Below is an excerpt from the Lap Count newsletter, posted with permission. Kyle Merber’s Lap Count newsletter which both entertains and enlightens fans about athletes and happenings in our sport.
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From the Lap Count Newsletter
Soaring To An American Record
It’s only April, but Valarie Allman is picking things up right where she left them. While competing at the Triton Invitational in San Diego, just her second meet of the season, the Olympic gold medalist in the discus threw 71.46m to eclipse her previous American Record of 71.16m. Despite being the farthest throw in 30 years, the mark is only 15th on the all-time list — that’s when fans read between the lines of the descending order list.
Unfortunately, as is the case with many field events, the large majority of the best performances were set during the 1980s by countries in the Eastern Bloc who were operating under the shadow of government sanctioned doping programs. If you aren’t old enough to have seen the Berlin Wall come down, then Google the names of those ahead of Allman. Many of their Wikipedia pages will have an annotation regarding failed drug tests and subsequent bans. That middle step needs to be eliminated — taking anabolic steroids at any point in your career should be a disqualifying event, resulting in your marks being erased from any all-time lists.
I’m holding back the temptation to add the title of “clean world record holder” to Allman’s Wikipedia and citing this newsletter as the source. There’s certainly a possibility of an innocent athlete ahead of her. But at the very least we should start treating Allman as such, which begins with being in awe of how gracefully she spins in the ring and how powerfully she cleans hundreds of pounds in the weight room.
