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https://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Two_Big_Names_at_Swim/Run_San_Juan_next_weekend_P6732521/?search_string=whitfield#p6732521

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Yes but this is the result. Anyone can say they are doing a race

My thread on this subject was deleted, which is why nobody is talking about it.

It would have been more interesting if tese guys went solo division or other teammates. In the short course, a solo guy came 3rd overall

Their participation aside, absolutely no coverage of the event. Based on recent race coverage choices, it would seem that this event would be a shoo-in for a gallery on the main page. Unfortunate for the other athletes involved (from the back to the front of the pack), their exploits go unrecognized because the event is seemingly blacklisted, the result of one person's participation, therein reinforcing the power of the name and the controversy around it.

It is outrageous to blacklist a race due to the participation of Lance. Whatever you think of his manner or intimidatory tactics he was the best cycling athlete of his generation. Everyone was doing it, he was best. He was a hell of a triathlete before as well so why are people so negative about him but less so about Hutthaler (sp), Weiss, Toni Colom etc who have torn up tri despite being multiple time dopers.

I think it seems like the outrage is very much a North American thing. I lived and went to uni in the USA (coming from across the pond) and when I was there I noticed this. It seemed very strange and even more so, there seemed to be excess vitriol toward Armstrong. I get a lot of it and I do not condone doping at all. I think culturally attitudes are different in Europe though. We have seen drugs in endurance sport for a long long time. Do we want it? No, but Americans in particular really seem to hate their Lance. Lance was an asshole and his peers were not for the most part; that is why I think the vitriol lingers, but he was also a better athlete than his also doped peers. I don't know why people care what some retired athlete does for fun these days.

I agree with pretty much all of that!

A question to my American friends - do you hate Justin Gatlin? As far as I am concerned he is ten times worse than Lance. No contrition, multiple doping violations, no honesty, no apology, blatantly doping when he won in London at the world champs. Lance : hung out to dry. Is Justin treated the same way?

land of the free
home of the brave

But nothing about being fair in that anthem!

Then again, maybe field wasn't deep enough for coverage? Swim-run fan and journalist of ST halvard is on his way to Norway too

As a non American, witnessing the LA drama allowed you to experience a case study in our attitudes and morality and "Americanism" for lack of a better term.

LA offered the first exposure to cycling for many Americans. His story and background was made for TV and he triumphed against all odds.

We lived for his brashness and how he stuck it to europussies. We saw ourselves in him and came to have a personal relationship with him a la evangelicals with Jesus. So we wore dumb yellow bracelets.

Then we saw the fake news lamestream media try to destroy him with its lies. He is the most tested man in America how can he a dope! Also he had cancer. No, we believe what we want and are entitled to our own facts here in America. And we take it personally if someone disagrees with us.

Then he admitted to Oprah that he had doped. THAT MOTHERFUCKER. So Americans had a collective breakdown. He let us down. Enter the smug morality mixed with resentment that every American has lurking in him. Cheating in a bike race is the most evilist thing in the world. He let us down. He is the devil. We must never forgive him for this evil act.

There you have it, Americanism distilled. Hero worship. Willful suspension of disbelief in service to this hero worship. Shaky relationship with objective truth. Black and white sense of right and wrong. Smug moral posturing.

Every time Hutthaler or Weiss win a race there is a thread here about how they should be banned for life. Every time HED posts a pic of Weiss on IG they have to get busy deleting comments about him being a cheater. I know I think Justin Gaitlin being on the US Olympic team and having a Nike contract is a national disgrace and I think there has been a thread to that effect on here despite it being a totally different sport. Beth McKenzie has been another frequent topic with her husband taking to Twitter to defend her.

So your contention that LA is the only cheater singled out for public shaming is wrong.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
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Yet another Lance thread....Actually I think you are WAY off on your purported understanding of Americans toward Lance. I don’t think most Americans care that much that he doped. That is everywhere in our sports, unfortunately and I can honestly understand why an athlete would do it even though I certainly don’t condone it. The outrage is primarily from his behavior in response to the doping allegations.

I like Gatlin in the same way I like Vino. It's not that I like them. I like that they are blatant that they will dope until gettting caught, sit out their ban, come back, dope some more, win some more but they are largely up front about what they are doing. They treat doping like triathlon pros treat drafting.....push the grey line and get max benefit and try not to get penalized and then win as much as you can and if you get caught, just take the penalty and go back to playing.

The difference between doping and say drafting is that in doping, you cannot see what cheating is going on behind in the scenes, whereas drafting is in full view. WE as fans are more forgiving of rule bending that goes on right in front of our face. It's called "smart racing". We as fans and fellow athletes detest rule bending and breaking that goes on behind our back, thus we detest doping and that is understandable....Vino, Gatlin and others, they don't think that behind the back cheating is any different than on the playing field stuff. To them it's all one big grouping.

I don't love that they dope. I accept that in THEIR VALUES that is how the game is played and they don't really care what white collar people like you and I think. They are there to earn a living and not please us.

Lance's flaw is that inside the peloton he was fairly open with all his doped peers about what is going on.....just keep it inside the peloton....the moment anyone went outside the Peloton, Lance went balistic on them. Guys like Eddy Merckx, Fignon, Indurain, Delgado, Roche....all doped to the gills with the dope of the day. They played the game exactly like Vino and Gatlin.

He was a hell of a triathlete before as well so why are people so negative about him but less so about Hutthaler (sp), Weiss, Toni Colom etc who have torn up tri despite being multiple time dopers.


If you say you don't know why Lance is treated differently and think it's only because he used drugs, then you are simply ignoring the way he treated everyone for years, including the media, other riders and anyone who dared speak out against him. You're simply choosing to ignore what actually happened and the kind of person Lance was for years.

My point for this post was not to start a lance thread so please stop. Im more posting this because it was the first solo division swim-run in the USA. No more lance talk.