Slowman, thank you for asking some questions that no one else seems to be cogently talking about. Whether or not a person is a Lance fan and regardless of anyone’s opinion on his innocence or guilt as a doper, WADA and other international athletic organizations with a vested interest in clean sport have an equal obligation to due process. As many doubts as this newest allegation has raised in my own mind, I can’t help but find the situation to be too fishy for my liking.
Dan - Very well thought out essay.
Exactly. Well done, Dan. It would be so nice to get the doping control people into a room and make them answer to these points.
He pretty much put hit the nail on the head. LA should not be on trial right now, the French doping agency and WADA should be the ones explaining themselves. If you cannot have 100% faith in the integrity of the process, then it is worthless.
Yup, slowman said exactly what Lance is saying right now on Larry King ! You figure that of all people Dick Pound would be kicking some asses around WADA right now. The guy was an Olympic swimmer himself and he has been really tight on process. Pound really needs to step up. If we can’t rely on the process, then what is the point in ANY testing.
Amen, Empfield.
where is slowman’s critique? can someone link me or point me in the right direction? thanks!!!
Go to the front page. The link is there.
You just go straight to the forums eh?!
duh…i vaguely saw that as i skipped right to the forum…THANKS!!!
And what controls are in place to make sure a long-held sample hasn’t been tampered with? Ever since the Claudia Poll affair in swimming, I’ve wondered about just how easy it would be to mess with sample integrity.
I’m a glass half full guy… so, my feeling is that once the dust settles due process will take its course. Luckly for Lance he’s retired, and he won’t loose a season or two while this is sorted out.
However, WADA must do something about this… what about athletes in their prime? Where is the justice? Hopefully lessons are learnt, and things are fixed for the future. I’m sure it’ll make for some interesting discussions as this runs its course.
I’m curious as to Tyler Hamilton’s case. Would the argument for Lance’s testing be applicable to him?
Did he undergo the same testing procedure?
Wada Chief, Dick Pound, definately better do somethin before he ends up in a deep, dark, possibly humid place!!! heh heh.
Not sure the details of the testing, but Tyler Hamilton’s case is about blood doping. Basically two people’s blood was found in the sample. His defense was a “vanishing twin” that could have donated blood to his system.
here’s a link to a summary:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/05/11/healthscience/sntwin.php
Tyler’s test is totally different from what’s going on here with Lance.
In Tyler’s case the claim is that his blood tested positive for homologous blood doping within days of the blood being taken (in fact the first test was the same day I think) - both is A sample and B sample tested positive for the same thing. In Lance’s case he is being accused of taking EPO in 1999 and the test was done using his frozen B sample - the A sample has already been tested and was used up when he tested negative in 1999 for any drugs (there was no EPO test at the time).
Even if Lance’s people were able to show that the EPO test was unreliable (unlikely) it won’t affect Tyler really in any direct way - only it could indirectly help him in his defence that the blood transfusion test is also unreliable…
No, Tylers case is different. At Athens, one sample was destroyed and the other positive so he was let off the hook. At the Vuelta, both tested positive.
Cool. Thanks for the 'splanation.
Go to the front page.
There is a front page?
I heard about it.
You’re supposed to click on the logo on the upper left I think.
Dan,
I was confused by your article.Is it known for a fact that the French Cycling matched (and leaked) the code to the rider’s name or is that speculation on your part, just because they could have done it?