Why Chrissie Wellington Did Not Start Kona (Warning: Contains Spoilers, Speculation)

Since this post was pure speculation and since Chrissie has since offered convincing explanation for her DNS at the 2010 Ironman World Championship, I've decided to delete this post.

Here are several updates that I posted after Kona that explain Chrissie's DNS.

UPDATE 10/14: Having read the official word from Chrissie on her blog, I suppose we can put an end to the wild speculation. It seems she was feeling pretty awful, though I must admit I've had identical symptoms before race day, and I always chalked them up to nerves.

UPDATE 10/21: Chrissie answered questions about her decision not to start Ironman Kona here on the Triathlete website. Read the whole interview or get the gist: "I do want to address some of the rumors that have been going around. I’ve deliberately not been reading the websites and the forums, but the rumors have come back to me. Some of them are laughable, like the fact that I’m pregnant. Others are more defamatory. That I was in someway avoiding the more stringent drug testing procedure is ludicrous to me. ... To suggest that I didn’t race because of a drug test is ludicrous and insulting."

UPDATE 10/29: Yikes! Chrissie was sick as a dog! Post-Kona blood tests revealed that the poor woman had strep, pneumonia, and West Nile--all at once! Here's Chrissie's blog post with the grisly details.

UPDATE 2/22/11: Chrissie has published all her drug test results since she turned pro. I believe this is a commendable gesture on her part, not because she has anything to prove (or disprove) but because she recognizes the importance of fair competition and the need to maintain the trust of fans of the sport.