Baldini not Suspended - Yet

[Craig]

Baldini Probe Continues

[Grasshopper]

Giorgio Scarso, in Paris to back Baldini's plea to the FIE. ''Our federation was right not to abandon Baldini,''


Oh, I thought they did abandon him when they kicked him off the Olympic team...

[Craig]

If you have issues then PM me or put it in comments and suggestions. This thread is for discussion of the Baldini story.

Craig

[Gav]

The off topic posts have been given their own the thread in WC. You can find it here.

[DJ Apostrophe]

The off topic posts have been given their own the thread in WC. You can find it here.

Bad link Gav...

-w

[Gav]

Bad link Gav...

-w

fixed...

Can we get on topic now?

How many people believe that the DNA testing is going to show that the sample belonged to someone else?

[KD5MDK]

I think there's maybe a 10% chance, but it certainly would be a big deal if it did.

[Hobbes]

Seriously... I would be so angry if they come up with proof of my innocence, when there is no way to go back and get another chance for a gold medal. What type of compensation could Baldini get?

[FoilyDeath]

The odds of that happening are incredibly minute...by the look of it, Baldini is screwed, no matter how confident everybody and their dog is of his innocence, unless the investigation Italian fencing is running finds something.

[Grasshopper]

fixed...

Can we get on topic now?

How many people believe that the DNA testing is going to show that the sample belonged to someone else?

I don't think it will be found to be someone else's. However, they may say something like "A terrible mistake has been made. It seems the sample was tampered with, but we can't figure out who did it, so Baldini will not be punished. This is a terrible thing, but let's all forget about it. Move along, nothing to see here."

[flick n' roll]

the 'documentary' is all in italian, but there are some interesting clips inside, particularly at around 8:30- 8:50.... what's the deal with that bottle?

http://pechino2008.blogosfere.it/200...in-pedana.html

[epeelion]

The bottle-he's saying that in the final somebody put the substance in his bottle

Let me just say-I speak fluent Italian, and their arguments are pretty convincing. European championships were completely inconsequential for his qualification to the Olympics, the diuretic he supposedly took wouldn't have had time to mask any other substances by the time they tested him, and they found no other substances at all other than the diuretic. It's a biased documentary, but it's pretty damn convincing.

[InFerrumVeritas]

The bottle-he's saying that in the final somebody put the substance in his bottle

Let me just say-I speak fluent Italian, and their arguments are pretty convincing. European championships were completely inconsequential for his qualification to the Olympics, the diuretic he supposedly took wouldn't have had time to mask any other substances by the time they tested him, and they found no other substances at all other than the diuretic. It's a biased documentary, but it's pretty damn convincing.

Yeah, that's what had gotten me the first time. He had already qualified, so I couldn't figure out why he'd dope before a tournament that meant little compared to the one he had coming up.

[Cry_Me_A_River]

Please keep this topics updated please.

Thanks for posting that vid Flick.

[Craig]

the 'documentary' is all in italian, but there are some interesting clips inside, particularly at around 8:30- 8:50.... what's the deal with that bottle?

http://pechino2008.blogosfere.it/200...in-pedana.html

Can someone translate and post a transcript?

[gladius]

Can someone translate and post a transcript?

Text of the blog:

Bob Dylan’s lyrics prominently displayed on Andrea Baldini Facebook page describes perfectly how he feels about this matter. The foilist was stopped on his way to Beijing by a controversial positive result produced by a useless diuretic in a useless competition when he was figuratively on the boarding ramp of the plane to Beijing. He is still looking for the truth while the risk of a 2 years suspension is still on his head.

V-ictory of La7 (a TV channel) dedicated on Friday a long part of the program with interviews with Baldini, his coach Paoletti, and the athlete’s father [see video clip].

Our policy in this blog is to be inflexible with those who commit doping infractions but just because of our strong posture on this issue we believe in Andrea Baldini. We feel that he is the victim of a plot not necessarily aimed against him but that he is nonetheless the unaware victim. If this is the case then we should all ask ourselves what does it mean to steal from a young man something like an Olympic participation where he was without any doubt the #1 starter. Let’s hope that the future will give back to Andrea what he was robbed of rendering justice to all who believe in clean sport.



As for a transcript of the interview, it is a bit laborious to do but epeelion gives the gist of it. Baldini, his coach, his father repeat that there was no reason whatsoever for him to take a diuretic shortly before a useless (for him) competition since he was already guaranteed the top spot at the games.

Interesting note: Baldini had been tested several times during the season and even I believe the week before. In Kiev, it seems that his name was chosen by drawing between the other 4 Italian athletes for the test (one had to be tested). His testing positive for the forbidden diuretic put a stop to his Olympic dream.

If someone tampered with the bottle water supply used by the Italians in Kiev, it is not obvious that Andrea was the intended target, or, had everybody else been tested, they too could have given a positive reading.

[Grasshopper]

Text of the blog:

Bob Dylan’s lyrics prominently displayed on Andrea Baldini Facebook page describes perfectly how he feels about this matter. The foilist was stopped on his way to Beijing by a controversial positive result produced by a useless diuretic in a useless competition when he was figuratively on the boarding ramp of the plane to Beijing. He is still looking for the truth while the risk of a 2 years suspension is still on his head.

V-ictory of La7 (a TV channel) dedicated on Friday a long part of the program with interviews with Baldini, his coach Paoletti, and the athlete’s father [see video clip].

Our policy in this blog is to be inflexible with those who commit doping infractions but just because of our strong posture on this issue we believe in Andrea Baldini. We feel that he is the victim of a plot not necessarily aimed against him but that he is nonetheless the unaware victim. If this is the case then we should all ask ourselves what does it mean to steal from a young man something like an Olympic participation where he was without any doubt the #1 starter. Let’s hope that the future will give back to Andrea what he was robbed of rendering justice to all who believe in clean sport.



As for a transcript of the interview, it is a bit laborious to do but epeelion gives the gist of it. Baldini, his coach, his father repeat that there was no reason whatsoever for him to take a diuretic shortly before a useless (for him) competition since he was already guaranteed the top spot at the games.

Interesting note: Baldini had been tested several times during the season and even I believe the week before. In Kiev, it seems that his name was chosen by drawing between the other 4 Italian athletes for the test (one had to be tested). His testing positive for the forbidden diuretic put a stop to his Olympic dream.

If someone tampered with the bottle water supply used by the Italians in Kiev, it is not obvious that Andrea was the intended target, or, had everybody else been tested, they too could have given a positive reading.

If you wanted to dope somebody, wouldn't it make more sense to rig the sample and testing procedure, not the waterbottle? There is no guarantee that the athlete would drink from a certain waterbottle. Maybe he feels like a coke or something else or just drinks from another bottle.

Rigging the sample and testing procedure would also allow you determine which athlete gets tested. Rigging the waterbottle would not.

[KD5MDK]

One might be easier for a particular party to accomplish than the other.

[InFerrumVeritas]

If you wanted to dope somebody, wouldn't it make more sense to rig the sample and testing procedure, not the waterbottle? There is no guarantee that the athlete would drink from a certain waterbottle. Maybe he feels like a coke or something else or just drinks from another bottle.

Rigging the sample and testing procedure would also allow you determine which athlete gets tested. Rigging the waterbottle would not.

No. Tampering with the testing sample is easier to see (as I would assume that the samples would be sealed and under supervision). Athletes are superstitious and typically will only drink from their waterbottles for many reasons other than superstition as well.

[Grasshopper]

No. Tampering with the testing sample is easier to see (as I would assume that the samples would be sealed and under supervision). Athletes are superstitious and typically will only drink from their waterbottles for many reasons other than superstition as well.

What if one of the supervisors did the tampering?