mtb Dad said:How about the president of the national federation gets sacked? They're the jokers, with the votes, accepting McQuaid's bottles of whiskey, and more. As a very recent example, the FIS threatened to boot the Russians for doping from the next Olympics (which they happen to be hosting). The Russian Fed'n president and coach got sacked.
And an interesting correlation in that climate, in that sport. The Canadians (perennially placing in the 40's until recently) just beat the Norwegians (Olympic champs) , on home turf, for the gold in the relay at the worlds, in front of the king and queen, first time ever. (Not saying I know the the Cdns don't dope, but that's a hell of a coincidence.)
Nope. The federal bureaucrats have little to do with entrenched pro-team doping. They do have a hand-in-the-pot when it comes to dealing with testing results, and what to do with them (which I agree needs a serious look).
The president of any fed should be looking to how they can promote racing in their country, developing racing calendars at home, drawing more athletes to cycling, and pushing to have media cover development racing at home.
Come down hard on the TEAMS. I'd like to modify an overused quote: "No rider doping is an island". For the love of Jesus, these aren't kids in the basement trying to figure out what gets them high! They're pro athletes that are monitored by their multi-million euro/dollar teams (excluding JV and the Lowe debacle... slackers...).
Let the feds do their job - building and promotion (although in Canada I understand that may be a bit of a tall order for the bureaucrats who love their jobs above all else).
Nice to see the Canadians doing well in XC! 40 years might be a bit dramatic, though. Who's Alex's dad again? Gotta love breeding...
Sorry, I didn't mean '40 years'. I was trying to refer to how long they were out of the top 40. Did alright at the Olys, didn't they? Upward curve with young athletes developing?