"another interesting piece I found on the UCI and president Pat McQuaid " Thread

[D-Queued]

The cancellation/postponement of the Tour of Hangzhou gives reason for a deserving bump to this thread.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-postpones-tour-of-hangzhou

Oddly put on the UCI Calendar in its first year, signed up for four, and already running into problems.

Of course, it was Pat & Hein's for profit monopoly that signed them up in the first place.

I am sure the bonuses paid out (to Pat and Hein of course) in order to get their blessing to put the event on the UCI calendar are not in any jeopardy.

Dave.

 

[thehog]

The cancellation/postponement of the Tour of Hangzhou gives reason for a deserving bump to this thread.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-postpones-tour-of-hangzhou

Oddly put on the UCI Calendar in its first year, signed up for four, and already running into problems.

Of course, it was Pat & Hein's for profit monopoly that signed them up in the first place.

I am sure the bonuses paid out (to Pat and Hein of course) in order to get their blessing to put the event on the UCI calendar are not in any jeopardy.

Dave.

Must be making way for the truth and reconciliation conference?

 

[the big ring]

http://www.celtictrails.com/html/ct_about.shtml

And the story doesn't just end with the boys. Ann McQuaid for six years published bicycle magazines for some of the world's biggest bike races including the official Tour de France guide. She also published the official guide to the Grundig World Cup mountain bike series and the magazine for the mountain bike World's championships.

Nepotism: noun; see McQuaid, Pat

 

[the big ring]

From the 2011 UCI Congress: http://www.uci.ch/Modules/BUILTIN/g...bjTypeCode=FILE&type=FILE&id=Nzg5ODI&LangId=1

The international position of cycling had also been strengthened, in particular with the Tour Down Under, in Australia, which was constantly growing in scale. This year, the City of Melbourne had received the “UCI Bike City” distinction and Cadel Evans had become the first Australian rider to win the Tour de France, reflecting the success of the globalisation of cycling promoted by the UCI.

Pat McQuaid took money from not for profit UCI for free so he could create a for-profit enterprise called GCP. He then blackmailed pro teams to force them to race his Tour of Beijing, while GCP raked in the television rights income.

That's why Cadel won the Tour de France.

 

[the big ring]

More 2011 Congress lols

Apologies for absence:
Mr J. Atsma (outgoing member)
Mr H. Verbruggen (Honorary President)

The tenacious work done by the UCI to prevent doping is finally “paying dividends”. The Tour de France, which is a
barometer of the fight against doping, proved a real sporting and popular success in 2011 and the media and public
interest focused on the sport rather than on doping scandals. Thanks to the commitment of one and all to the fight
against doping, the image of cycling has been greatly improved and the UCI is receiving more and more messages
of support from the international sporting community and the media. The UCI is recognised today as a pioneer in the
fight against doping.

The Congress granted affiliation to the Federation of Congo (Brazzaville) and the Federation of Mozambique.
The President of the Federation of Congo (Brazzaville) thanked the Congress and expressed his pleasure at becoming
an official member of the cycling family.
The Vice-President of the Mozambique Federation thanked the members of the UCI for granting definitive affiliation
to his federation, especially as it had been honoured to organise the All African Games in 2011 as a provisionally
affiliated member.

 

[I Watch Cycling In July]

Did all the back slapping in those minutes fill you with confidence that the UCI congress is an effective governance group, which holds the organisation to the highest standards?

All the excitement about the TDU making the UCI more international are a laugh when the Oceania confederation if collapsing.

2 management committee places open, 2 nominations received. Why?

 

[the big ring]

Did all the back slapping in those minutes fill you with confidence that the UCI congress is an effective governance group, which holds the organisation to the highest standards?

All the excitement about the TDU making the UCI more international are a laugh when the Oceania confederation if collapsing.

2 management committee places open, 2 nominations received. Why?

To be honest I have an aversion to meetings of all kinds, and to be reading minutes of a meeting is very strange behaviour on my part. A lunch-time diversion.

Kinda keen to read the WADA minutes next.

I wonder how the other African national federations felt when a non-affiliated (strictly speaking) nation were given the All Africa games to run. Maybe it's just my cynicism but it sounds like rampant corruption to me.

After seeing Klaus Muellers TV spot where ASADA supports USADA but UCI has jurisdiction and Turtur having no problems with Lance receiving $2M in appearance fees the same year they deleted the HP MTB program (a saving of $1M), I am thinking more and more some other method of action is required here.

As much as I like to denigrate McQuaid, I am very keen to do something positive for the sport of cycling (beyond supporting the local club by racing / volunteering and coaching riders) in terms of
1. making sure people know / realise wtf is going on
2. helping bring about a change for the better.

 

[the big ring]

I had no idea the purpose of the congress was to hold the UCI accountable. It sounded more like a celabratory shindig (party) to me .

Any idea what the fees are for National federations? All it said was - no change in fees.

 

[skippy]

And before i can make a comment , i must spend minutes looking at the " Ads "!
This Arvo i tried to log on and got the " Used your 5 failed attempts message " , several 15min waits then ensued , after using the same formula as here tonight !

Now for my comment :

Started this thread back on 23rd June but received derision :
" Sporting Moratorium "
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=17557

Wonder why when Fat Pat chooses to follow my suggestions , he sticks his head above the parapet so early ? Is he testing the wind ? Such a pity Jacques Rogge cannot be a part of the meeting to ensure an " Amnesty " run by WADA & IOC is put in place !

Anyone got access to the Venue details or minutes of the "World Champs Congress " as Yet ? Please advise as i am keen to see if Vittorio Adorni will show up since i will have a " RAI TV Bidon " to give him ! As some will know these items have a clear message " STOP DOPING "! Even in Italian the message is clear !

 

[Tinman]

Skippy, IWCJ, the big ring, and others working on UCI side: appreciate what you guys are doing to dig around the sports administration side and make positive suggestions for change. It sets you apart from many of the posters here. It's the positive way to facilitate change. Please keep up your enthousiasm and energy, ignore the rest! It is highly likely some of your material will spark someone else to dig deeper or publish and article or shape opinion. Thanks.

 

[Velodude]

not sure if this has been posted,from the same site....
http://bicycling.com/blogs/boulderreport/2012/08/03/troubles-on-the-track/2/


"What about keirin, essentially a multi-rider match sprint with strange rules? A 2008 BBC investigation found that, in exchange for making the event an Olympic discipline, Japanese Keirin Association officials essentially paid up to $3 million in bribes to the UCI. What do you expect from a sport that was created to support sports betting?"

Here is that report on 2008 BBC investigation which was discussed on this forum way back.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7525072.stm

The Japanese claim that no cash changed hands relating to the $3m "bribe" to the UCI to get the keirin into the 2000 Olympics.

The Japanese would pay invoices on behalf of the UCI (limited in total to $3m ?). In the 1997 printout shown these invoices related only to Verbruggen's travel expenses and a Dutch resident business' invoices.

At the rate of expenditure as exemplified it would take decades to draw down the $3m "bribe".

Apparently none of these expenses paid by the Japanese were included in the UCI financial statements. To do so would require an offsetting credit termed, say , "bribes received" (?) and open the arrangement up to audit that the payments were bona fide, reasonable and incurred for the benefit of the UCI.

Obviously Verbruggen had control of the nature and direction of these payments by the Japanese so it would be in his interest to keep their existence suppressed if he was having a fiddle.

 

[LauraLyn]

Was that McQuaid presenting the medals to the 4x100m mens relay teams? If so how and why?

It is hard to understand how someone who is himself banned from the Olympics for cheating and lying about it is allowed to present medals to the athletes.

 

[D-Queued]

It is hard to understand how someone who is himself banned from the Olympics for cheating and lying about it is allowed to present medals to the athletes.

Unless you know something about the history of corruption in the IOC.

Dave.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Here is that report on 2008 BBC investigation which was discussed on this forum way back.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7525072.stm

The Japanese claim that no cash changed hands relating to the $3m "bribe" to the UCI to get the keirin into the 2000 Olympics.

The Japanese would pay invoices on behalf of the UCI (limited in total to $3m ?). In the 1997 printout shown these invoices related only to Verbruggen's travel expenses and a Dutch resident business' invoices.

At the rate of expenditure as exemplified it would take decades to draw down the $3m "bribe".

Apparently none of these expenses paid by the Japanese were included in the UCI financial statements. To do so would require an offsetting credit termed, say , "bribes received" (?) and open the arrangement up to audit that the payments were bona fide, reasonable and incurred for the benefit of the UCI.

Obviously Verbruggen had control of the nature and direction of these payments by the Japanese so it would be in his interest to keep their existence suppressed if he was having a fiddle.

This is brilliant corruption. It makes Armstrong's scam look like a bad Three Card Monty hustle. It stays off the UCI organization and directly benefits the owners of the Dutch business.

 

[skippy]

Wrote a letter to the Austrian President todaysking that he " Suspend Austrian Doping Laws " during an " Amnesty controlled by WADA & IOC " so that ANY athletes , past or present can come forward without fear of legal ramifications !

Posting this on my facebook wall , i told my 3500 " friends " that they can post this item to their walls and write their " Presidents / Heads of State " or "TAKE A HIKE "!

Time some of you cut the yap and wrote to your " HEAD HONCHOS " for ACTION NOW so that 19-20 Sept UCI Management meeting becomes " HOW WE ARE GOING TO COMPLY WITH THE AMNESTY " not a bunfight by school kids about saving their AR.. !

Time , we the public , called time and motivated the kindergarten that calls itself an organisation to go the " hard yards " and put in place CONTROLS to prevent a return to the mess/joke it now appears to be to ALL that do not have their snout in the trough !

 

[mb2612]

I wonder how the other African national federations felt when a non-affiliated (strictly speaking) nation were given the All Africa games to run. Maybe it's just my cynicism but it sounds like rampant corruption to me.

The all africa games are multi-sport, so while they contain cycling it's not the key events, it would be like the Olympics being awarded to a country not a member of the UCI.

I'm sure the process for the All Africa games is corrupt, but we can be fairly sure that very little money reached Big Pat on this occasion.

 

[I Watch Cycling In July]

I had no idea the purpose of the congress was to hold the UCI accountable. It sounded more like a celabratory shindig (party) to me .

Any idea what the fees are for National federations? All it said was - no change in fees.

Perhaps the most important role of a governing body is to hold the organisation accountable. That is why, for example, the audited financial reports are usually presented to the governing body for scrutiny (although sometimes they are presented to the membership).

I was resisting the temptation to have another governance rant in response to this post till I read the WADA statues (constitution). It has the clauses in it which clarify the accountability role, a role that is notably absent from the UCI's contitution.

WADA statutes: Article 10 - Obligations of the Foundation Board (equivalent to UCI congress)
The Foundation Board is obliged, in particular:

2. to supervise the committees or persons entrusted with the running and representation of the Foundation, in order to ensure that the activity of the Foundation is in accordance with the Law, the present statutes and the rules, and to keep itself informed about the conduct of the activities of the Foundation;

4. to promulgate the rules relating to the Foundation Board itself, the Executive Committee and other committees, together with all other rules indispensable to the operation of the Foundation, subject to the approval of the supervisory authority (Swiss Federal Department of the Interior)

Haven't had time to look at the foundation Board and Exec rules yet but, given the high standard to the WADA statutes, I expect there will be some robust disciplinary mechanisms that may be of interest to us.

@tinman, which country are you living in? Anyone one the WADA board from your country?

 

[Tinman]

I think what we need is an "execution recipe", maybe a draft standard letter people can send to their national cycling fed, as well as their national WADA representative.

Can then also ask people to ask their clubmates to do same. Create a bit of groundswell.

 

[I Watch Cycling In July]

I think what we need is an "execution recipe", maybe a draft standard letter people can send to their national cycling fed, as well as their national WADA representative.

Can then also ask people to ask their clubmates to do same. Create a bit of groundswell.

I'm working on it tinman, just a bit distracted by some other commitments for the next few days. The national feds would need a different letter to WADA imo, because there are so many bad apples there.

Ideally at the same time someone would organise some kind of social media or publicity stunt. That is probably an easier way to demonstrate numbers of supporters than circulating boring letters. Don't know much about how to make that happen though.

 

[the big ring]

It may pay to take WADA's lead in this. Not a lot of point in doing something if there is insufficient evidence at that level to actually request that something be done: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/howman-welcomes-hgh-test-talks-hamilton-and-uci

... The UCI President Pat McQuaid told Cyclingnews during the Olympics that WADA had a vendetta against the UCI and cycling. However, Howman has remained determined not to comment on the specifics of the case until after the evidence has been presented.

“What we’ve got to do is remain above all of that and make sure that what we do is independent. We’ve got a right to see it all and then decide if there’s an appeal from our end and then make sure we guard that right preciously and make sure we do that by not commenting on what other people are saying. That's difficult because sometimes the natural inclination is to respond to criticism but we’ve waited in the past and we’ll wait this time."

As for McQuaid’s comments, Howman added: “I think that’s pretty unfair and untrue. It’s a regrettable comment to have made. I don’t understand that. There’s a situation at the moment where a lot of words have been spoken in a scenario where we’ve got to shut up and wait for the reasoned decision from USADA. We’ll do that because we’ve got to show the world that we’ve looked at it carefully. We don’t want to start saying what we think or feel in the media. It’s just not right."

 

[sniper]

German opinion article warns that, if Pat gets what he wants, UCI will get away with murder and global fight against doping will be seriously damaged.

Article claims that Pat will opt for stripping lance of titles and providing amnesty for all riders who doped in that Era. Pat will propose to label the Lance Era as the "Black Era". The deal will be sealed this week in Valkenburg. It would be the ideal way for UCI to get away with murder, dodge some bullets, and avoid taking responsibility for its own role in the case. Pat is quoted as saying: ""Ich freue mich, dass wir das wohl umsetzen können" ("I'm glad we can quickly accomplish this")

Especially Verbruggen must be dealt with, the article says:

Verbruggen liked to praise Lance as "living evidence of a racer who doesn't cheat", as one who "doesn't take any medicines and yet is under doping suspicion". Still in 2011 Verdruggem put himself forward as Lance's PR man: "Lance never doped. Never, never, never!". This half-religious belief of this top functionary must be investigated a.s.a.p., especially considering that Verbruggen is still the head of SportAccord, the body that controls all sporting bodies. And he is also an IOC honorary member, and is active behind the scenes of the China-Tour

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/sport/doping-im-radsport-angst-vor-der-causa-armstrong-1.1468705

 

[Benotti69]

German opinion article warns that, if Pat gets what he wants, UCI will get away with murder and global fight against doping will be seriously damaged.

Article claims that Pat will opt for stripping lance of titles and providing amnesty for all riders who doped in that Era. Pat will propose to label the Lance Era as the "Black Era". The deal will be sealed this week in Valkenburg. It would be the ideal way for UCI to get away with murder, dodge some bullets, and avoid taking responsibility for its own role in the case. Pat is quoted as saying: ""Ich freue mich, dass wir das wohl umsetzen können" ("I'm glad we can quickly accomplish this")

Especially Verbruggen must be dealt with, the article says:


http://www.sueddeutsche.de/sport/doping-im-radsport-angst-vor-der-causa-armstrong-1.1468705

This would not surprise me in the least and everyone in pro cycling probably wants to make it dissappear as soon as possible.

Wonder will Armstrong take it well and what his reaction will be?

Will he try and drag the UCI under the bus? if he does will he be able to drag them under without sinking himself further into people's mindset as a doper, cheat and a fraud?

 

[sniper]

This would not surprise me in the least and everyone in pro cycling probably wants to make it dissappear as soon as possible.

Wonder will Armstrong take it well and what his reaction will be?

Will he try and drag the UCI under the bus? if he does will he be able to drag them under without sinking himself further into people's mindset as a doper, cheat and a fraud?

the article suggests Pat's scenario will also be the preferred option for Lance.
A CAs appeal from the UCI would mean more stuff about Lance's doping regime would come out in the open, making Lance vulnerable for new/other (e.g. criminal) indictments.

 

[the big ring]

German opinion article warns that, if Pat gets what he wants, UCI will get away with murder and global fight against doping will be seriously damaged.

Article claims that Pat will opt for stripping lance of titles and providing amnesty for all riders who doped in that Era. Pat will propose to label the Lance Era as the "Black Era". The deal will be sealed this week in Valkenburg. It would be the ideal way for UCI to get away with murder, dodge some bullets, and avoid taking responsibility for its own role in the case. Pat is quoted as saying: ""Ich freue mich, dass wir das wohl umsetzen können" ("I'm glad we can quickly accomplish this")

Especially Verbruggen must be dealt with, the article says:

especially considering that Verbruggen is still the head of SportAccord, the body that controls all sporting bodies. And he is also an IOC honorary member, and is active behind the scenes of the China-Tour

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/sport/doping-im-radsport-angst-vor-der-causa-armstrong-1.1468705

Verbruggen is also the honorary president of the UCI.

 

[Tinman]

Great posts. This is where the action is and has to be.

So UCI meeting in 3 days. How about an open letter to Pat, signed by several big names, with some very specific questions about UCI leadership (ie. lack thereof) on anti-doping over the past 15 or so years.

Need to keep pushing the UCI issue and move beyond the Lance case, exactly as you guys are pointing out.