why do they cheat?

The questrion, "why do they cheat" is a good one.

To me, taking banned substances is the same sort of cheating that
turning the engine on in your sailboat during a race would be.

Any sailor who who do htat would be laughed and scorned at--but
moreover, one wouldn't do it because it takes away the whole point of
the race. In cheating like that , one does not win.

So, your question is good. Are athletes ethically challenged?

"Callistus Valerius" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Eight cross-country skiers competing in the Olympics, including two
Americans, were suspended for five days after they were found to have
excessive hemoglobin levels, the International Ski Federation announced
Thursday.

The cross-country testing was done by the ski federation, which said it
sampled 224 athletes over two days this week. Athletes are training for
the
games at Pragelato.

Hemoglobin is the part of a red blood cell that carries oxygen from the
lungs to all cells and can increase endurance. Illicit strategies such as
the use of synthetic hemoglobin and blood transfusions have been used by
some athletes to increase the oxygen in the muscles.

The American athletes are Kikkan Randall, 23, from Anchorage, Alaska, and
Leif Zimmermann, 22, of Bozeman, Mont. The others are: Sean Crooks of
Canada, Sergey Dalidovich of Belarus, Jean Marc Gaillard of France,
Aleksandr Latzukin of Belarus, Natalia Matveeva of Russia, and Evi
Sachenbacher of Germany.
-----------
Looks like those cross-country skiers picked a few pointers from cyclists
doing winter cross-training on boards.

Too much honour for bicycle racing. Cross-country skiers were the first to
use EPO, not cyclists.

Benjo

5 DAYS???!
Pretty wimpy. Should be at least until the Olympics are over.

How do you know that they cheated? High hemoglobin levels aren't
definitive proof of EPO use.

Quoted message said:

5 DAYS???!
Pretty wimpy. Should be at least until the Olympics are over.

Well, it's not like they tested positive, per say. Dehydration and
altitude change things around quite a bit. Zimmerman, at least, claims
to test around 17 g/dl all the time
(http://www.fasterskier.com/racing3076.html), and is really a buffoon
not to have clearence from the FIS yet. This is more indicative of the
idiocy of having a set hematocrit/hemoglibin level for all athletes
than of drug use. You can expect a rant about this on my page tomorrow.

-Cosmo
http://cyclocosm.com

http://www.fasterskier.com/racing3076.html

Quoted message said:

Well, it's not like they tested positive, per say. Dehydration and
altitude change things around quite a bit. Zimmerman, at least, claims
to test around 17 g/dl all the time
(http://www.fasterskier.com/racing3076.html), and is really a buffoon
not to have clearence from the FIS yet. This is more indicative of the
idiocy of having a set hematocrit/hemoglibin level for all athletes
than of drug use. You can expect a rant about this on my page tomorrow.

Well, call me a skeptic but when people claim accidents and
ignorance about stuff everyone knows about, I gotta wonder.
Especially when it is a sport with a long history of doping
like XC Skiing. I think it is an indicator that some of those
guys, maybe not all, are doping.

Every single pro bike racer knows about the test and the
trouble it can cause. So they take appropriate measures, read
Voet's book. Skiers are every bit as smart about this stuff
as cyclists. Or they should be.

Bob Schwartz

All you guys still on this? none of you UNDERSTAND a flippin' thing.
Go back to sitting behind your computers and entering dull numbers or
whatever it is you do.

Give over guys!!!! You'll seemingly never get it.