Landis on Roids?

I was very disappointed to hear this. One always hopes that all runners are clean, because the Tour de France is such a unique and evocative event. When Landis won the 17th stage, many said it was an impossible achievement for a clean runner (considering his appaling performance on the 16th stage). At the time, I thought those people were just envyous. Now it looks like their guess was correct.

Fortunately there are many clean cyclists in the Tour, and I have the deepest admiration for them. At the same time I also feel incredibly sorry for them, knowing that they are competing against alleged dopeheads like Landis. The clean guys deserve so much better.

It's a black day for cycling.

this thing destroys sport how can you take pride in winning something knowing you took drugs to do it mostly for the commercial gain from being tour de france champion the guy who came second gets awarded the title but if it was me it would be a hollow victory and the worse example were the british 4x100 metres relay team stripped of their medals because one of them took nandrolene how gutting must that be .

Please note that this is a preliminary finding. It is not yet proven, although it does look bad/suspicious.

It is also worth noting that the French basically made up the doping allegations against Lance Armstrong out of anti-Americanism.

What a shame. I hate that drugs fuel sports, but I know that the pressure to take them is extremely high. In many sports the accepted wisdom is that you can't compete unless you're using, and I think that it's largely true in many sports, although testing has made some progress.

I'd like to believe Landis, but when I heard how poorly he did on tour leg 16, and then came back the next day to totally smoke everyone on leg 17, you had to wonder. And all that with a deteriorating hip that will need surgery?

Landis is now claiming that his testosterone ratio is naturally that high. The ratio was huge, and as a personal trainer, I just don't buy it. Not only that, but anyone could make that claim.

I remember when Flo-Jo was winning all those races years ago. She was gorgeous, and quite a character, as well as being blazing fast. But then you hear about her doing things like shaving over a second off her 100 meter dash in several months. I suppose anything's possible, and the human spirit is amazing, but you'd have to be in complete denial not to be suspicious. I guess we'll never know, but her very untimely death doesn't make her non-drug claims credible.

First off, this is not surprising...Cycling is one of the dirtiest "sports" as far as doping goes...any knowlegeable sports fan knows this. This is just another let down as far as sports goes...it's so widespread. Hell, when I was growing up...and this was the early 80's, athletes in most sports, save NFL football, were not these 6'3" 275 lb. monsters...but this has become a real shame as talent, preparation, and knowledge of their respective sports is starting to go by the wayside to the biggest, dumbest, meatheads around. Especially in baseball, when pitchers used to be able to PITCH, and not THROW....big difference. (for PITCHERS see: Maddux, Greg...Moyer, Jamie...Glavine, Tom) Hell, the average size for a hockey player until the last couple of decades was 5'9" 175 lbs...now, shit, they are all monsters too...however, the new rules insituted last year are starting to change that...as the two best rookies last year are both average sized guys with HUGE TALENT!! Hopefully all this crap going on now, (including that Track and Field dude who just got nailed, another liar who already tested positive and was suspended a few years ago, had the gall to say that he NEVER took any substance knowingly...that's all BS...these guys know EXACTLY what they are putting into their bodies, their bodies are their CAREERS!!) will start a landslide effect and take out a huge number of these, well, no better way to describe them than BLATANT CHEATERS. I don't know about soccer and and that...I will let our european friends talk about that...but I know this drug garbage is just RAMPANT in the US. Sorry for all the venom, but this is a subject that really just gets under my skin being a guy who has succeeded in several sports through effort and hard work, preparation, and mental strength...despite size....and never took any "help"...Not to mention, as a medical professional, the health risks are SEVERE with this shit. I just hope this leads to a huge turnover in the way these "athletes" are perceived amongst society and a huge turnover in the personnel among the sports...get back to the days when the BEST are performing....not the biggest or most jacked up.

PR,
I would have said it a different way, but I essentially agree with you. Still, there is no easy solution to this. I'll play devil's advocate for a minute...

You've succeeded in several sports through simple hard work. Fantastic! But I'd guess it's not on the pro level. Let's say you had a shot at a pro career, and you knew that you were close to getting the job. But everyone else trying out for the team is "using", and their numbers are better than yours. Would you still refuse to "use", and dump your chance? Maybe you would, but I'd bet most people wouldn't - they'd rationalize that it was an acceptable risk in return for money and fame. Sound ridiculous? OK, how about a race driver? They risk death constantly and more directly, but is anyone talking about banning that? No. See what I mean? It's a grey area.

Let's say they could do comprehensive drug testing that would detect anything a player would use. OK, so they test everyone, and now everyone's clean. But oh, wow, now the players are smaller and slower, and no records are being set this year. The audience is more bored, and game attendance is down. If you're the league president, are you going to opt for that scenario?

I still agree with you, and I have opted out of "using" anything. I don't even use andro, creatine, or any of that somewhat milder stuff, because I'm a bit of a purist. In my mind, I'm very fit, and I pat myself on the back for that, but I know I'd never be pro level. I woudn't mind if players were a little smaller and slower while competing more honestly and cleanly, but I don't think that's true of the average fan. They want more, bigger, faster, citius, altius, fortius, and all that.

Maybe the only answer is back to amateur sports. I can't see pro sports completely cleaning up and still existing given the above pressures (and many others).

Gatlin too!!!

I think most of us operate under the assumption that pretty much the entire sprinting and cycling world is on something. True or not, fair or not, that seems to be the way things go. It's sad, but these are the times we're in......better living through chemistry. We'll see what the samples say about Landis. I have to say though that any postive test on any rider isn't really a shock to many of us.

Yep.

What a pity that is!

We will probably be deprived of watching a possibly great cycling rivalry (Basso vs Vinokourov) developing over the next decade, and now, what could have been the Greatest Athletics rivalry (Powell vs Gatlin).

Its a terrible shame.