Speed Trap: Inside the Biggest Scandal in Olympic History
Author: Charlie Francis, Jeff Coplon
List Price: $18.95
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ISBN: 0312048777
Publisher: St. Martin's Press (January, 1991)
Sales Rank: 311,665
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
Drugs and the Elite Athlete
This book was written after the Seoul Olympics and after Ben Johnson's 1st place finish. However, the logic and the motivation for using synthetic performance enhancements amongst world class athletes is clearly outlined and is applicable to all professional athletics, not just Olympic level track and field, where the financial stakes are huge for both participants and sponsors, and media attention is unrelenting. Recent revelations by MLB stars like Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti confirm the logic and motivation so clearly, honestly and cogently outlined by Francis in Speed Trap. Most disturbing is that there doesn't seem to be any turning back on this path of drug use among elite athletes as long as athletics continues to be the potent economic engine that it is, and continues to hold out the promise of lottery-type earnings to hopeful young athletes all over the world.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Talks the truth about track and field
Even though I know drug use runs rampant in track and field today, this book presents a side of the sport that dearly needed to be said. Most people have been too scared to publicly talk about it which I applaud him for. This book also brought to my attention the new style training methods on speed which I found extremely helpful. I would recommend this book to anyone who thinks Maurice Green or Donavan Bailey aren't on Steriods or any other form of banned ergogenic aids.
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