It surprises me that people's response to evidence of alleged doping is akin
to them having had their religion denied.
There is a long and well known tradition of performance enhancing substance
use in cycling (and a host of other sports) - be it steroids, amphetamines,
alcohol or Bolivian-marching-powder. Use was rife before it was explicitly
illegal throughout the 50s, 60s and presumably earlier. In the 70s it was a
grey area and then became more clearly and formally identified as 'wrong'
and 'bad' in the 80s.
Don't get me wrong - THIS IS NOT A PRO-DOPING RANT. It is clearly
undesireable and those who infringe should be penalised. BUT one is naive
if one imagines that, as a minimum, the majority of participants are not
'experimenting' with 'techniques' at the margin and in the legislative grey
areas to find that extra burst in the sprint or a last kick at the end of a
long climb.
Where careers are typically short, the probability of success low, the price
of mere adequacy is an obscure and impecunious future - and rewards to the
few cycling-gods are stellar - massive incentives to elasticate (and
outright infringe) the legal envelope exist.
In one, two, three years time newly annointed cycling-gods (or evil-doers)
will be being besmirched by iconoclasts (or righteous whistleblowers) - once
again it will depend in large part, on one's point of view, the adequacy of
the evidence and the strength of assertions. But it will also rely upon the
quality of one's lawyers, sports scientists and spin doctors.
So relax. Treat this (and experience it) for the raw human drama that it
is - Shakespeare couldn't have written this stuff. On and off the course,
in and out of the laboratory and through court rooms cut, thrust, parry and
finely tweaked nuance are all magnified by an eagre media for our titilation
and enjoyment. Most of all remember that none of this would happen if it
were not that we are all interested - we read the media, we debate right
from wrong, we buy the brands, we pretend that we are Jan or Eddy or Master
Jacques. Inadvertantly we create the gods, the demons, the monsters. And
we damn or redeem sinners.
The culture is too litigious for one to launch a spray at specific riders
(or events) - past or present. Just accept that it is an ever present
undercurrent of all professional sport and that from time to time it will
spill over into the public conciousness. And when it does, it will be
better than any soap-opera and should be taken only as seriously.
You created the gods - only you can deny them.