kjetilraknerud said:
I'm not sure if I agree with you, Greg. I believe cooperation is quite essential if a clean sport, or clean sports, is the goal - which it should be.
Excellent, I like a healthy debate and you've made some good points.
I'm not saying it's not essential, it is. But it's also never going to happen. We should strive to achieve it, but be realistic and know that everyone has their own goals and in many cases they won't match one another.
kjetilraknerud said:
I tend to believe that all the different organisations in reality have the same goal and thus the same interests.
I would like to agree, however over time it's been proven to be the case that some national bodies are keener to pursue the matter than others. The other issue is that this goes beyond the sporting world. The fact that law in every nation is different means it's impossible for all positive cases to be dealt with in an equal fashion.
Why should one cyclist serve a short ban which happens to fall outside of the cycling season while others gets slapped with up to two years for the same offence? That's not only unfair, it will result in riders using the loophole and one nation ending up with all 50 of the world's best riders riding under their licence...funny that.
kjetilraknerud said:
There might be small differences, but the ultimate goal is a doping-free world of sports, right?
Certainly is. But this should be seen as something that has a defined start and finish. It's an evolutionary matter and as a result the fight against it needs to match the issue it's taking on. It needs to be constant, it needs to evolve, but don't go walking around thinking that come a certain date sport - any sport - will be free of doping.
I’m cautious towards those on the upper-extreme against the problem, as I know they will probably realise this, lose faith and burn out one day. That does nothing to achieve the beliefs they fought for on a longer scale of time. You need people to have a strong belief in it and apply a level of pressure they can maintain, because they’re always going to need to maintain it.
Man is a competitive beast. He only needs the chance to beat a fellow man on the line to cheat, the fact that we're in a multi-billion dollar issue only further complicates the matter.
Cheers
Greg Johnson