Zirbel back to racing - gets time off for "help"

[SeventhSon]

Yes- you're right as rain- it is very simple. The guy returned a positive and that = sanction. TZ's sanction is now OVER and was accepted long ago. My post never was intended to be about the sanction itself, but about the positive feedback from USADA's wording of the notification of reduction AND, TZ's stance against doping. You didn't see it as the silver lining that I did. OK sure, "bad bust" was a bad choice of words on my part--I shoulda said 'positve return that did not involve any actual doping'--which is what it was.

 

[acoggan]

I'm not going to waste a bunch of breath defending Zirbel. Frankly, he always has some silly haircut and I really don't like guys who are that much more talented than I am. That said, I firmly believe has wasn't doping. I really don't know him that well, but I do know him better than most on here so I'll give my thoughts.

-"unintentional cheating" is pretty much an oxymoron. If you unintentionally ingest something (even IF it has a performance-enhancing advantage), that's not cheating, that's doping. If you don't understand that, I really can't be bothered to explain it. That said, the substance which he supposedly ingested is of no real benefit. I say supposedly since even the USADA hasn't been that forthcoming to him about the exact results of his test

-"why didn't he just fight the charge if he was innocent?" Well, he, unlike some other domestic pro, he didn't have a rich daddy to throw 20K to Howard Jacobs to make it go away. Secondly, to what gain? He'd have been fighting it for 12-16 months anyway, and he it's pretty hard to fight it when you aren't exactly sure you know where the contamination came from. Sure, he could have concocted some story about a magical cow, but he seemingly didn't spend a lot of time planning on covering his tracks.

-"his public response is lame". This is the part I really don't get. His response reads like a guy who figured that since he wasn't actually doping, he didn't really have anything to worry about. Then a brick of reality hit him upside the head. I appreciate the fact that he isn't giving out the lame canned responses, and is pretty upfront about the reality of a system that is still pretty eff'ed up. His is pretty much my worst nightmare, and to me he's handled it better than I would have.

I'm not imploring anyone to "believe" Tom. People are going to believe what they're going to believe. Most in the domestic peloton who know him to some degree or another believe Tom was clean. Most on this forum I'm sure believe he was doping. I don't think anything is going to change that. Me, I'll be glad to see him back in the bunch (for a short while), though I hope he gets to Europe soon so I don't have to look at that stupid hair.

Nice post.

 

[JA.Tri]

Over the past few years many an athlete has "inadvertently" doped. These examples cover a spectrum of offences that vary from the apparently innocent to the "I'll push the regs as far as I possibly can".

From:

. taking cough medicine given to them by their coach
. using supplements that contained banned substances (that may or may not assist in their athletic efforts)
. eating contaminated meat

In some cases I have railed against the penalty imposed...however for the most part the penalties are consistent.

I note the doping regs are particularly strict in regard to dietary supplements. The regs imply IMO that athletes need to be damn sure that the supplements are not contaminated with banned substances as "no fault" or "no negligence" is unlikely to be countenanced.

The regs seem to indicate that in using supplements the athlete:

. is seeking to maximise their "legal" advantage
. should be aware that a significant number of supplements have, in the past contained banned supplements
. may well be obtaining advantages that place them the other "side of the line".

In TZ's case: I accept that he was not seeking to obtain unfair advantage, however as in so many other cases he would have been aware of the real "danger" involved in taking such supplements.

Therefore while I do not in anyway condemn TZ, I save my "railing" for those I regard as even more unfortunate than Tom.