in praise of USADA

[Orbytal]

@dogtired no he said from an early age that manual work was beneath him!

 

[Orbytal]

@dogtired something to make you smile

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sxuXt_R6Mw

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Now, personally, if you're looking for corrupt organisations African Govts (such as Kenya) are usually ranked pretty high. Congo too. And Nigeria. Nothing like Africans to stitch up their own.

A teeny bit racist perhaps?

 

[thom]

Interesting thoughts from Andy Murray about anti-doping actions in tennis in light of the USADA report.

 

[Orbytal]

@thom it is considering Ferrer is under scrutiny for doping! In addition to Barcelona, Real Madrid and the Spanish National Team. It has also been mentioned that nadal may also be under consideration.

 

[User169]

@dogtired the genetics is a guess, you caught me! I had a bet at the bookies and hoped that if we spoke about it enough the Scientific community would start to do some reasearch.

Still don't really understand what you mean by all this. What was your bet, Orbytal, and what should the scientific community be researching?

 

[Orbytal]

@delftse Post It was a joke (irony/tongue in cheek) and there is in fact no bet. Are you now scamming me Delfte! lol?

You have added only half the post and I suggest you open the link and have a look and try and work out why meeeeeeehhhhhhh is significant.

The penny (or cent/guilder) should drop once yoou work it out.

 

[tigger]

Interesting thoughts from Andy Murray about anti-doping actions in tennis in light of the USADA report.

I'm glad there will be increased focus on other sports as a result of the Armstrong affair. I know it's probably sour grapes and cycling undeniably has a problem, but I do feel sometimes cycling is singled out compared to other sports. The amount of testing done by the ITF and the cover ups it has made makes he UCI look whiter than white. I'd like to see FIFA do a lot more too.

Indeed, if you read this below we could argue that the UCI has done a pretty good job compared to all the others. The stats missing for me (so we can really compare anti-doping efforts across different sports) are total number of professional athletes, so we can get an idea of the average number of tests per capita. But the UCI has increased testing by 70% since 2003 and positives have reduced by 25% in the same period. Not a bad effort I think?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/datablog/2012/jul/04/olympics-2012-athletics

 

[thom]

I'm glad there will be increased focus on other sports as a result of the Armstrong affair. I know it's probably sour grapes and cycling undeniably has a problem, but I do feel sometimes cycling is singled out compared to other sports. The amount of testing done by the ITF and the cover ups it has made makes he UCI look whiter than white. I'd like to see FIFA do a lot more too.

Agreed mostly - I don't mind so much cycling being singled out because it's a sport I'm interested in and it should address these issues (because they do exist unfortunately). It has to take the opportunity now to evolve and hopefully something really good will come out the other end, both for cycling and as an example to other sports that forces them to address their own issues.
It is great if the commission that the UCI creates is entirely independent and sets it's own terms of reference in that it establishes a precedent for how these opaque sporting institutions should operate going forward.
WADA could have a stronger hand going forward, which will be great when it comes to other Olympic sports.

 

[DogTired]

A teeny bit racist perhaps?

No, its hugely racist - the stuff in Kenya is incredible and when one tribe is in power then its no problem to leave non-allied tribes to starve, which is deplorable. In the book "It's our turn to eat" the details and scale of corruption and treatment of another race in Kenya are simply staggering.

You're right though and to maintain balance, other non-african providers of corruption are available.

 

[DogTired]

I'm glad there will be increased focus on other sports as a result of the Armstrong affair. I know it's probably sour grapes and cycling undeniably has a problem, but I do feel sometimes cycling is singled out compared to other sports.

Media-wise it definitely has been. It will be interesting to see where football goes - Tony Cascarino gave an amazing interview on TalkSport (can't find a link maybe in the last 2 weeks?) where he said he was given unspecified injections by a large European club that he said he felt sure were doping products. Hearsay but it was also relayed about a footballer who had played champions league, not played for 2 years and then went back and he couldnt believe the endurance, speed and recovery of players who would play on a weds and then play again on a sat.

Its not evidence by a long chalk but its all reminiscent of cycling and the 2 speed pack.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

No, its hugely racist - the stuff in Kenya is incredible and when one tribe is in power then its no problem to leave non-allied tribes to starve, which is deplorable. In the book "It's our turn to eat" the details and scale of corruption and treatment of another race in Kenya are simply staggering.

You're right though and to maintain balance, other non-african providers of corruption are available.

Like DFID, the World Bank, Apex Finance (homed in British Territory iirc) etc., you mean? All so eloquently highlighted in Ms Wrong's splendid book, a copy of which is about one arm's length away from my keyboard.

 

[User169]

Media-wise it definitely has been. It will be interesting to see where football goes - Tony Cascarino gave an amazing interview on TalkSport (can't find a link maybe in the last 2 weeks?) where he said he was given unspecified injections by a large European club that he said he felt sure were doping products. Hearsay but it was also relayed about a footballer who had played champions league, not played for 2 years and then went back and he couldnt believe the endurance, speed and recovery of players who would play on a weds and then play again on a sat.

Its not evidence by a long chalk but its all reminiscent of cycling and the 2 speed pack.

I've heard Cascarino talk about these injections before and there is an interesting link to cycling. The club where he received the injections was Marseille which, at the time, was owned by Bernard Tapie (I seem to remember Cascarino claiming that Tapie himself injected the players, but I could be wrong on that). Tapie was of course manger of La Vie Claire cycling team, presiding over a number of TDF victories.

 

[tigger]

Media-wise it definitely has been. It will be interesting to see where football goes - Tony Cascarino gave an amazing interview on TalkSport (can't find a link maybe in the last 2 weeks?) where he said he was given unspecified injections by a large European club that he said he felt sure were doping products. Hearsay but it was also relayed about a footballer who had played champions league, not played for 2 years and then went back and he couldnt believe the endurance, speed and recovery of players who would play on a weds and then play again on a sat.

Its not evidence by a long chalk but its all reminiscent of cycling and the 2 speed pack.

Oh no. Not the same Tapie who owned La Claire Vie cycle team! So that means Lemond doped lol!

 

[thom]

So here's a list of the frequency of in and out of competition doping controls in 2011 for top tennis players.