There have been lots of threads about doping and some about changing the nature of cycling to help with the problem and there are lots of arguments on both sides of the debate.
But is the real question, one we have to ask ourselves. Is cycling still a sport? if it is then the best man should win and cheats should get busted and all the self righteousness and indignant anti doping brigade are correct.
But what if it is entertainment. Big business and money coming together to put on a show and attract sponsors.
Lets look at sport in general
The olympics - The paragon of sporting virtue and athletic enterprise. Long time bastion of cheats, liars, corruption, scandal and huge money and sponsorship deals.
The World Championships in any sport - the same issues as with the Olympics only on a slightly smaller scale.
The world cup, beset by cheating and scandal from day one and home to probably some of the most corrupt people in the world.
The tour de france - beset by cheating from the very first race until the very latest race.
Wimbledon, the superbowl, Stanley Cup, Royal Ascot, Formula one. Any sport whether purely human in context or with the use of animals or machines has been beset by cheats and cheating since their inception.
I would ask this question in regards to cycling.
Do you want to change the doping in cycling to make it a level playing field? or
Do you want to change the perception of the sport you love; so it is not seen as the doping pariah among world sports?
If you answered the first question as a yes then I would challenge you to think about the human physiology and how any human can be the same as another and therefore how any playing field can be level.
Is a cyclist growing up at altitude with a much higher Vo2 max and Hematocrit level the equal of a sea level dweller with an average blood vector profile. Why should those two people be matched against each other when one will have such an obvious advantage?
If we look at other sports around the world there is less of an outrage against doping, in general terms among the fans and officialdom. Why would that be?
Is it because the majority of the larger sports in the world have come to understand that at there basest level it is not about cheats or pushing the boundaries or overstepping the line. It is about entertainment.
NFL is full of drug cheats and is full of people pushing the boundaries all the time. The Patriots are seen as the pantomime villain of the league for pushing things to the limit as much as possible. and a four match fine for one player was all they got for effectively cheating their way to winning the superbowl. The pinnacle of the sport. The bigger sanctions are reserved for those players who misbehave off the field and assault people or get into trouble. Which is dealt with by the law enforcement and then by the NFL as well. Is it because that is more damaging to the society in which the NFL is part of and is seen as more damaging to their reputation; than the cheating on the field.
Soccer is full of cheats from thierry Henry to diego Maradonna and every forward in the game who has dived for a penalty, to drug cheats, to organised crime buying referees and fixing matches. As is cricket, as is rugby. Does any of this dampen the support or distract from the spectacle, no because it is not sport it is tribal entertainment and escapism.
In most sports there are cheats, in the majority of sports they are not vilified and derided and shunned by the fans anywhere near as much as they are in cycling.
Many fans question why the cheats end up working in cycling. Maybe because it is one of the few sports in the world where they are so demonised by the outside world and the fanbase, that they are only welcome back in the clique in which they grew up. They cannot go anywhere else as they are seen as too dirty to get a job or be anyone in society outside of their sport.
If we stopped looking at cycling as the only pure sport left, and saw it for what it may have become. A huge money machine, attracting large audiences and large sponsorship cheques, driving teams and riders to do ever more, ride harder, ride longer, climb faster and sprint quicker. Ever expanding to try to attract more audiences in more countries and make more money. Then maybe we would be less worried about the doping and perhaps the right thing to do is to look after the riders as we would a prize racehorse.
Give them the best drugs to make them the best possible racers, while also making sure we can preserve them for a long life afterwards, given that racehorses are the usual test subjects for many drugs, it is interesting to find that racehorse owners and stables will make sure a racehorse has a long life after retirement to enable the earning potential of the horse in Stud, which is often far more than it will ever win on the track.
It is maybe a shame we don't look after the cyclists in the same way, instead it appears we want them to be the best they can be for our entertainment and then we discard them and forget them, not caring if the drugs they took during their career to entertain us; will cause them any long term damage or side effects.
But is the real question, one we have to ask ourselves. Is cycling still a sport? if it is then the best man should win and cheats should get busted and all the self righteousness and indignant anti doping brigade are correct.
But what if it is entertainment. Big business and money coming together to put on a show and attract sponsors.
Lets look at sport in general
The olympics - The paragon of sporting virtue and athletic enterprise. Long time bastion of cheats, liars, corruption, scandal and huge money and sponsorship deals.
The World Championships in any sport - the same issues as with the Olympics only on a slightly smaller scale.
The world cup, beset by cheating and scandal from day one and home to probably some of the most corrupt people in the world.
The tour de france - beset by cheating from the very first race until the very latest race.
Wimbledon, the superbowl, Stanley Cup, Royal Ascot, Formula one. Any sport whether purely human in context or with the use of animals or machines has been beset by cheats and cheating since their inception.
I would ask this question in regards to cycling.
Do you want to change the doping in cycling to make it a level playing field? or
Do you want to change the perception of the sport you love; so it is not seen as the doping pariah among world sports?
If you answered the first question as a yes then I would challenge you to think about the human physiology and how any human can be the same as another and therefore how any playing field can be level.
Is a cyclist growing up at altitude with a much higher Vo2 max and Hematocrit level the equal of a sea level dweller with an average blood vector profile. Why should those two people be matched against each other when one will have such an obvious advantage?
If we look at other sports around the world there is less of an outrage against doping, in general terms among the fans and officialdom. Why would that be?
Is it because the majority of the larger sports in the world have come to understand that at there basest level it is not about cheats or pushing the boundaries or overstepping the line. It is about entertainment.
NFL is full of drug cheats and is full of people pushing the boundaries all the time. The Patriots are seen as the pantomime villain of the league for pushing things to the limit as much as possible. and a four match fine for one player was all they got for effectively cheating their way to winning the superbowl. The pinnacle of the sport. The bigger sanctions are reserved for those players who misbehave off the field and assault people or get into trouble. Which is dealt with by the law enforcement and then by the NFL as well. Is it because that is more damaging to the society in which the NFL is part of and is seen as more damaging to their reputation; than the cheating on the field.
Soccer is full of cheats from thierry Henry to diego Maradonna and every forward in the game who has dived for a penalty, to drug cheats, to organised crime buying referees and fixing matches. As is cricket, as is rugby. Does any of this dampen the support or distract from the spectacle, no because it is not sport it is tribal entertainment and escapism.
In most sports there are cheats, in the majority of sports they are not vilified and derided and shunned by the fans anywhere near as much as they are in cycling.
Many fans question why the cheats end up working in cycling. Maybe because it is one of the few sports in the world where they are so demonised by the outside world and the fanbase, that they are only welcome back in the clique in which they grew up. They cannot go anywhere else as they are seen as too dirty to get a job or be anyone in society outside of their sport.
If we stopped looking at cycling as the only pure sport left, and saw it for what it may have become. A huge money machine, attracting large audiences and large sponsorship cheques, driving teams and riders to do ever more, ride harder, ride longer, climb faster and sprint quicker. Ever expanding to try to attract more audiences in more countries and make more money. Then maybe we would be less worried about the doping and perhaps the right thing to do is to look after the riders as we would a prize racehorse.
Give them the best drugs to make them the best possible racers, while also making sure we can preserve them for a long life afterwards, given that racehorses are the usual test subjects for many drugs, it is interesting to find that racehorse owners and stables will make sure a racehorse has a long life after retirement to enable the earning potential of the horse in Stud, which is often far more than it will ever win on the track.
It is maybe a shame we don't look after the cyclists in the same way, instead it appears we want them to be the best they can be for our entertainment and then we discard them and forget them, not caring if the drugs they took during their career to entertain us; will cause them any long term damage or side effects.
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