Nicole Cooke attacks drug cheats in the womens peloton

[JimmyFingers]

^as deep as the plunger on the hypodermic

I rarely simply call people names but man you are a ****

 

[blackcat]

So I see Nicole Cooke's heartfelt and honest appraisal of her career and how she rejected drugs and suffered as a result is now being spun, Clinic style, to show that there were doping connections to her?

Right, okay. I suppose she had to be doping... she IS British after all. She's part of our giant lizard conspiracy.

I wish Nicole Cooke a happy retirement and I hope the memories of the Worlds and Olympics remain happy ones for her, unsullied by her experiences on the women's tour. She deserved better treatment than she got in her professional career, but she should be very proud of what she achieved.

being british has zero to do with it.

being a cyclist has everything to do with it.

from those on the continent, there is no difference to those off the continent. the anglophones. the australian government and cycling australia are doing an investigation. but there will be nothing to see or no transparency from those in cycling. whitey fell on his sword, and is paying the price for the sport, and same with stephen hodge. they are the fall guys

a little like rob hayles and millar.

if you think it is about individual riders, it aint. without the truth and transparency, there is no problem, and no solution. as it stands, the doping enforcement regime is, in hobermans words, all about controlling the pr, and messaging.

and we have autobiographies, and ghost written tomes, and we get kimmage and walsh. but we still have the motherhood statements from garmin, and brailsford trying to front run th story like armstrong and fabiani leaking as trial balloons. cyclists dope, athletes dope, tennis players dope, but there is no solution. the facade of sport exists for the business of sport to drive its myth. there is but one thing that counts, the win.

if you start with that understanding, then you can work on defining the problem.

 

[blackcat]

I rarely simply call people names but man you are a ****

a * * * * ?


can you tell me which letter it starts with, and which letter it ends with.

<rubs hands together< I always like me a good game of wheel of fortune.

 

[JimmyFingers]

t w a t

If it gets me banned so much the better. I'm guessing you never read the article

Pressure was put on me by the team management but I was determined, and fortunate. I had a very good French team-mate who was in a similar predicament and she took the same stance I did. Team-mates that say "NO" are priceless. I would have been very naive to think that I would not encounter moments, like this. I am appalled that so many men bleat on about the fact that the pressures were too great. Too great for what? This is not doing 71 mph on the motorway when the legal limit is 70. This is stealing somebody else’s livelihood. It is theft just as much as putting your hand in a purse or wallet and taking money is theft. Theft has gone on since the dawn of time but because somebody, somewhere else, does it, does not mean it is right for you to do it. There can be no excuse.

The words of a doper, clearly

 

[JimmyFingers]

Tyler Hamilton will make more money from his book describing how he cheated than Bessette or I will make in all our years of our honest labour. The situation requires the very basics of morality. Please don’t reward people like Hamilton with money. That is the last thing he needs. Donate his literary prize and subsequent earnings from such publications to a charity. There are many places infinitely more deserving than the filthy hands of Hamilton. I am happy to offer some ideas!

Who here paid to read that book? Good work fella

 

[ferryman]

Hi JF and Blackcat. A slight Mod intervention before things head South No blame on either part but please no more personal stuff. Cheers guys

 

[reginagold]

Alas, she names no names. Omerta continues, odd though it is given her heartfelt style. Unless now that she's retired she can talk to WADA or something.

 

[JimmyFingers]

Alas, she names no names. Omerta continues, odd though it is given her heartfelt style. Unless now that she's retired she can talk to WADA or something.

FFS

Every scandal on the men's side has caused sponsors to leave on the Women's side. And with such thin budgets, the losses have a greater relative impact on what survives. In areas where there was unique female development and growth, such as in Canada, which hosted a major Tour, a World Cup and the World Championships, all geared to supporting their number one rider - Genvieve Jeanson, there has been calamity. Perhaps Jeanson will not be a name familiar to you. She was the Canadian superstar, a national icon. She never tested positive. She missed a drugs test when she beat me and received a meaningless fine as a consequence. She exceeded the 50% Heamatocrit level and the authorities acted in line with their legislation and imposed a “health rest” on her.

Second fiddle to Jeanson during this time in Canada was a rider with morals called Lyne Bessette. Nobody can give back to Lyne Bessette or I the wins Jeanson stole from us. Throughout her career Jeanson repeatedly lied, just like Lance and yet now, she confesses that she had been on an extensive doping program since she was 16. The full story only came out, via quality investigative journalism.

Jeanson states, like all the others, she is “repentant” and all that is behind her. All these "born again" champions of a clean sport. They could be more accurately described as criminals who stole other's livelihoods who are only ever genuinely sorry about one thing - they are very sorry they were caught.

I do despair that the sport will ever clean itself up when the rewards of stealing are greater than riding clean. If that remains the case, the temptation for those with no morals will always be too great. Lyne summed it up quite nicely with a statement that won her few plaudits but was entirely right. Lyne stated: “Jeanson won whilst I came second. Whilst I earned $80,000 in a couple of years at the peak of my career, Jeanson was making $400,000 per year. Now she has “confessed” and this is newsworthy – they are going to make a film and Jeanson who cheated, will steal from others for a second time, telling the tale of how she robbed and lied.”

I can’t help thinking that the cheats win on the way up and the way down.

Duely noted btw Ferryman, was getting a little hot under the collar

 

[JimmyFingers]

honestly it beggars belief when a sports person like Nicole can bare her soul then way she does in that statement and still get lazy criticism here, like she's upholding omerta or more so she's a cheat. It stinks of the bias and sneering I loathe about this place

It is one of the most heartfelt, admirable statements to come out of the sport and deserves our respect

 

[blackcat]

I dont think dopers are cheats JF. They have normalised the acceptable parameters. Afterall, they are type A personalities. They would not surrender rewards to cheats without them making it public. WHILE RACING.

So, I cant believe anyone who has won gold in beijing. or been the number one after jeanson and before vos. one gets caught, or played too close to the fire. but all the same.

what makes you believe she is telling the truth?

 

[Darryl Webster]

honestly it beggars belief when a sports person like Nicole can bare her soul then way she does in that statement and still get lazy criticism here, like she's upholding omerta or more so she's a cheat. It stinks of the bias and sneering I loathe about this place

It is one of the most heartfelt, admirable statements to come out of the sport and deserves our respect

On this one I 100% agree with ya Jimmy , Nicole has had a rough deal from the sport in many ways not publicly known.
Perhaps in due course that might change but her statement was clear and un- ambiguous.
She, rightly ****ed with things.
To my mind she hasn't had anything close to the recognition she deserves.

 

[The Hitch]

honestly it beggars belief when a sports person like Nicole can bare her soul then way she does in that statement and still get lazy criticism here, like she's upholding omerta or more so she's a cheat. It stinks of the bias and sneering I loathe about this place

It is one of the most heartfelt, admirable statements to come out of the sport and deserves our respect

The clinic has hundreds of.posters and some lurkers too so i would hesitate to take the opinions of 2 or 3 posters as indicative of mass forum bias.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

honestly it beggars belief when a sports person like Nicole can bare her soul then way she does in that statement and still get lazy criticism here, like she's upholding omerta or more so she's a cheat. It stinks of the bias and sneering I loathe about this place

It is one of the most heartfelt, admirable statements to come out of the sport and deserves our respect

Actually, that shows your "bias", not anyone elses.
Those who you are commenting on (which is less than 5 people in total) are consistent because they argue that everyone is doing it. Sex, nationality will have nothing to do with it.

So, its not bias - just ignorance.

 

[reginagold]

The clinic has hundreds of.posters and some lurkers too so i would hesitate to take the opinions of 2 or 3 posters as indicative of mass forum bias.

I found her statement to be the most moving and complete voluntary statement I've ever seen by a pro cyclist. Her career and personal strengths speak for themselves.

My intended narrow point was that even she won't name the names of the folks who invited her to take part in a medical program. And that's the crazy reality of this sport. No one publicly names names - yes they name already convicted dopers.

 

[Parker]

My intended narrow point was that even she won't name the names of the folks who invited her to take part in a medical program. And that's the crazy reality of this sport. No one publicly names names - yes they name already convicted dopers.

There's little point naming names to the public because the public won't and can't do anything about it. What would you do beyond discussing it on the interenet? Nothing, that's what. So there's no need for you to know.

Only those that can act on the information need it.

 

[Holtend]

The article opened my eyes a bit to the workings of the peleton (assuming mens is the same).
The fact that team owners/managers seem so vindictive - making sure in future they will be chased down if in a break...all because they didn't blindly follow the teams whims or doping practices.

Wasn't there a situatiom at TDF 1 year where L.A. chased down someone purely for being honest??

Excuse my lack of cycling knowledge, new fan here, so go easy

I would like to read her biography 1 day, it was fascinating to read her brief article and the huge challenges she faced and overcame.
It would be interesting to find out what really happened at the Worlds? between Armistead and herself that caused such a fuss.

 

[thehog]

There's little point naming names to the public because the public won't and can't do anything about it. What would you do beyond discussing it on the interenet? Nothing, that's what. So there's no need for you to know.

Only those that can act on the information need it.

The Media can build pressure. Mr. McQuaid must have lost 50kg's of blubber in the last 3 days. All sweat.

 

[Freddythefrog]

The cogs are working

There's little point naming names to the public because the public won't and can't do anything about it. What would you do beyond discussing it on the interenet? Nothing, that's what. So there's no need for you to know.

Only those that can act on the information need it.

An excellent comment.

Feisty, combative, willing to go out on a limb; before ever going to the continent she had a track record as an agent for change.

Take 4 teams to court ! Do you ever think you are going to go up the road again without a multi-team time trial behind you !! And she is right at the top of the food chain ! What is she telling us ! OK so she's British and so obviously not part of the system at any point in her career. Have a think. Did she do nothing when she encountered dodgy stuff. Her first team has not paid her because she hasn't taken stuff, she is seeing them in court and yet she is going to uphold the Omerta with them?

It is 2002. Just how did the system respond to an 19 year old girl ? "Oh sure we need you to keep your socks clean darling - lets just set the dominoes tumbling ! You are just so important, you are just the person we have been waiting to arrive before we clean up 50 years of ***. Thanks for your tales. Now run along darling and let the real boys play man's stuff."

Graeme Obree told it completely straight - "I was asked to give over part of my wages at Le Groupemont to a doping program" and look - he brought the house down didn't he? Stopped them all in their tracks. No, he got completely pasted, they even invented rules to stop him riding.

I think there is a lot more going to follow this. Rich blokes sponsoring teams of young girls. Unpaid wages. A couple of facts of life that don't usually indicate bright times ahead.

Why retire and ask for a minimum wage for those staying ? This has got legs. I don't think we need names right now.

 

[Master50]

If I match her story against what I have seen and heard I think her story is entirely plausible and believable too. As crappy as as a continental pro's life is women have it worse even when they are top riders.

 

[Tei6chai]

Go Nicole! Go!

The Media can build pressure. Mr. McQuaid must have lost 50kg's of blubber in the last 3 days. All sweat.

I can't wait to see what Nicole has in store for the UCI, British Cycling, and all those dodgy team managers, now that she's free from their blackmail.

Not only has she got bigger balls than any male rider I've seen, but she's also got a better brain than anyone I've come across in pro-cycling.

A really smart investigative journo could pay for his or her entire retirement plan just by listening to Nicole dish the dirt for a few days.

There's bound to be some big publisher out there who will take a punt on the outcome.

Edit: ... and what a movie her career would make!

 

[wilts rover]

A still clearly angry Nicole did a short interview on this radio programme http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pw3p6 yesterday. She is on at 1.55 into the show, for about five minutes. Nothing terribly different to what she has written in the statement, but you do get the feeling she is itching to say more.

I do hope she stays within cycling in some capacity, the sport needs people with vision.

 

[Tei6chai]

Nicole is ready to name names

The doubters should take a listen the following Radio 5 Live interview with Nicole (from 1 min 56 seconds into the programme).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pw3p6

She clearly states that she will name names to a properly constituted independent enquiry.

 

[PACONi]

The doubters should take a listen the following Radio 5 Live interview with Nicole (from 1 min 56 seconds into the programme).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pw3p6

She clearly states that she will name names to a properly constituted independent enquiry.

Its a good thing then, that Phat set up a hotline for kind of thing.

If she actually wanted to make a statement she could just pick up the phone to WADA.

 

[ultimobici]

To those that criticise Cooke for not naming names, think about the consequences of this course of action.

She is British and posting on a British based website. That would lay her wide open to being taken to the cleaners in a British court, in exactly the same way as The Sunday Times & David Walsh were by Armstrong. Much as she may ant to speak directly of these people she cannot unless she is prepared to bankrupt herself.

 

[coinneach]

I'm less bothered about her not naming names at this stage than the fact that she doesn't provide a narrative explanation about the "dodgy doctor" she worked with, and who she credited with improving her performances.

I think it is incumbent on anyone in cycling who is asking us to believe what they say about others to accept that associations with a doctor who was involved in a big drug bust at a major race should provide an explanation.

Even if its "I found out later he had been wrongly arrested by the Italian police in 2001 but was never charged (50+ were detained, but only 8 charged). Of course we did discuss PED's, but I made it plain that I wasn't interested and the subject never came up again"

Without such an explanation, you are open to the sort of negative spinning that goes on in places like the Clinic.

Everything else she says shows how right we are to be suspicious.