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Reading this here this morning really made me angry. For those who follow the sport and are as old as I am Eddy Merckx will always be the greatest cyclist of all time but Lance is a close second and a man I greatly admire. This POS Landis couldn't climb the rope so he wants to pull down those who could. :rant:
Sounds exactly like a 15 year old who'd been caught smoking wakky bakky. "But mum, everyone does it..!"
Theres absolutely no point in having competitive sport if the paying field isnt level, anyone can see that. And these guys who dope are the first to sit there preaching clean living and exercise while their shenanigans arent public, but as soon as they are its denials and counter accusations all the way.
If you dope to compete in professional sports, you should be chucked out permanently AFAIC.
Here is a guy who finally admits that he has been lying for the past four years and now comes forward with the admission of guilt accompanied with these accusations for which he has no proof whatsoever. I hope it isn't true but unfortunately there will always be some ambiguity there.
I feel sorry for these athletes who came of age in the era of performance enhancing drugs. The temptation to take advantage of them must be almost unbearable with the competitive drive that the top players have. Along with that the knowledge that your competitors are probably using the stuff to their advantage.
Jimmy, I hate to spoil it for you , but Merckx was a user as well. He admitted as much a couple of years ago during the local Belgian doping scandals.
I think there isn't a single top level cyclist who doesn't use -something- to allow him to get an edge. The only difference is whether what they are using or how they are using it is legal or not, and whether it is picked up in drug tests or not.
Actually...the playing field IS level because most all of them do it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stubear
Whatever happened to the notion that the best skilled at a particular sport wins as opposed to the athlete with the best drugs win?
True, but the thing is its only MOST of them. So the ones who've decided to complete solely on the sweat of their brow and skill get left behind because the other guys are all using something.Quote:
Originally Posted by LX_Emergency
I do agree with Mark as well, it should be the best man wins. Not the one who's using the best drugs, or the ones that didnt show up in testing.
drugs don't win it for these guys. The drugs may allow some who would not be competitive otherwise move up a bit. They also give the great ones a boost too. Blood doping went on for many years in the "aerobic sports". It is still hard to tell when a guy infuses himself with a unit of packed cells..(Red blood cells which effectively gives one more "wind") The natural way is to train at altitude, (the higher you live, the higher your red blood cell count). . They won't make a champion out of just anyone like some beleive.
If Lance Armstrong had any testosterone levels, it would have been artificial. men don't make this when they have been castrated because of testicular cancer period..
It is well documented that anabolic steroids are safe and effective when used properly with proper dosing in adult men,(no teens). The politically correct say otherwise without scientific proof. Its funny that all the studies done to prove steroids dangerous failed in that respect. The only bad thing found on a regular basis is more frequent acne.
My views on this are well researched. I'm a Doctor of Pharmacy and have read every study i could get my hands on. It may very well be unethical to use performance enhancers, but the fact is that safe and effective use is possible.
Kirk (Exarcher)
At the moment it's being sidelined by the financial rewards while prestige (national/individual etc) is taking a back seat. Wasn't so in the past, of course, when the combination was more weighted in the other direction. The ancient Olympic games were rife with unfair advantages gained. Plus ça change and all that.Quote:
Originally Posted by JMS
I have to confess that I am cynically ambivalent about it (in fact, a glance at the terrain those guys cover during the Tour de France in six or so weeks led me to think that if they're not on drugs, then they should be), but my Dad, no mean athlete in his day, has given up watching track and field as a result of the doping around those events.
True. I read that the reason steroids got banned was that there was a proliferation of amateurish usage of steroids (incl with teenager boys) leading to many problems.Quote:
Originally Posted by exarcher