Trevor Graham's Memory Improves

attempted to shove his way (nicely) through, but couldn't knock Gatlin off the =WR list. If doping provides 0,01-seconds of improvement over 100m, the risk to an athlete whose bonus money included WR performances could be worth it in lieu of not being discovered.

She (Bob Beamon's wife) concluded above that Gatlin was at the top of the world. There appears to be a reason why he was at the top of the world.

Later, Graham speculated that he -- not Gatlin -- might have been the target because of anger in the track and field world surrounding his decision to send the syringe filled with steroids to USADA in 2003. The federal investigation that Graham launched resulted in five criminal convictions and more than a dozen athlete suspensions. According to that theory, Graham's enemies wanted to take him down by implicating Gatlin, his star runner.

Wow. How smart is this guy, Trevor Graham?

If this was really the case, that the masseur wanted to get back at Graham, one simple way would have been to plant evidence on Graham's possession, in his vehicle or at his home, call the authorities and say that he had seen Graham take with him a prohibited substance. Busted, and no one would ever doubt again that Graham had any connection to doping athletes.

Instead, we get this ridiculous story - which has gotten much more interesting and more detailed as time has gone along (what recollection Graham has) - about a pink coloured "s" swiggle, and a recollection that Gatlin told Graham to basically back off when the commotion started. First we learned that it was Graham who wanted to intercede, but the tube was quickly put away in Christopher Whetstine's pocket, and Graham didn't think anything more of it. Now it has changed and become more elaborate with Gatlin stating, "Let him do his job, man!"

Something strange I would like to acknowledge here is that if Graham had any concern for Gatlin, who apparently went through every conceivable precaution as to not ever test positive (including locking his luggage, ordering room service when away), he would have stopped everything right then and there, and told Gatlin he was concerned with what had just occured; he would have rushed Whetstine and forced his hand into the pocket. He didn't. What neatly disappeared in this version of Trevor Graham's Looking Darn Good story is the portion where Graham apparently told Whetstine that Gatlin didn't need a massage in the first place.

"All I saw was the massage therapist go into a bag and bring out something else," Walker said. "He rubbed something else on Justin. . . . It was right there in front of me. It wasn't what he used on Shawn."

Indeed, I had to chuckle over this one. Would one athlete necessarily have the same treatment as another one? Would they complain if Gatlin ate a Snickers and Crawford was offered a Twix instead?

Shipley continues by quoting Cedric Walker, USA Track and Field's former relay program manager, who said he observed Whetstine working on sprinter Shawn Crawford and Gatlin after a training session in Lawrence.

Another scratch your head statement. Ask yourself why this is important after the fact. Why? Because Graham's little corner of henchmen need to provide some basis that proves

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