RIO DE JANEIRO — As revelations, investigations and arrests involving performance-enhancing drugs accumulate around the world in elite track and field, athletes at the Rio Olympics have been emboldened about calling out those they believe may be tainted.
Among those speaking out is Boulder’s Jenny Simpson, who will compete in the finals of the 1,500 meters Tuesday night against world record holder Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia.
Dibaba’s coach, Jama Aden, was arrested by Spanish police in June as part of a drug raid in which the performance-enhancer EPO was seized, according to media accounts from the scene of the arrest. Simpson didn’t shy away from commenting about Dibaba Sunday night after qualifying for the final.
“I think you know a tree by the fruit that it bears,” Simpson said. “If a tree bears sour fruit, the fruit around it are likely infected. I think if WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency) is on the case, they’ll find what they need to find. I hope so.”
American teammate Molly Huddle said the results of the women’s 10,000 meters might be “a bit mobile” last week after Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia took more than 14 seconds off a world record set 23 years ago by a Chinese woman who since admitted participating in state-sponsored doping. Huddle was implying that Ayana or others in the race might later be revealed as dopers and have their results annulled.
Another American distance runner, Shalane Flanagan, said “positions can always change” after the women’s marathon was won by Kenyan Eunice Jepkirui Kirwa, whose country has been under international pressure to improve its anti-doping enforcement.
“The women in front of me ran super tough,” Flanagan continued, choosing her words carefully. “The winning time of 2:24 in these (hot) conditions is outrageously fast.”
Regardless of how clean the race is Tuesday night, Simpson has every reason to consider herself a medal contender. She won gold at the 2011 world championships and silver at the 2013 world championships.
“In 2011, I wasn’t a medal hope at all,” Simpson said. “I told my coach when we rode the bus to the final I said, ‘Well, I have a one-in-four shot. Statistically, three in 12 are going to be on the podium.’ I remember saying that kind of jokingly, and then I won. I’m going to try and capture some of that younger, more innocent personality for the final.”
