'Connors horse.
IMO if Michelle Smith had come out & openly admitted her cheating she would have been treated more favourably by the irish public.
Well, never mind Lombard, how the bijaysus was the horse ever going to admit to the crime? How much do you expect now? :rolleyes: :eek: :DQuote:
Originally Posted by pete
:ball: PP
I heard the horse was asked was he on drugs and he just replied "Neighhh" :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by Plastic Paddy
Well here's a theory about Michelle Smith's improvement.
There were some pervy coaches involved in Irish swimming at the time... one of whom is doing time for abusing some of his charges at the moment...
So when the a/n coach entered the water... sure they would all be trying to get away asap :D
The Michelle Smith case is a strange one.She was never found guilty of taking drugs even though she was the most tested olympian at the games.The testers admitted that they seen here give the urine sample and said it was all above board.She got more of a ban than drug takers themselves.
Is it possible that it was a set up ?
Who had anything to gain by setting her up?Quote:
Originally Posted by Wiseguy
I'm probably wrong but their seemed to be an agenda against her in Atlanta.I know the story is a bit vague in peoples heads now but at the time of her giving the sample it all seemed a bit suss.We'll probably never know the truth.
Yer wan the American (can't remember her name - Janet someone) was certainly ungraciously bitter about the whole thing, accusing her of drug taking before even any controversy had broken. Is that the kind of thing you mean? Pure bad losership more than an agenda (even if it did turn out to be justified...)Quote:
Originally Posted by Wiseguy
Janet Evans was her name. She, along with other swimmers and coaches questioned the legitimacy of Smith's performances because her times had dramatically improved so much so that from being an 'ordinary competitor' she went to become a triple Olympic champion in a relatvely short time and very late on in her career. Evans was not the only one who expressed suspicion about Smith's performances, but she was certainly the most high profile and most vociferous of those that did.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Forgetting a minute it was Michelle Smith, there would have been much more controversy if say a Chinese swimmer had become a triple Olympic champion at the age of 26 when she had competed not very successfully for a number of years and two years prior to winning her times would not have put her in the top 25 of any of the events in which she had won gold medals.
Spot on.Quote:
Originally Posted by Superhoops
True. Or say, three Chinese middle-distance runners come from nowhere to oust Sonia O'Sullivan amidst stories of strange potions being taken to aid performance...Quote:
Originally Posted by Superhoops
Yeah there'd be no advantages for being faster, stronger, having more stamina, being able to recover quicker from matches and injuries.... :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by samuel
football is riddled with performance enhancing drugs. FACT!
Despite this the advantages are considerably less in some sports like football. Largely because of the nature of the sport. It's like what Agassi argued about in tennis a few years back. He was certain that it was rife but doubted it benefited all users as he felt there were disadvantages because of the type of sport involved.
That may be true, but that doesn't mean that tennis or football can take the high moral ground when it comes to drugs in sport. Drugs aren't going to help you control a ball, but having a "great engine" could be a serious enhancement for a middling player. It'd be interesting to see the numbers of asmatics in professional football....Quote:
Originally Posted by Aberdonian Stu
Ok all of the above is valid except for one point being overlooked.Quote:
Originally Posted by Superhoops
Michelle's winning times at Atlanta were slower than Janet Evans' winning times 8 years earlier ..... and changing from part time training to full time training will bring an athlete on a spell in any discipline... take the EL teams playing in Europe and the results they are getting since summer soccer came in compared to St Pat's losing 0-10 on aggregate to Moldovans for another example of dramatic improvements !
Maybe i misread but i thought someone just defended Michelle Smith. She was a drug cheat sure & simple.
:rolleyes:
Judging by what was found in the offending urine sample she was a dipso :DQuote:
Originally Posted by pete
Hence the reason she has just been called to the bar!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie
The controversial Olympic gold medal swimmer was among those called to the Bar yesterday and she plans to begin 'devilling' in October - that's the term for serving your time as an apprentice barrister.
Well the Devil is in the detail.... :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Superhoops
Maybe she concealed the sample in her briefs :eek: