Run-Down Forums

[Conway]

http://www.usatf.org/news/showRelease.asp?article=/news/releases/2002-11-20.xml

Ben Plucknett was an outstanding discus thrower ... I had the privalege of being at Modesto when he set the WR in 1981 ... The one thing that this nor any other article I could find has said is that the reason for Ben's gap from 1980 and 1988 of Olympic teams is that in between he suffered a drug suspension ... I state it here as it did happen AND its relevence to the way in which he died ... A relatively young man of a brain aneurism ... My only wish is that we would quit burying our heads in teh sand !!!!!!!

Still we should mourn the loss of another stellar athlete ...
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Conway
Speed Thrills

[Distance_Guru]

I read about this. Plunkett was from Beatrice Nebraska so it's been in the local news.

I don't think that there is doubt in the minds of anyone who is around the sport or knew of his record with steriods. They did play a part in his early death, there is no doubt about that. I think that there are two reasons it isn't being talked about exstemsively. First off because he was a track athlete and more than that he was a thrower. So he was in a sport that gets little press and an event that is primarily used for editing purposes to cut away during distance races. Also I think that some people might feel that a little time needs to pass before they get up on their soap boxes and start pointing to h the deceased as another example of how drugs brought an untimely end to yet another athlete.
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Time is the fire in which we burn

[Dan]

It was pointed out that one peculiarity of Plunkett's record is that he surpassed the WR but never officially got credit for it, as the IAAF refused the record on the basis of the failed drug test but the US federation allowed it to stand as an American Record.

Dan