OLYMPIC DOPING

[Gross]

First blood to the cyclists................

In the first official doping case of the Beijing Olympics, Spanish cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno was kicked out of the games Monday after testing positive for EPO.

Moreno, who was to compete in the women's road race and individual time trial, was tested in the athletes' village July 31 and left China later the same day before learning the result, the International Olympic Committee said.

[Adventure Racer]

[Gross]

It's not really surprising that some sports have continued doping problems with the attitude shown above by Adventure Racer.... Doping is an important subject & the guilty should be named & shamed....

[Kitch]

This pre competition testing has been an effective move for the Games, keeping the bad press to a minimum during competition.

Its crazy that they turn up knowing that they will get caught if tested.
With targeted testing now being applied in cycling they should know they will be tested.

If AR's response is because he thinks you are having a pop at cycling thats a bit funny - I think the image and attitude now developing within cycling is actually better than for athletics.

In cycling we are seeing zero tolerance develop - these days it seems if you are caught you are out and don't expect to come back. The race will chuck you out, your team will chuck you out, if your team repeat offends it will be chucked out or withdraw. Your sponsor will probably pull out - both Barloworld and Saugnier Duval withdrew sponsorship following the Tour.
Riders are talking drugs free, teams are announcing drugs free policies, actively engaging independent testing labs. Funnily it seems that the professional team set up is now looking more effective at creating (slowly) a drugs free sport.

Contrast this with "amateur" athletics and Dwain Chamber's spineless wining to the courts (following the footsteps of various americans).

[Gross]

I listened to Dwain Chambers on the radio the other day... what a load of crap... he was simply trying to pre-sell his book coming out in October. He did drugs, was caught & banned....

Similarly... a certain female 400m who is now a hero failed the drugs rules was banned & got back in.... she should be banned.... Get caught cheating & your out... simple....

[EddieH]

Yes, but it is precisely this attitude which created such a huge injustice for Diana Modal when the drugs testers caused her samples to be altered.

Similarly if you have no sympathy for Alan Baxter who bought the same label drug abroad that he was authorised to take in the UK then I just hope you never become someone with major power over people in any walk of life.

[Gross]

imilarly if you have no sympathy for Alan Baxter who bought the same label drug abroad that he was authorised to take in the UK then I just hope you never become someone with major power over people in any walk of life.

Of course you must sympathise with Alan Baxter... the system let him down, but he still didn't keep to the rules. (And the medication Baxter took in the US was the same brand as in the UK but with different ingredients... and all elite athletes would be aware of this possibility & been warned to double check everything)

Just because a speed limit sign in UK says '50' doesn't mean it's the same as one in Europe that says '50'... same sign, different ingredients.

[Wendles]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ ... 515784.ece

First time I've seen this viewpoint on testing!

[PKJ]

Stepping tentatively into a minefield......
OK 'first blood to the cyclists' at the games, as opposed to the pre-competition failures, eg: by Russians & Greeks :-
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/au ... ugsinsport
- http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/08/09 ... index.html

Olympic athletics or Olympic cycling - which is cleaner?
Is the UK team proving that you can win cycling medals without doping?

[mappingmum]

a certain female 400m who is now a hero failed the drugs rules was banned & got back in.... she should be banned....

There is a subtle difference between Chambers and Christine Ohuruogu. Dwain Chambers took banned substances. It's proven. Christine O didn't take banned substances. She wasn't where she said she was going to be on 3 seperate occassions. Yes, it's not complying with the testing procedures but that doesn't mean she is guilty of the same offence as Chambers.

[awk]

Similarly... a certain female 400m who is now a hero failed the drugs rules was banned & got back in.... she should be banned.... Get caught cheating & your out... simple....

Except the respective bodies accepted the fact that she wasn't cheating, which is a deliberate attempt to deceive/defraud. You may disagree, but those who know more think differently.

Interesting the differences in attitudes towards Dwain Chambers and David Miller. Both caught cheating, one abhorred, one now respected. Something to do with their attitudes and actions after being caught?

[Adventure Racer]

It's not really surprising that some sports have continued doping problems with the attitude shown above by Adventure Racer

I suspect even if Dick Pound expressed his boredom at another of your obvious digs at cycling it wouldn't actually make any difference to the drugs testing regime of any sport. The question of course is which sports do have the biggest ongoing drugs problem - those who carry out lots of tests, the results of which are well publicised, or those who carry out less tests and tend to keep the results as secret as possible?

re David Millar - I imagine he might have got more general support if it had been him attempting to overturn the BOC ruling and get a ride in the olympics (and he might have actually stood a chance of a medal this morning), but then that's partly because he'd almost certainly never attempt such a thing! Unlike Dwain he's become an anti drugs spokesman and now rides for a team which is at the forefront of the anti-doping programme.

[awk]

re David Millar - I imagine he might have got more general support if it had been him attempting to overturn the BOC ruling and get a ride in the olympics (and he might have actually stood a chance of a medal this morning), but then that's partly because he'd almost certainly never attempt such a thing! Unlike Dwain he's become an anti drugs spokesman and now rides for a team which is at the forefront of the anti-doping programme.

Exactly!
BTW, for those who enjoy the cycling (like us!), tickets are on sale for the World Cup at the Manchester Velodrome Oct 31- Nov 2, but I suspect will start disappearing fast if the medals start mounting up further.

[ifor]

If you realy want a bad doping sport it's US professional baseball. Now they are trying to do somthing about it I think the penalty is still only somthing like a 30 day ban for the first offence. Two years back before the Balco stuff broke they well and truly had the heads in the sand far worse than cycling.

Ifor

[PKJ]

Well, it's now one more person disqualified from the Olympics for failing a drugs test at Beijing than at Moscow in 1980 (wonder why )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doping_at_ ... mpic_Games

And the same number as at Mexico City - looks like they were really concerned about the menace of alcohol in sport back in 1968.