amnesty for druggies

oldwelshman

I have an idea to cure the current situation.
Given most of the current pros have taken drugs but just have not been caught, I suggest an amnesty now, then anyone caught from now on gets a ban for life full stop, thats pro and amateur. Most of the threads I see are for pro cyclists but there are just as many amateurs doing the same trying to get pro rides!!!By the way I don't see much press about the golfers and other sportsmen on EPO!!! footballers are the worst, on just about everything!!!

Moose11

Im with you on that. It's something I thought they should have done a few months ago but its not to late. It would clear the air and give everyone a fresh start and then ban them for life if caught.

It's a shame though the press cycling gets but it's because the test more than everyone else that they get more positive tests. I'm a big fan of North American sports and the testing regeim out there were preformance enhancing is rife is a disgrace.

SteveR_100Milers

oldwelshman wrote:

I have an idea to cure the current situation.
Given most of the current pros have taken drugs but just have not been caught, I suggest an amnesty now, then anyone caught from now on gets a ban for life full stop, thats pro and amateur. Most of the threads I see are for pro cyclists but there are just as many amateurs doing the same trying to get pro rides!!!By the way I don't see much press about the golfers and other sportsmen on EPO!!! footballers are the worst, on just about everything!!!

and has to consume a packet of chain degreaser...

Anonymous

But what about the millionaires still cleaning up on past glories?

cabledonuts

Was thinking about the same thing earlier. There are plenty of amateurs doping. Possibly more so with more to prove to gain a pro contract? Just thinking about the mentality of a doper you have to remember that a pro sportsperson is no different from you or I in that we're all human. They're still susceptible to peer pressure or the pressure they put on themselves to perform or do well in their chosen career just as some of us may be. Without the life that they live as pros what else do they have? For some it's a choice of being a pro or back to a 'normal' job. Think about your own job. If you have any ambition you may have cheated in some way? Lied at an interview or on an application form? You need your job just like they do. You have bills and a mortgage to pay and so do they and you want to continue to live the life that you have become accustomed to just like they do. We hear of cyclists saying they suspect such a body in the peleton or in even in their own team dopes. Think about the colleagues you work with. Do you trust them all? I certainly don't. I can think of colleagues who might consider themselves decent people but will f*ck anybody over in pursuit of their own gains. It's easy for us as fans to say well these cyclists shouldn't dope but what do we know about the pressures they're under? Unless you have been a pro sportsperson then what could you possibly know about it? I think it's just a human trait to submit to pressures at times. To take the easy route in the hope nobody will find out. I doubt very much that anyone hasn't done something that they shouldn't. Remember as teenagers down the park or wherever - your mates were smoking so did you try it? They were drinking alcohol so did you try it? How tempting would it be to dope with that carrot of large financial gains in front of you for winning that stage or race? Think about a time you thought about doing something that you knew you shouldn't. The first time you go over it in your head. You think of the consequences of getting caught and what might happen to you. Then for whatever reason you go ahead and do that thing you shouldn't. You realise you got away with it and maybe consider it again. You mull it over again and there's less doubt about it cos you got away with it last time. You do it again and again you're not caught. It continues until you get to the point where you're not getting caught and it all seems too easy. I doubt very much that anyone reading this has not gone through something like this at some point in their life. Maybe it was something as simple as breaking the speed limit? Having an affair? We seem to put sportspeople onto some sort of pedestal thinking that they're somehow different from us. They're not. Obviously they have a responsiblity towards sponsors, fans, etc because when they're caught they drag down the sport's name which affects the fans. I'm as p*ssed off as anyone else with all this - Landis, Vino, Moreni and now Rasmussen out. This is a new low for cycling - I thought the Festina '98 scandal was bad but this is so much worse. I just hope this is now the absolute lowest cycling will get and things will start to improve from this point. But, at the end of the day doping will never go away in professional sport because as long as there are massive financial gains to be had then athletes will always be tempted to dope.

Squaggles

They don't even have drug testing in golf .

skavanagh.bikeradar

WHAT??! So if nobody did any checks that'd make it alright?

RichN95.

Squaggles wrote:

They don't even have drug testing in golf .

Yeah, they said no drug is going to make them play a shot better and steriods or HGH (the alleged drugs) would build up muscle thus effecting the swing.

As a cycling fan and someone who has hit a few balls at the driving range, I thought, yep, that will help them practise longer, hitting balls for four to five hours.

Unfortunately, cycling is the front line in the doping war - far more willing to fight than any other sport. Only swimming and athletics make anywhere near the same effort.

bobtravers

oldwelshman wrote:

I have an idea to cure the current situation.
Given most of the current pros have taken drugs but just have not been caught, I suggest an amnesty now, then anyone caught from now on gets a ban for life full stop, thats pro and amateur. Most of the threads I see are for pro cyclists but there are just as many amateurs doing the same trying to get pro rides!!!By the way I don't see much press about the golfers and other sportsmen on EPO!!! footballers are the worst, on just about everything!!!

But when you know that some drugs take month to go out of human body, how can you control who's good and who's not??

John Stevenson

RichN95 wrote:

Squaggles wrote:

They don't even have drug testing in golf .

Yeah, they said no drug is going to make them play a shot better and steriods or HGH (the alleged drugs) would build up muscle thus effecting the swing.

Beta blockers for concentration? Modafinil to help them stay awake through the relentless boredom of it all?

Two sheds

^ Beta blockers for putting, to avoid the yips. If I recall correctly, some snooker players were caught using these (pro darters as well?).

Two sheds

Dopers being caught; being chucked off the highest profile event in the sport; their teams being chucked off; sponsors pulling the plug... these have surely got to be good things in the long run.

At the moment, some individuals (and teams for all I know) are still taking the risk of doping and getting caught - after all, they've been allowed to get away with it for donkey's years. But the pressure from their peers now seems to be against doping, rather than for it.

It makes me feel that finally the problem is being taken as seriously as it warrants, after all the false dawns (Festina, epo deaths...). I get the feeling that the tide is turning in the peloton as riders see their livelihoods in serious jeopardy.

RichN95.

john_stevenson wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Squaggles wrote:

They don't even have drug testing in golf .

Yeah, they said no drug is going to make them play a shot better and steriods or HGH (the alleged drugs) would build up muscle thus effecting the swing.

Beta blockers for concentration? Modafinil to help them stay awake through the relentless boredom of it all?

That's not my opinion, it's the opinion of the Chairman of the the PGA. I agree with you.

JustRidecp

Squaggles wrote:

They don't even have drug testing in golf .

Yeah, Gary Player thinks its endemic in the sport though. Given that they don't test, I'd imagine there'd be quite a few taking advantage of it. It'd be like having an answer sheet in an exam and you know you wouldn't get in trouble for looking at it. Would be hard not to look.