Sam would have been vilified had he tried to keep it quiet and it was leaked (as it would have) implying he had something to hide

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I would guess more often than not an “investigation” that results in nothing to see here and/or no evidence of doping never sees the light of day, or we would have never cared if it was leaked. I mean how many “investigations” do we hear of that is leaked to the public? I can’t think of very many. We have no clue how often athletes are actually investigated from tips etc. it may be rare and it may be regular that’s how “quiet” the process is most of time. There’s no point to leak anything because you the athlete don’t have the investigation result to “prove” the haters it was wrong to gossip about said athlete etc. we are all still “waiting” to see if this actually amounts to anything and if it doesn’t we know it was clean- but it’s not because SL says he is clean,but because the investigation confirms he’s clean.

Hell we didn’t even know CC popped until he revealed it, we don’t ever hear of anyone’s negative drug tests after these world class events. We all just move on until the authorities have a positive to report.

It seems to me that Sam Laidlow has really mismanaged this situation. He's either guilty, in which case his career is over. Or he's squeaky clean, in which case he has shown a clear tendency to break down under pressure and overreact. Either way, it's gonna take him a long time to recover from this, I would not be surprised if his performance levels suffer no matter how this ends. It's lonely at the top - maybe there is something else you learn slowly coming through the Olympic ITU pathway, which many have glossed over.

I personally don't get why so many people think ironman athletes must be on EPO. Oxygen delivery is not a limiter at the full distance. Some short course athletes that do the odd PTO race could well be on gear, but a guy like Sam trains specifically for the full distance - none of that aerobic capacity bullshit matters there.

He is a 24 year old who just realized his dream and got to the top of the triathlon heap.

The rest of us have ZERO clue what it is like being at the top, suddenly becoming a public persona for the entire sport.

Easy for us on the internet to throw rocks at how Sam managed the situation, but none of us has walked a meter in his shoes.

So rather than judge him, why don't we let it all play out. You and I have no idea how his performance is affected by this stress or not. Sam may have over reacted or he may have taken a pro active step (in his mind) knowing that the RVB camp's email trail was going to result in a public leak (heck RVB himself admitted that it got leaked beyond the first recipient and once three people know a secret we know the story is public domain and no longer a secret)

Do the "big" names in triathlon take any type of media training? I'd assume after Laidlow's 2nd in Kona some of his bigger sponsors (or his agent even, I assume he has an agent?) would sit him down and do some media training. What to say, what not to say. How do conduct interviews and probably most importantly how to handle criticism and possible doping allegations. This is endurance sport, EVERYONE that does well get accused of doping in some way or another.

Yourself and the Baysi guy in this thread are getting a bit carried away and in my view, and borderline slandering Sam Laidlow, name calling RvB sr, etc.. I think we can agree that his IG post was a bit of a mess, but it is not evidence that the guy did something wrong. Some of the stuff you have stated is borderline ridiculous: "innocent folks don't do this..etc." Have you ever been wrongly accused of something when you were 24 ?

We don't know if he is guilty or innocent, all we know is that there is an investigation going on and hopefully it is effective at catching any wrongdoing and clearing him if this is an unjustified witchhunt.

We don't know if he is guilty or innocent, all we know is that there is an investigation going on and hopefully it is effective at catching any wrongdoing and clearing him if this is an unjustified witchhunt.

This is not a witch hunt:

Please read what I said, not what you think I said. I said Rvbsr may well be a jerk, but I don't think he is merely based on what's written. Ie, people accusing him of being a bad guy based on this stuff have no evidence in his behavior to draw that conclusion.

I never said people who aren't innocent don't do this. I said people who are innocent and happy withemselves and grounded, etc don't lash out like this. Clearly, if he's innocent he's got some serious inner turmoil. See, you've accused me of borderline slander and I'm not upset because the accusation is false and I'm content with myself internally and have no inclination to lash out. Obviously the pressure of this thread is non existent and the pressure of Sam's life is huge, which is why I ended my previous comment saying whatever happens with the investigation or Sam's professional life I hope he can truly be comfortable in his skin and not just have to present it as a front for media. He actually strikes me in multiple instances as someone not happy with himself. Making rhymes about Sam Longs abilities, then defending his hoala swim as fair game (oceans are free), and now this. On the flip side, I see his spoken media desire to build others up now that he's a champion as a really positive trait and I truly hope he just follows that ethos. Even if it's a fake it until you make it thing, he's going to eventually embody that positivity if he turns to it first out of duty/desire and eventually it will be instinct as who he's become.

The current instinct he faces under pressure seems to be to defend and lash out. Obviously that's common in all of us. We all struggle over our lifetimes to choose to be the better man.

This episode is mingled with the possibility of some or many of these pros facing the moral hazard and competitive pressure that at least seems like exists for them all to use hormones and drugs to cheat. There's always a cost to that. There's also always a cost to negativity if innocent.

Sam's intentional media has shown him desiring to be humble and service minded. His reflexive media had shown him to respond aggressively and defensively. I think he knows what he ought to do. I hope he keeps doing it.

Welllllll except RVBsr’s post here actually made it seem like it was kind of. He sent an email to a professional triathlete documenting testimonials on SL. Which means he went out and effectively surveyed people to gather thei opinions, observations and suppositions. He then shared those in a “confidential” email to a pro which was then shared with SL. The email wasn’t sent to the ITA nor was it an anonymous tip.

His whole post opens a whole lotta questions that don’t seem to have been answered:

Why was he doing his own independent investigation?

Why was it sent to a fellow pro and not to the ITA?

Why did the pro share with a “friend”?

Why did that friend feel it was appropriate to share with SL?

By conducting his own investigation he was implying to those people he “questioned” that SL is a cheat and guilty.

I’m not a SL fan but damn this sure seemed like RvBsr was way out of bounds and SL was justified in going public. There is no confidentiality in a parent of a pro investigation.

Diabolo wrote:

Summarises well the questions I too have. And to me explains Sam's reaction, although I think in hindsight he regrets reacting this way. Giving it another couple of days and cooler heads may have prevailed. Asking his entourage for assistance on the matter would also have been wiser. But he's young and this reaction didn't surprise me, nor I think it implies all the things others have tried to imply from it.

Lol imagine the mental breakdown Sam Long would have if he was in Laidlows position!!

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I am not at all surprised that Sam acted the way he did given his age and the mud-slinging that came his way in the last year or so. The guy had people questioning his Kona race in 2022,he got shit for his Rap song and subsequent "bitch fight" with Sam Long at the Collins Cup. He got A LOT of shit and smart ass comments and innuendos after he pulled out of the PTO Ibiza race. People were full on trolling him for having to "move house" and so close to the Chartier doping scandal,many started,not so subtly, saying he pulled out to avoid a drug test. Now he wins in Nice,becomes World Champ making a dream come true and the father of the guy who came 4th throws shade at him. Add all that up and holy shit I am surprised he didn't go into full crazy guy meltdown.
If he doped he will get caught and if he didn't people will still think he did. The guy can't win either way.

Hehehe....

Welllllll except RVBsr’s post here actually made it seem like it was kind of. He sent an email to a professional triathlete documenting testimonials on SL. Which means he went out and effectively surveyed people to gather thei opinions, observations and suppositions. He then shared those in a “confidential” email to a pro which was then shared with SL. The email wasn’t sent to the ITA nor was it an anonymous tip.

His whole post opens a whole lotta questions that don’t seem to have been answered:

Why was he doing his own independent investigation?

Why was it sent to a fellow pro and not to the ITA?

Why did the pro share with a “friend”?

Why did that friend feel it was appropriate to share with SL?

By conducting his own investigation he was implying to those people he “questioned” that SL is a cheat and guilty.

I’m not a SL fan but damn this sure seemed like RvBsr was way out of bounds and SL was justified in going public. There is no confidentiality in a parent of a pro investigation.

Unless you know more than what has been posted on this thread, there is nothing to say that RVB Sr. “leaked” confidential information. People are making wild leaps on this thread.

Based on everything I’ve seen, Sam is the one who put this in the public sphere.

I know some like Shambolic have said it would have been leaked anyway, but that is just hypothesis contrary to fact.

So the person that interrogated the French athletes for 90 minutes wasn’t an ITA investigator but Rudy’s dad??

Are you saying the investigator from the ITA shared their notes on a confidential investigation with RvBsr and he was recapping it for the pro athlete? Or are you saying he reached out to everyone who he thought may be contacted by the ITA and interviewed all of them so he could recap and share with the mystery pro?