Edwin Moses

thumb|Edwin Moses Edwin Corley Moses (born August 31, 1955) is an American former hurdler who won gold medals in the 400 m hurdles at the 1976 and 1984 Olympics. Quotes No, it doesn't. I take the attitude that my record is already history. I just figure I have to continue to run fast to win. The way you do that is to work hard so that you will continue to improve. I can't speak for others in track, but I've always enjoyed the training, the competition, and the travel. I like to visit new places and see new things. As far as conditioning is concerned, I've always tried to peak just before my most important races, Sometimes I watch videotapes of myself, not so much to see what I'm doing wrong, but to see what I'm doing right. I've always preferred running in Europe because it's cooler there. But it's also important that you learn to adjust to conditions, whether it's wind, weather, or a slow track.'' The moment of truth comes with every barrier because somehow you have to get over them all. But it is possible to recognize when you've fallen behind in a race, and it is also possible to still win if you catch your mistakes quickly enough. The problem is that you've always got more time to adjust than you think , so you have to discipline yourself not to accelerate too quickly and destroy your rhythm. Naturally I like to think that they can't, But I have noticed that my competitors are working harder and trying different things. In fact, their attitude seems to be that if they are going to lose, they are going to lose in style. I think there is more motivation among them as a group than there used to be, but I am also capable of getting myself up mentally for meets. Edwin Moses breaking track barriers by hurdling over them, April 23 1984 That’s why I worked out three times a day, I ate properly. I had a great stretching programme. I had a great physical therapist. I did all kinds of innovative training exercises. I swam. Did weights. But I also did it because I knew it would make me the best. We all knew it was happening, We knew doping was wide scale because there was no drug testing – beyond being able to detect drugs for three or four days. It was unabated. I’m a physicist. I’ve got a biology and chemistry background. I wanted to be a doctor. So I was shocked when I went to the 1976 Olympics and saw some of the eastern bloc women. They were much more manly than me. Then, in the 1980s, more athletes used performance-enhancing drugs because out-of-competition testing did not exist. There was no test for testosterone or growth hormones then. EPO was brand new. So there was unabated use of these drugs all over the world. A few athletes spoke up but many made comments out of expediency. It was a dark period in my sport and it’s continued for a long time. It’s finally changing now but I was one of the few who spoke out at the start. People who protest, and do the right thing, usually don’t have anything to gain. I was winning anyway so there was nothing for me to gain. I could have done nothing and track and field would have been worse than it is today. I made a difference. That’s why we have out-of-competition drug testing – because of what I and a few others did in 1988. After Ben Johnson, I put together a group of 10 US athletes. We demanded [out-of-competition] testing in the US. We got the money and legislation and drew up the drug programme from scratch because no one had ever done it. We got it ratified and the following year the US Olympic Committee adopted our programme. I became the chief of US testing from 1989 to 1994. There was no such thing as Wada [the World Anti-Doping Agency] and, in the US, I was chairman of the committee for the big six Olympic sports. I negotiated agreements to test athletes and that was the first testing outside competition. They’re doing an outstanding battle in the fight against doping and hopefully the corrupt people are gone. The news [last Thursday] was great. World Athletics put out a statement saying unless the Russians apologise for the last transgression [when their federation conspired to hide the truth with the 2018 world indoor high jump champion, Danil Lysenko, who missed three doping tests], they’re rescinding the possibility of their athletes competing in Tokyo. Period. They’ll stop all of them. The ones they allowed to compete [in Doha] were tested as much as anyone else. If they can’t show the same evidence there’s no reason to let them compete. I feel that way about any athlete from the many areas of the world where there’s very little testing. But this latest news is significant. Someone’s got to stand up for the right thing. I’m proud that – alongside Beckie and others on the athletes’ commission – we forced Wada to look at its governance, Hopefully we’ve been able to fix some of Wada’s problems. Changes were made to bring an ethical balance to the way Wada is run internally. The Russians got caught red-handed and the evidence was clear from two investigations. But politically it was perceived differently because of the money Russia puts into sports. If it had been a completely independent group that had nothing to do with international federations or the IOC, it would not have dragged on. At Wada they had federation guys and IOC guys who were not looking out for the best [anti-doping] interests. That was the innate problem. We forced them to deal with those issues. We will see. The new president at Wada, Witold Banka, is a [former Poland] athlete. I think the strain in anti-doping politics has been taken out because the leadership has changed. That was the elephant in the room. It started at the top [with the former president Craig Reedie being associated with the IOC]. Our deterrent model is very important. New software packages mean we’re able to buy the right tests that can withstand the legal, analytical and statistical scrutiny required to prove a test is conclusive. Drugs are being detected for longer periods of time. They’re now looking at proteins in the body that change immediately upon use of growth hormone, testosterone, EPO. We can detect more because we’re looking at protein chains, 200 or 300 segments long, in the DNA. That’s brought in a whole new way of testing. I would agree with them. If that’s what it takes, that’s a small price to pay for the indignity human beings suffer. I would have walked off the track if I had seen something like that. I don’t even want to talk about our president. I don’t think you can stop it. It’s an individual discretionary endeavour and history shows you can’t stop protest. That was a funny day. Before the race I’m sitting at the pool when I should’ve been working out at the track. But I was winning the race until I made a mistake at the last hurdle because I was running so slow. I used 14 steps instead of 13. That’s why I lost. But it taught me a lesson. You have to be 100% ready all the time. Don’t take anything for granted. After that I did not have any problems for almost 10 years. “No. When I first started I lost all the time. Losing is part of the game. If you lose you figure out what you did wrong and fix it up. If it had been another five metres, I would probably have caught him. I’d been suffering from food poisoning and nearly pulled out but I was paid my money and I ran. I was happy and the fact I had lost to him was beside the point. Most people lose. No. Just last week Tiger Woods said he believed mine was the streak of all streaks. As time goes on, it becomes more meaningful and significant. It’s been 33 years since I quit. No one’s even come close to my record. And it’s doubtful anyone will. Edwin Moses: ‘We all knew doping was happening ... it was a dark period in athletics’, February 6 2020 External links Category:Track and field athletes Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:Sportspeople from the United States Category:Olympic gold medalists Category:African Americans Category:People from Ohio