Boonen tests positive for cocaine... again

[John the Monkey]

Well ASO say he can ride.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/boonen_allowed_to_start_2009_tour_article_284268.html?aff=rss

Announcement on whether Valverde is allowed to start expected later. (I'm probably the only person surprised that a two word announcement hasn't been made already).

 

[MacB]

I still can't care less if someone uses recreational drugs and I find those that do a little precious. Sponsors can, and will, do whatever they like with their money.

The worst arguement is the role model one, I have no problems getting my kids to understand that someone can be extremely accomplished in one area and a muppet in others.

 

[John the Monkey]

I still can't care less if someone uses recreational drugs and I find those that do a little precious. Sponsors can, and will, do whatever they like with their money.

With you to a point, although when you look at riders like Schumacher, and those Willy Voet talks about in "Breaking the Chain" there does seem to be a bit of a link between the willingness to take "recreational" substances and PEDs.

I'm sure ASO had told Quick-Step not to bring Boonen earlier though - the u-turn confuses me....

 

[Will1985]

Latest news on Boonen here. Surely the simplest solution for ASO is to just revoke QuickStep's invitation?

 

[rich p]

I still can't care less if someone uses recreational drugs and I find those that do a little precious. Sponsors can, and will, do whatever they like with their money.

The worst arguement is the role model one, I have no problems getting my kids to understand that someone can be extremely accomplished in one area and a muppet in others.

MacB, this bloke thinks differently

coke plus

 

[MacB]

MacB, this bloke thinks differently

coke plus

Rich, unless they can make a direct correlation, sustainable in court, between recreational drug use and doping, I don't see a valid idea in that link, just a lot of tenuous logic. There seems to be a trend for trying to hold athletes up to higher standards than the rest of us. Hence my comment re role models etc. I get tired of reading things long the lines of, footballer/golfer/cyclist/etc, etc, set shocking example by getting drunk, taking drugs, having wild sex and so on. These are generally young, fit, people, with lots of free time and cash, what do they expect to happen?

 

[Skip Madness]

There seems to be a trend for trying to hold athletes up to higher standards than the rest of us. Hence my comment re role models etc. I get tired of reading things long the lines of, footballer/golfer/cyclist/etc, etc, set shocking example by getting drunk, taking drugs, having wild sex and so on. These are generally young, fit, people, with lots of free time and cash, what do they expect to happen?

Yes, I agree. We should all be role models, not single out sports people. I also think that if we are worried about the example sports people set then maybe we should not be telling them what to do but rather avoid making such celebrities out of them in the first place.

Having said that, I do think that while cocaine is illegal ASO should probably have the right not to have their image associated with Boonen.

 

[rich p]

Rich, unless they can make a direct correlation, sustainable in court, between recreational drug use and doping, I don't see a valid idea in that link, just a lot of tenuous logic. There seems to be a trend for trying to hold athletes up to higher standards than the rest of us. Hence my comment re role models etc. I get tired of reading things long the lines of, footballer/golfer/cyclist/etc, etc, set shocking example by getting drunk, taking drugs, having wild sex and so on. These are generally young, fit, people, with lots of free time and cash, what do they expect to happen?

I'm not saying that I agree with Donati that they should be banned automatically from the sport for taking rec. drugs but it is very likely that there is a link between taking them and PEDs that shouldn't be dismissed. It has nothing to do with role models and more to do with fighting drug use in cycling. It is difficult to get evidence to stand up in court as shown by the few high profile cases that have come up in recent years. The biological passports, raised haematocrit levels, missed tests etc are all signs of dodgy practices but are not actually positive drug tests. They would struggle to stand up in a proper court but I think any line of intervention and investigation should be pursued.

 

[yenrod]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/8041462.stmQUOTE]

ONCE A DRUGGY ALWAYS A DRUGGY !!!!!!!!!!

 

[MacB]

I'm not saying that I agree with Donati that they should be banned automatically from the sport for taking rec. drugs but it is very likely that there is a link between taking them and PEDs that shouldn't be dismissed. It has nothing to do with role models and more to do with fighting drug use in cycling. It is difficult to get evidence to stand up in court as shown by the few high profile cases that have come up in recent years. The biological passports, raised haematocrit levels, missed tests etc are all signs of dodgy practices but are not actually positive drug tests. They would struggle to stand up in a proper court but I think any line of intervention and investigation should be pursued.

fair enough Rich but I've just gotten a bit tired of the moralising, mainly in the media, over drug use and abuse. I only mentioned the role model aspect as that's always trotted out as further evidence of what a bad person they are.

I think we'd always be coming from different angles here as I'm not too fussed if there's doping or not.