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Cookson is worse for cycling than McQuaid

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Feb 22, 2011
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rickshaw said:
Man Oh Man... I've been crying soo hard about poor Lance having to give up all the things he cheated so hard for so long to acquire. The jet, the house in Austin, the $$millions$$, it just goes on and on. Is there no justice, he cheated fair and square to get that stuff.

But Lance should do himself a favor and take the Dirty Harry DVDs back to the library. The head of the UCI is not a sociopath like himself and his job is not to "take people down". That is how Lance sees the world, that is what Lance used to do. That is what he's trying to do now in these lame interviews.

So you're saying cycling is all clean now that Lance lost his money and perks? The job of Cookson is to lift cycling up, and that can only be accomplished by denying there's a huge problem (as he is currently doing) or "bringing people down." That is Cookson's plight, and regardless of whether Lance's opinion is based on Lance's personal pathology, it's actually a valid point--Cookson has become a cheerleader/enabler of a (still) dirty sport.
 
skippythepinhead said:
rickshaw said:
The head of the UCI is not a sociopath like himself and his job is not to "take people down". That is how Lance sees the world, that is what Lance used to do. That is what he's trying to do now in these lame interviews.

So you're saying cycling is all clean now that Lance lost his money and perks? The job of Cookson is to lift cycling up, and that can only be accomplished by denying there's a huge problem (as he is currently doing) or "bringing people down." That is Cookson's plight, and regardless of whether Lance's opinion is based on Lance's personal pathology, it's actually a valid point--Cookson has become a cheerleader/enabler of a (still) dirty sport.

You are 100 % wrong and out to lunch. Rickshaw is bang on. The reality is Armstrong has aided and abetted the failure of cycling to take people down by his cynical refusal to co-operate with the UCI, USADA and WADA. Armstrong does not have the moral courage to go to these organizations and tell all. This is hardly Cookson's fault.

LA trolls, baits, prevaricates and bloviates in these interviews because he has an obsessive and pathological need for attention. The depth of LA's ignorance is at least several light years away.

What people don't understand about Cookson's job is that is mostly as an Administrator. True he sets the tone, but he has on a zillion occasions spoken out strongly against doping. Either that or you are simply ignorant of what Cookson has said on the record. To suggest Cookson is a cheerleader/enabling for doping is a farrago of nonsense and absurd.
 
May 26, 2010
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Under McQuaid's 'watch', Contador, Basso, Armstrong, Vino, Valverde, Ullrich were all suspended. Not really McQuaids doing, but his hand was forced and all these got bans.

Cookson has let off Rogers, Kreuz, Impey & Astana after making promises to be hard on doping.

So it looks to me that Cookson is officially worse for cycling than his predecessors!
 
Re:

Benotti69 said:
Under McQuaid's 'watch', Contador, Basso, Armstrong, Vino, Valverde, Ullrich were all suspended. Not really McQuaids doing, but his hand was forced and all these got bans.

Cookson has let off Rogers, Kreuz, Impey & Astana after making promises to be hard on doping.

So it looks to me that Cookson is officially worse for cycling than his predecessors!

I agree that those cases don't look good, but Rogers, Kreuziger, and Impey all had legitimate defences to their cases and were very hard to prove. Cookson has no control over the prosecution of these cases.

Astana is another matter. They should have been banned by the UCI. I don't think that makes Cookson worse than McQuaid because it is very hard to be worse than the worst.
 
Re: Re:

No_Balls said:
Wonderboy has a point:

Armstrong stated that, despite Cookson's public statements regarding the sport, the president has been underwhelming in his attempts to effect change.
“You guys can decide if he has done a good job, if he's been tough on Astana, whether he's stuck with his mission statement. Plenty of people would argue he's laid down on a lot of things. Whether it's expedited TUEs [Therapeutic Use Exemptions], or Astana, Cookson is not very good at taking people down," he said according to the Irish Times.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/armstrong-cookson-is-not-very-good-at-taking-people-down

I'm sure this will come as no surprise, since I'm known as the #1 Lance Armstrong fanboy...

But Armstrong has a point, even if it is tailed on the end of his whining about how unfairly he's being treated.
 
Mar 25, 2013
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I'm not happy with the handling of Astana but you can't take some aspects against Cookson and put it against McQuaid while not acknowledging the negatives on his part which are as long as my arm. That's confirmation bias.

Staggering how Contador is put as some plus with McQuaid. That alone was enough for his position to become untenable.

Has Cookson done as the following:

- called whistleblowers scumbags
- challenged a ADA investigation and their jurisdiction and fought tooth and nail to prevent it
- took legal action against a respected anti-doping journalist
- falling outs with USADA and WADA
- how he handled Jaksche. The same with JV when he told him "I hope you haven't done anything stupid" about coming forward.
- no independent commission, something we definitely wouldn't have seen under McQuaid or Verbruggen for that matter
- blamed the fans for the high speeds as Verbruggen told D.Pound

So to say Cookson has done worse than the above examples is just plain and utter nonsense.

Cookson isn't perfect but it's a huge stretch to say he's worse than McQuaid. He mightn't be up to the job in the end. That's a different discussion. It maybe the case when looking back at his tenure, yet can still mean he is nowhere near as bad as the two clowns before him.
 
Jan 14, 2011
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Under the old regime of Heinie and Paddy the UCI had a rule of personality and personal power. The big guys did what they wanted to do, tough luck for everyone else. We are now in a period of transition to a rule of law. Under the rule of law, the "boss" does not decide who to "take down" and who to promote (and for how much $$). They should be going by the rules, and when the rules don't work like they don't in many cases now, the rules have to be changed.... can't just send in Drity Harry to take the bad guys down, as Lance proposes. The Astana case seemed to be one of old sytle maybe even pre-Cookson private deals between the Kazakhs and Italians. The whole Passport system is shakey at best.... And yes cycling is far from being clean now. I can't watch any pro level sport without wondering who is doping. There are more red flags then they used to have in Moscow on May Day... young guns like Aru limp through the Giro then magically blast over mountains. Not to mention Astana's sporting pedigree, and some teams that have long running "completely unexpected" doing histories but keep on getting invites to "The Bigs" cause they are Italian.... Even this web site. Seems like the important bad for business doping news disappears faster than it should. Rule of law when it also contains enforcement is the only thing that makes sense.
 
May 26, 2010
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Re: Re:

RobbieCanuck said:
Benotti69 said:
Under McQuaid's 'watch', Contador, Basso, Armstrong, Vino, Valverde, Ullrich were all suspended. Not really McQuaids doing, but his hand was forced and all these got bans.

Cookson has let off Rogers, Kreuz, Impey & Astana after making promises to be hard on doping.

So it looks to me that Cookson is officially worse for cycling than his predecessors!

I agree that those cases don't look good, but Rogers, Kreuziger, and Impey all had legitimate defences to their cases and were very hard to prove. Cookson has no control over the prosecution of these cases.

Astana is another matter. They should have been banned by the UCI. I don't think that makes Cookson worse than McQuaid because it is very hard to be worse than the worst.

Li Fuyu had the same case as Rogers!!!

Kreuziger's Giro ABP shows huge discrepancy!

Impey's excuse was laughable. Contamination from the pharmacist!!!

McQuaid was a clown. Everyone knows that. McQuaid was given Hein's seal of approval because Hein wanted the puppet there while he pulled the strings.

Cookson is a different matter. He made strong pledges about cleaning the sport up and full transparency. He lied. That in my book makes him worse than a bumbling fool.
 
For what it's worth, my $.02. If you look at the record, Cookson is not (yet) worse than Paddy. But if you look at the expectations, the rhetoric used during the presidential campaign, and the results, Cookson has been more disappointing. Paddy and Heinie were the good ol' boys, like US union bosses with mafia ties. Anyone could see it. Cookson presented himself as the knight in shining armor, and turned out to be a clown banging coconuts like in the Monty Python's movie. So it can go both ways...
 
Jul 11, 2013
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Who is/was worse?

Time will tell I guess... But honestly I don't care too much who gets the prize..

On surface Cookson is a salesman.. Plenty of hard talk (Riis, Vino, Astana, Armstrong, etc) and cosmetics (women's cycling, youtube live-channel, reforms, )..

What has he really achieved?

Right now he seems to (understandlingly maybe) have gone quiet on the very things that secured his election/been the talking points since he took chair... He is reduced (at least for now) to a promoter of uncontroversial cycling happenings...

Is he working behind the scenes to change things? Has he been doublecrossed by his own people?
Is he nothing but a crook? -just in over his head, or playing the "game" wrong?

I think he is much less powerful than what he would wish for... And that the last six months has not made things any easier...

Maybe he is less powerful because he actually attempts change?

It wouldn't surprise me if something (maybe surprising) is cooking right now inside Aigle HQ.... We shall see...
 
Feb 22, 2011
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RobbieCanuck said:
skippythepinhead said:
rickshaw said:
The head of the UCI is not a sociopath like himself and his job is not to "take people down". That is how Lance sees the world, that is what Lance used to do. That is what he's trying to do now in these lame interviews.

So you're saying cycling is all clean now that Lance lost his money and perks? The job of Cookson is to lift cycling up, and that can only be accomplished by denying there's a huge problem (as he is currently doing) or "bringing people down." That is Cookson's plight, and regardless of whether Lance's opinion is based on Lance's personal pathology, it's actually a valid point--Cookson has become a cheerleader/enabler of a (still) dirty sport.

You are 100 % wrong and out to lunch. Rickshaw is bang on. The reality is Armstrong has aided and abetted the failure of cycling to take people down by his cynical refusal to co-operate with the UCI, USADA and WADA. Armstrong does not have the moral courage to go to these organizations and tell all. This is hardly Cookson's fault.

LA trolls, baits, prevaricates and bloviates in these interviews because he has an obsessive and pathological need for attention. The depth of LA's ignorance is at least several light years away.

What people don't understand about Cookson's job is that is mostly as an Administrator. True he sets the tone, but he has on a zillion occasions spoken out strongly against doping. Either that or you are simply ignorant of what Cookson has said on the record. To suggest Cookson is a cheerleader/enabling for doping is a farrago of nonsense and absurd.

That's hilarious.
 
RobbieCanuck said:
skippythepinhead said:
rickshaw said:
The head of the UCI is not a sociopath like himself and his job is not to "take people down". That is how Lance sees the world, that is what Lance used to do. That is what he's trying to do now in these lame interviews.

So you're saying cycling is all clean now that Lance lost his money and perks? The job of Cookson is to lift cycling up, and that can only be accomplished by denying there's a huge problem (as he is currently doing) or "bringing people down." That is Cookson's plight, and regardless of whether Lance's opinion is based on Lance's personal pathology, it's actually a valid point--Cookson has become a cheerleader/enabler of a (still) dirty sport.

You are 100 % wrong and out to lunch. Rickshaw is bang on. The reality is Armstrong has aided and abetted the failure of cycling to take people down by his cynical refusal to co-operate with the UCI, USADA and WADA. Armstrong does not have the moral courage to go to these organizations and tell all. This is hardly Co.

LA trolls, baits, prevaricates and bloviates in these interviews because he has an obsessive and pathological need for attention. The depth of LA's ignorance is at least several light years away.

What people don't understand about Cookson's job is that is mostly as an Administrator. True he sets the tone, but he has on a zillion occasions spoken out strongly against doping. Either that or you are simply ignorant of what Cookson has said on the record. To suggest Cookson is a cheerleader/enabling for doping is a farrago of nonsense and absurd.

Interesting you call outspokeness against the case of Astana (as one of few) whose resurrection saw the rise of USPS, Discovery and Sky in the third fastest Giro of all time last month, as "trolling" and "baiting".

Not sure if "change" is the right word in Cooksons wake.
 
Oct 16, 2010
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Re:

Dear Wiggo said:
Curious if anyone can point out a single example of the transparency Cookson promised?
taking the pov of a random cookson fan, I might be tempted to point out the CIRC report.

back in the real world, i'd respond that the CIRC didn't have scope to look beyond 2012 -- how convenient -- and it didn't provide any real transparency into the pre-2012 period either, whereas inconveniences like Zorzoli's corruption were shuffled under the carpet.
 
Feb 22, 2011
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Re: Re:

sniper said:
Dear Wiggo said:
Curious if anyone can point out a single example of the transparency Cookson promised?
taking the pov of a random cookson fan, I might be tempted to point out the CIRC report.

back in the real world, i'd respond that the CIRC didn't have scope to look beyond 2012 -- how convenient -- and it didn't provide any real transparency into the pre-2012 period either, whereas inconveniences like Zorzoli's corruption were shuffled under the carpet.

Exactly. We officially know even less and have even less transparency since the publication of the CIRC report.
 
Re:

Dear Wiggo said:
Curious if anyone can point out a single example of the transparency Cookson promised?

CIRC
I don't know what kind of rock you live under but you should quite reading your own posts and something outside of the Clinic
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”



The CIRC panel was appointed by the main target of its criticism, the International Cycling Union, commonly known as U.C.I., in January 2014 as part of an effort by its newly elected president [ Cookson ] to rebuild the sport after revelations of the sophisticated doping program of Mr. Armstrong and his team.

The commission, selected by Brian Cookson,
1. D. Marty, the leader of the commission, a former prosecutor
2. Peter Nicholson, a former Australian Army officer, conducted war crimes investigations
3. Ulrich Haas, is a German professor specializing in antidoping laws and regulations.

September 27, 2013 - Brian Cookson Elected UCI President
September 28, 2013 - Cookson Invites Armstrong to Contribute to Truth and Reconciliation Process
October 11, 2013: - Cookson In Talks with WADA About Independent Investigation Into the UCI's Past
November 12, 2013 - UCI and WADA Will Work Together on Independent Commission [Cookson]
December 16, 2013- Cookson UCI Independent Commission Set for Early 2014
January 8, 2014 - International Power Behind Independent Reform Commission
January 8, 2014 - UCI [Cookson] Announces Cycling Independent Reform Commission
February 1, 2014 - UCI [Cookson] Approves Reduced Sanctions for Cooperation with CIRC
February 11, 2014 - Independent Reform Commission Offers Olive Branch to Lance Armstrong
May 23, 2014 - Cookson Reveals that People Have Come Forward to the CIRC Reform Commission
July 18, 2014 - Lance Armstrong Gives Evidence to Cycling Independent Reform Commission
July 29, 2014- Cookson - Riis and Vinokourov Should Talk to the CIRC
February 22, 2015 CIRC Report Will Make for Uncomfortable Reading says Cookson


The UCI has today published the report and recommendations of CIRC. The CIRC’s Terms of Reference were to investigate “the causes of the pattern of doping that developed within cycling and allegations which implicate the UCI and other governing bodies and officials over ineffective investigation of such practices”.

Commenting on the CIRC report and its recommendations, UCI President Brian Cookson said:

Very few, if any sports, have opened themselves up to this level of independent scrutiny and while the CIRC report on the past is hard to read for those of us who love our sport, I do believe that cycling will emerge better and stronger from it. I made a promise before I was elected that I would ensure as a priority that under my presidency a respected and fully independent commission would investigate the UCI’s past and I am pleased to have delivered on that promise, on time and on budget. We gave the CIRC access to all our files, a complete copy of all the electronic data which existed when I was elected and full co-operation from all our staff. I said from the outset that the UCI would publish the CIRC’s report and recommendations to ensure transparency and that is exactly what we have done today.

Since Cookson became President less that two years ago the UCI has not only completed this unprecedented exercise of openness and transparency, it has also:
• Commissioned a full audit of its anti-doping operations by the Institute of National Anti-Doping
Organisations (iNADO) and implemented their recommendations;
• Established a strict internal governance process to ensure that the President or administration cannot
interfere in operational anti-doping matters and that there is external oversight of all key decisions plus
an audit trail of results management;
• Ensured the complete independence of the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF) to plan and execute
anti-doping tests on behalf of the UCI;
• Ended the conflicts with key stakeholders and established a much stronger working relationship with
WADA, USADA and other NADOs whose support and cooperation is essential for us to be effective in our
anti-doping efforts;
• Established an Anti-Doping Tribunal that will allow consistent, clear and fast decisions on cases for
international riders, putting the UCI in line with almost all other international federations and ending the
process whereby cases were referred to the rider’s national federation for judgement;
• Worked with the professional teams and independent experts to establish clear new internal operational
requirements for teams (the “cahier des charges”) to ensure that all riders are properly supported and
supervised and that the right structures are in place to prevent riders doping;
• Actively established an unprecedented number of intelligence and information sharing agreements with
National Anti-Doping Agencies;
• Introduced new Anti-Doping Rules with longer sanctions (4 rather than 2 year standard ban) and stricter
obligations in line with the new WADA Code and put in place a new regulatory framework (the “Testing
and Investigation Regulations”) which further promotes effective and qualitative testing and investigation;
• Introduced innovative and far reaching sanctions on teams with riders who are found to have doped
(suspension from competition plus a fine of 5% of the team budget);
• Invested more than ever in staffing and resources allocated to anti-doping;
• Launched a process of revising and updating the UCI Constitution in order to improve the good governance
and transparency of the UCI at all levels, especially with regards to the UCI Presidential election;
• Established important new governance measures including a newly reinvigorated Ethics Commission, a
Remuneration Committee to set senior remuneration and delivered on the commitment to provide more
transparency on financial matters.

The CIRC Report States
The Commission sent many requests for assistance to UCI and the Cycling Anti-doping Foundation for archive documents and other information that were all answered in a professional and timely manner. The Commission would like to express its gratitude to UCI and Cycling Anti-doping Foundation staff members for their cooperation and time in assisting the CIRC in fulfilling its mandate.
 
Sep 29, 2012
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No examples then? Just imbecilic stupidity personified, spouting the mantra of a CIRC report that has not made a single iota of difference to professional cycling?

Thought so.

Anyone else willing to step up with something that actually answers the question: name a single increase in transparency since Cookson became president?

Didn't think so.
 
That's hilarious.[/quote]

That's the best you got? "Hilarious"? You sure are the epitome of the well reasoned commentator aren't you!

“There are all kinds of stupid people that annoy me but what annoys me most is a lazy argument.”
Christopher Hitchens
 
Re:

Dear Wiggo said:
No examples then? Just imbecilic stupidity personified, spouting the mantra of a CIRC report that has not made a single iota of difference to professional cycling?

Thought so.

Anyone else willing to step up with something that actually answers the question: name a single increase in transparency since Cookson became president?

Didn't think so.


This is like famine sticking up for pestilence.
 

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