V 7 N. 84 Me Too in Swedish Track and Say It Isn't So Again in US Sprinting

  Two stories hit the international headlines yesterday.  Neither was the result of our sleuthing, but we consider the first extremely newsworthy in light of the current Me Too movement that is rendering a reworking of the landscape in US media, entertainment and government fields  with the revelation of sexual harrassment in the track and field world of Sweden and the second is the "Don't Let Me Hear This Again"  saga surrounding Justin Gatlin and his entourage. 

The first story seen in the link below concerns harrassment and rape recently reported by the 2012 Euopean Women's 400 m champion Moa  Hjelmer of Sweden, and it is followed up by an article from the Swedish press about the pervasiveness of sexual harrassment in Swedish sociey where one would think that equality and forthrightness would be of highest importance in that society.  Apparently it isn't and it extends all the way up to the Swedish Academy which presents the Nobel awards.

Hjelmer's story first came to us through the British blog  Go Feet to which we bow for bringing it to our attention.

Go Feet:   Me Too in Swedish Track


Me Too Uproar in Sweden   from Nov. 27  SBS reporting.


Now to the Justin Gatlin story.  Apparently a couple of journalists pretending to do a documentary on Justin Gatlin and his coach Dennis Mitchell and trainers asked them what they, the film crew, might do to bulk up an actor for their film proposed docudrama.   The docu boys claim that they were told they could be provided with testosterone creams etc. for personal use.  Once Gatlin saw they had been 'duped'  or should I say 'doped' , he fired Mitchell and dissociated himself from the team.  However this does nothing to enhance Gatlin's recently revived reputation after winning the 100 meters world championship in London this past summer and testing clean.  How this will eventually play out remains to be seen, but it definitely leaves a smudge on the WC results.  There is another point of view reported.  See article by Alan Abrahamson in 3 Wire Sports who points out several errors in the London Telegraph story, including that Renaldo Nehamiah is Gatlin's agent, not Robert Wagner.  Abrahamson also discusses the US libel laws as they seem to relate to the story.


Here is the story as it appeared in the Dec. 19 The London Telegraph written by Oliver Brown:

"Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word...."   note:  to open this story for a complete read you will need to join the Telegraph's readers list.  No cost.   

There are always two sides to every story, and the flip side to this one is presented by  Alan Abrahamson on 3 Wire Sports

Zero facts implicating Justin Gatlin -- that's a 'scandal'?

This blog is not in a position to take a stand on the Justin Gatlin story, as we are not boots on the ground looking into it.