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(Photo: Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift)
2. Four things we loved from the WNBA All-Star weekend ๐
This past weekend, the WNBA players had themselves a weekend in Indianapolis, and we loved following along. Just a few of our favorite things:
#1: When the players all unveiled "pay us what you owe us" t-shirts
What were the shirts about? The league and the Players Association are in the midst of contract negotiations and they are, uh, not going well.
๐ค LEARN: We broke down why they deserve a higher portion of revenue from the booming league
๐ SUPPORT: And you can support the players with an official "pay them what you owe them" shirt
#2: The behind-the-scenes moments & dancing
It was all about the 72-hour StudBudz livestream over the weekend (brought to the people by Minnesota stars Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman) โ which captured viral moments like WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert getting down on the dance floor and teammate Aliyah Boston taking away Caitlin Clark's drink.
#3: Paige Beuckers' girlfriend reveal
It's been an ongoing debate of 'are they/aren't they' with UConn teammates Azzi Fudd & Beuckers โ until this year's #1 draft pick dropped the reveal on the orange carpet. ๐
#4: Oh yeah, the game ๐
They also played some basketball โ with Napheesa Collier scoring a record 36 points in an All-Star Game and Sabrina Ionescu winning the three-point contest (and giving half her winnings to charity and half to the only rookie in the contest, Sonia Citron).
But, really, we're just here for the vibes!
3. Marathon world record holder gets busted for doping ๐ฌ
Last week, it was also announced that Ruth Chepngetich ๐ฐ๐ช was provisionally suspended for Hydrochlorothiazide โ a diuretic, which can be used as masking agent for other banned substances.
The levels in her sample were 190x the allowed amount, and she's voluntarily accepted the provisional suspension so far. (And she also pulled out of the London Marathon earlier this year.)
What does this mean for other athletes?
When Chepngetich ran a 2:09:56 at the Chicago Marathon many internet commenters thought it was too good to be true โ so much so that Athletics Kenya put out a statement against the "baseless claims." Those of us who said she deserved the benefit of the doubt thought it was possible she was doping, but that we can't go around assuming that of everyone โ and just because a female athlete does something that seems impossible doesn't mean it is impossible!
The problem, though, is that when an athlete is doping it puts a trickle down pressure on the entire race, field, and sport. It's not just a question of the other athletes in the results move up one spot. It's that maybe she went out at a blistering pace that the other athletes (who weren't doping) couldn't hold onto โ as Sara Hall, who took third at that Chicago race, has said. And so it blew them out, and then those athletes didn't do as well as they would have or they fell off or it changed the race. And then those times that are set by dopers are used to establish standards and qualifying marks. And sponsorships and appearance money is based on those performances. Maybe the money Chicago paid Chepngetich would have been spent on other athletes, who would have gotten their own starts or had breakthroughs.
It has a trickledown effect.
Unfortunately, this isn't the end either. The are currently 140 Kenyan athletes on the global suspended list, and the same agents and systems keep taking advantage of the next batch of athletes and the next. There isn't more doping in running than there was a week ago, we just know a little more about it.
READ MORE: At Fast Women
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