McQuaid Criticises Spain

[Winterfold]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/mcquaid-criticises-spain-after-contador-decision

WTF does this guy think he is? The IMF? The UN? The President of the EU?

Pat - why not do your job properly ie make sure the sport's number one rider does not have his test results leaked before you have worked out what you are going to do about it. Why not sort out some proper limits for those tests so we do not have the ridiculous situation you and WADA have created where if someone who has been taking drugs farts in the same room as me then I can get off, regardless of what i have actually been up to.

The President of Spain will look after the national interest of his country and its citizens - that's his job.

Pat - you do yours. You can start by not treating the fans like jerks.

 

[sniper]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/mcquaid-criticises-spain-after-contador-decision

WTF does this guy think he is? The IMF? The UN? The President of the EU?

Pat - why not do your job properly ie make sure the sport's number one rider does not have his test results leaked before you have worked out what you are going to do about it. Why not sort out some proper limits for those tests so we do not have the ridiculous situation you and WADA have created where if someone who has been taking drugs farts in the same room as me then I can get off, regardless of what i have actually been up to.

The President of Spain will look after the national interest of his country and its citizens - that's his job.

Pat - you do yours. You can start by not treating the fans like jerks.

Not sure if I agree.

I don't like McQuaid for several reasons.
But I completely digg the way he openly criticizes Spain's way of (not) dealing with doping.

After scoring multiple -1's, he know deserves a modest +1.

Admittedly, he's not the right person to criticize Spain for their miserable dealing with doping, but still, he's a 100% right of course.

 

[Captain_Cavman]

I know it's fashionable amongst folks here to knock Mr McQuaid but I agree with absolutely everything he said in that article.

There's a first time for everything.

 

[roundabout]

No, McQuaid is right here.

Maybe next year Zapatero will be free to take up a job at RFEC, but he certainly should not have been involved now.

 

[Mambo95]

He's just saying the same things most people on here have been saying.

 

[The Hitch]

The President of Spain will look after the national interest of his country and its citizens - that's his job.

That would be his job if Zapatero was the president. As it happens hes just the Prime Minister which means he is the head of the government

And either way i dont see how rigging Contadors decision is in the national interest of the country.

Hey José! Hows that reccesion holding up

 

[Lanark]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/mcquaid-criticises-spain-after-contador-decision

WTF does this guy think he is? The IMF? The UN? The President of the EU?

Pat - why not do your job properly ie make sure the sport's number one rider does not have his test results leaked before you have worked out what you are going to do about it. Why not sort out some proper limits for those tests so we do not have the ridiculous situation you and WADA have created where if someone who has been taking drugs farts in the same room as me then I can get off, regardless of what i have actually been up to.

The President of Spain will look after the national interest of his country and its citizens - that's his job.

Pat - you do yours. You can start by not treating the fans like jerks.

The national interest? Letting people get away with breaking the law isn't in the national interest. A prime minister putting political pressure on an ongoing trial is absolutely despicable.

Besides: claiming Contador is innocent can only lead to the conclusion that the farmer who produced the meat used clenbuterol, a crime that carries a large prison sentence. What about his rights?

 

[Kerbdog]

A lot of people here hate McQuaid etc etc. Personally i dont regard myself as a hater of him. He has a thankless task & i feel sorry for him sometimes even if that doesnt sit well with all here. But I am delighted he said what he said here. Sure thats what we all felt here but then thats here on an anonymous forum. Hes come out swinging & i like it. I hope he keeps this sort of attitude up.

 

[hrotha]

As this highly recommended Spanish-language blog put it, quoting El País, this is "the first time a President of the Government weighs in any kind of case that is being judged at the time."

 

[Winterfold]

I just don't agree. But you are all entitled to your opinions of course.

Whether you think Berty is a dirty doping cheat who should have been popped years ago or a protected rider who should be looked after or a saint who wins on bread and water this is all an epic FAIL from when the UCI dithered for over a month then let the 'failed' test get out in the open.

If this had been handled properly then the Prime Minister (apologies fellow subject) has nothing to say on that matter.

The UCI farked up so for Pat to come out swinging strikes me as - what is the Spanish word for chutzpah?

 

[thehog]

He's just saying the same things most people on here have been saying.

Difference being Pat can actually make the changes needed. We can't. McQuaid blasts out at Spain each and every time there's a positive. But he does little to combat the problem of doping or foreign cyclists choosing to live in Spain. Wipe out the drug use regardless of nationality and you'll fix the Spanish problem. They get away with it just like every other country.

 

[Mestre]

That would be his job if Zapatero was the president. As it happens hes just the Prime Minister which means he is the head of the government

And either way i dont see how rigging Contadors decision is in the national interest of the country.

A common mistake: Today, Spain is a constitutional monarchy. King Juan Carlos I, the current monarch, is Head of State. The Head of Government (Prime Minister) has the official title of President of the Government.

In relation to Zapatero's unusual, not to say inappropriate, tweet in support of Contador, the silence surrounding this letterpublished by El País in October 2010, in which the author makes it clear that contaminated meat is imported into Europe from the US and South America as a matter of course, has been clamorous. Whilst the Spanish Association of Beef Producers (ASOPROVAC) has made noises in defense of its own members (here and here, for example), I have yet to see anybody refute the claim of contaminated imported meat.

In no way would I consider the presence in Spain of contaminated imported meat as justification for Contador's positive - that's a different matter. I have no idea what he did or didn't eat or take, I wasn't there. He's not my favourite guy in the world and I have my opinion, but I don't know for sure. However, Spain has its middle-distance star runner Marta Dominguez embroiled in a doping scandal - involving Fuentes, Valverde is serving a ban, Del Moral has popped his head up again, the Valencian chemist's that was busted as part of Operacion Grial and which brought down race walker Paquillo Fernández is open for business as usual, things are looking decidely ropey to say the least in Spanish sport, perhaps the only area in which this crisis-stricken country has something to trumpet about at the moment. I would certainly see Zapatero's intromission in the Contador case from the perspective of defending the national interest.

And for once, I have to agree with McQuaid: ""I wasn't surprised when you see it's Spain. Nothing surprises me that comes from Spain."

 

[No_Balls]

This story stinks. Neither should McQuaid have been swinging against Spain and neither should Zapatero, a prime minister, supported his fellow compatriot.

The whole story turned to a every hypocrites, who is just glad that their own country didn´t received this negative attention, against Spain and with McQuaid as their megaphone.

It turned out to be a we-against-them situation and unfortunately, as every time it occurs, the victim was truth and justice.

 

[euanli]

The whole story turned to a every hypocrites, who is just glad that their own country didn´t received this negative attention, against Spain and with McQuaid as their megaphone.

A what now?

 

[veganrob]

Pat should get his own house in order before criticizing others

 

[icefire]

McQuaid should direct his efforts to implement the WADA recommendation of handling cases like this at UCI level rather than at national federation level.

 

[Francois the Postman]

So the President who publicly commented on his preferred outcome of the case, whilst the case was being subjected to the due and independent process the UCI oversees and set up, didn't like that another President made a public statement about his preferred outcome?

Pot, meet kettle.

He does make a valid observation about the Spanish law makers not falling over themselves to address the doping issue.

But Pat is at the head of the organisation that is responsible for setting up the rules and mechanisms for making sure all players play by those rules. For a sport.

If we had rules that made sense, a truly effective and independent testing regime and investigative bodies, it would be completely immaterial what any country's lawmakers do or don't do.

To be frank, after the Contador fiasco, it doesn't surprise me when you see it's the UCI blaming others. Nothing surprises me that comes from the UCI. It's disappointing. It doesn't help the image of the sport either.

 

[roundabout]

McQuaid said that he would prefer that Contador <blank> where?

 

[sublimit]

Mcquaid is right, Do Spain have a serious problem with sporting credibility? do bears **** in the woods ?..

It seems a serious problem in Spain in all sports not just cycling, They even cheated in disabled basketball at the Olympics for heavens sake..

 

[Winterfold]

I dont care if its Spain or Germany or the UK (I dont happen to think Spain is exceptionally bad at doping, they have just been winning a lot recently, and so get tested more), if some idiot cant keep his own house in order, thinks he has jurisdiction over one of a nation's sporting heroes, then fails to accord him due process, he should not be surprised if influential people from that country start to interfere.

He certainly should not try and distract attention from his own failures by criticising them.

 

[Benotti69]

shutting the stable door after he let the horse bolt. nice one McQuaid

 

[Anonymous]

This is the same McQuaid who had the result not been leaked to the press would have happily kept the whole thing covered up.

Yeh, nice one Pat, use the Spanish Federations incompetance to cover up your own corruption.

 

[Havetts]

So two wrongs make one right? Just because McQuaid hasnt been the most handy person out there and the UCI is lets say corrupt doesnt mean that he is wrong..

Personally I totally agree with what he said, eventhough he's said some dumb stuff in the past.

 

[Hugh Januss]

File this under the heading "Takes One to Know One".

 

[BotanyBay]

This is the same McQuaid who had the result not been leaked to the press would have happily kept the whole thing covered up.

Yeh, nice one Pat, use the Spanish Federations incompetance to cover up your own corruption.

He could sit on that result indefinitely, because he knew that WADA would always call him and demand action before they'd ever literally force his hand.

The Spanish federation always wanted this outcome... and so did McQuaid. So he planned precisely how it was to play out. If he did it overnight, it would be too obvious. And now he can shrug his shoulders (after 30 days of "careful" review...once the documents get "translated" of course) and blame Regulation 296 for being a crappilly written regulation.

And now he can redecorate the villa in Vevey, thanks to AC.