I've just read the news about Contador and felt so appalled I had to hunt down this forum in order to voice my anger. I'm only an occasional cycling fan - once in a while I catch a sprint or a hill climb that makes me think "hmm, I could get into this" - then every time I find myself showing interest, another cyclist gets caught for doping. Cycling has become a joke sport. Why bother? I suggest the cycling community accepts it will never get on top of its drug problem and makes doping legal. That way there'll be an even playing field and fans won't find themselves disgusted every time their favourite cyclist turns out to be a junkie.
Why Bother?
- Thread starter Timoteobird
- Start date
I think the sport has made some serious attempts to come to terms with the doping problem.
The doping issue in cycling has directly affected the popularity of the sport to the extent that sponsors have left the sport because of the extent of doping.
Also race organisers are fighting an uphill battle trying to retain sponsors backing for these races.
No commercial organisation can afford to risk it's reputation backing a team/race that is identified with doping.
The affect on the sports popularity has also affected the cycling industry generally. Cycling magazine publishers have seen a drop turnover.
If doping was allowed I think you'd see the popularity of the sport suffer even more.
there are banned drugs to improve your balance and fine subtle movements, olympic archers use them, something called beta blockers or something like that !AZ11Hatch said:Most of us who have been around awhile know that our favorite rider is a junkie. Â It is an unfortunate part of the sport that isn't going away. Â I think about the only sport you'll find with out drugs is table tennis. Â
http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/7408/WADA-chief-confirms-that-Agency-wont-appeal-Dimitrij-Ovtcharovs-Clenbuterol-case-dismissal.aspxOriginally Posted by AZ11Hatch .
Most of us who have been around awhile know that our favorite rider is a junkie. It is an unfortunate part of the sport that isn't going away. I think about the only sport you'll find with out drugs is table tennis.
From Velonation:
Friday, February 11, 2011
German table tennis player Dimitrij Ovtcharov tested positive for Clenbuterol in a sample collected on August 23rd. The Olympic silver medallist and four-time European team champion, tested positive for Clenbuterol in a sample collected on August 23rd. He claimed innocence, saying he must have eaten contaminated food while competing at the Chinese Open, and provided a hair sample which he said cleared him of wrongdoing. The German federation (DTTB) agreed and indicated that he would not be sanctioned.
WADA was widely expected to appeal the decision and indeed said that it reserved the right to do so after the ruling was made. WADA rules state that athletes are ultimately responsible for every substance which is in their bodies, and that they will be sanctioned even if there is no indication to cheat.
However Howman has confirmed media suggestions that WADA would not take the case further. “After careful examination of the case and a full review of the decision rendered by the German Table Tennis Federation, we have reached the conclusion that, based on the individual facts and evidence, there was not sufficient ground to warrant a WADA appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport,â€
Read more: http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/7408/WADA-chief-confirms-that-Agency-wont-appeal-Dimitrij-Ovtcharovs-Clenbuterol-case-dismissal.aspx#ixzz1lepPr8rb
WADA, it would seem, doesn't have a beef with table tennis. The only sport it seemingly wants to chop is cycling and letting the riders face a couple of years of grilling in the process.
I competed in a sport where drugs were allowed by the federation and I was both a user and a dealer for over 12 years. It is best not to go down the road that you entertain. It is better to keep pushing toward a drug free sport even if it seems like a losing battle. Here are a few reason why from my perspective.
- There is a issue of legality. Even though a federation may approve drugs it is still against the law to have in possession some of these drugs without a prescription. If you give a prescription the people that are using the drugs will still be the type to throw in other drugs that are not allowed because they will always be seeking to improve their edge over their competition. In the US the authorities can take your home, your car and whatever else they feel like they want to sieze until you can retain an attorney to reclaim it and that is big money if you are lucky to escape jail. In order to prepare a competitor may have in possession their entire array of drugs for the period and believe me that will make you look like a dealer even if you are not. You have to get it all in advance to make sure the entire cycle goes as planned.
- Those who use will never be satifisfied with the dosing. The type of competitor that uses drugs has the mentality that more is better or at least many of them do. If you give each competitor the same list of drugs to be used in the same manner you would then need to test each one to make sure they are using in the same manner to keep it an apple to apple or level playing field with using drugs. When I was using and the reason I became a dealer was to make sure that what I got was real (there is a lot of counterfeiting out there), but I used what I could get hold of that time. I had no idea of my competition would be using, but I probably was on at least 4 different types of injectables each day. I would use that group for a few weeks and change to another type of group for several weeks and keep rotating. There is no way a federation can control this unless they just did what bodybuilding does and let the competitor work it out on their own. When that happens people get sick from not using correctly or get infections from bad injections.
- If the point is to make a level playing field with drug use and let all competitors use than what is the point? Why not just keep it level with no drug use? That way people do not risk legal issues, do not risk putting their families in scrutiny as a result of legal issues, do not risk health and so on.
- Pro athlete that use do influence young kids as early as high school to use and that is a fact. I was a pretty bad person in society many years ago, but I would not sell to kids. I only sold to high level athletes in my area, but most of my associates would sell and administer to anyone that was interested including kids. When I started using in about 1982 it was a breeze to get whatever I wanted and for cheap, but it did start to become more difficult at time went on and as organized crime started seeing a money opportunity by counterfeiting. People started getting sick from literally dirty drugs or having to go to the emergency room to get an abcess cut out from a dirty injection. Kids have no idea about these things and they do not know how to use. When growth hormone started becoming more popular to local athletes no one really knew how to use it correctly. Even I did not know and there was talk that if you use GH you need to use insulin to go with it. Some people that I knew were starting use insulin even though they had no idea if that was true. Can you imagine the health risk of blindly using GH and insulin and have nothing more than street talk as to how to administer these drugs?
These are just a few points of why I think it is good to keep pushing for a drug free sport. It is not so much what happens with the pros, but what happens to the up and coming athletes and to the even younger inspiring kids and to what may happen to them. They will certainly feel like they need the edge if the pros are getting the edge and no one will be able to control those in the lower ranks. And this is not to do with winning a cheap trophy. I have two walls full of cheap trophies in my basement that I call the wall of shame. I have nothing but first and second place trophies, but I can tell you looking back I am very fortunate that I am not dead, I have not suffered a major health scare yet and got out just before the authorites got hold of my name, but I still lost a lot in the process. I lost friends and a marriage. My home, my health and a lot more could have been suddenly taken from me. I know several athletes that have died from illness like kidney failure or from heart failure. It is best to push for a drug free sport.
