Tour de France winner gives positive drugs test

[johnny]

Originally posted by Legolas: What I find strange about the whole thing isn't that it's happening, it's that you only (and always) hear about it in cycling. It's not like that's the sport where the big money is, nor are the other branches of sport remotely clean. As for the testosterone, the guy won, is it any wonder he makes more?

You're misinformed, i hear that if you win the Tour once, you'll never have to work another day in your life. There's also good money to be made in the classics like Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

The reason we hear so much about positive tests from cyclists, is that the frequency of testing for drugabuse is much more intense than in any other sport, but just for the record....the world of track and field is just as rotten as the world of cycling. A lot of gold medallists have been caught later, like Johnson and Marion Jones. Florence griffith's early death raises questions too. There have been cases in football, especially players competing in the Spanish and Italian leagues, but football has other issues to worry about, such as bribery.

Baseball is another sport where people get caught on a regular basis. Even Tennis pops up every now and then. Weightlifting, full contact fightingsports, wrestling, swimming...they all are under suspicion. We only get to see the tip of the iceberg i'm afraid.

We had a funny case here in Holland the other day, when a goalkeeper tested positive on.....marihuana. Now trust me when i say that this stuff does everything BUT improve your goalkeepingskills. There's a good chance you'll be seeing several balls at the same time, or none at all. This can hardly be qualified as a case of dope abuse if you ask me. the guy is only fooling himself if he smokes weed the night before a match, and he's also a hazzard to his teammates.

[dplax]

It all depends on how much that more actually is.

Edit: johnny seems to have beat me to posting, I was referring to the more in Legolas's post.

[ 07-27-2006, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: dplax ]

[johnny]

Originally posted by dplax: It all depends on how much that more actually is. Edit: johnny seems to have beat me to posting, I was referring to the more in Legolas's post.

Yeah, i was faster than you, and i didn't even dope myself up.

Btw...does beer count as dope ?

[Legolas]

Originally posted by johnny: You're misinformed, i hear that if you win the Tour once, you'll never have to work another day in your life. There's also good money to be made in the classics like Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Apparently the yellow jersey winner gets 450,000 euro, it's 25,000 euro for green, same for spotted, 20,000 for white, then there's a 20,000 euro combativity prize and a best by team time of 50,000 (to be split). Then there are other small prizes like 8,000 for winning a day's stage and 350 euro for winning the yellow jersey for one day.
Sure, it adds up to a bit more, but this is one of the worst paying professional sporting events you can think of. Arguably a good thing. There's more money in the concourses following the Tour, true, but you've to be a very good and active rider if you want to win enough to last you a lifetime.

[Memnoch]

I have a solution to the drug cheat issue. Athletes found guilty of drug cheating should be taken to a square in the city that their federation is based in and publicly flogged on their bare buttocks with a big stick, in front of TV cameras worldwide. The worse the offence, the more floggings they get. Singapore does this for people who vandalise things and they have the cleanest city in the world.

Just think - you could punish the drug cheats and make money off them via TV rights in the meantime. Who wouldn't enjoy watching Ben Johnson, Lars Ulrich or any of the other cheaters get whipped in the arse?

[ZFR]

Originally posted by Memnoch: I have a solution to the drug cheat issue. Athletes found guilty of drug cheating should be taken to a square in the city that their federation is based in and publicly flogged on their bare buttocks with a big stick, in front of TV cameras worldwide. The worse the offence, the more floggings they get.

/* Assuming you meant this seriously and not as a joke */

Problem with your solution is these issues are not always 100% clear. Some medications can produce same effects as the doping substance. The athlete could be taking the medication in good faith not knowing it contains some doping substance.

[ 07-27-2006, 04:26 PM: Message edited by: ZFR ]

[Legolas]

The problem is that players are punished for the use of drugs, can't take part for a year and that's about that. Take it out on the team and the sponsors and it becomes a much less interesting risk to take.

[ZFR]

Originally posted by Legolas: The problem is that players are punished for the use of drugs, can't take part for a year and that's about that.

That I agree with. I was just pointing out a problem in Memnoch's solution.

[johnny]

Originally posted by Legolas: quote: Originally posted by johnny: You're misinformed, i hear that if you win the Tour once, you'll never have to work another day in your life. There's also good money to be made in the classics like Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Apparently the yellow jersey winner gets 450,000 euro, it's 25,000 euro for green, same for spotted, 20,000 for white, then there's a 20,000 euro combativity prize and a best by team time of 50,000 (to be split). Then there are other small prizes like 8,000 for winning a day's stage and 350 euro for winning the yellow jersey for one day.
Sure, it adds up to a bit more, but this is one of the worst paying professional sporting events you can think of. Arguably a good thing. There's more money in the concourses following the Tour, true, but you've to be a very good and active rider if you want to win enough to last you a lifetime. [/QUOTE]Bah, it's that blasted Euro that messed it up again. If we'd still have the almighty Guilder, it would have been a cool mil. It just sounds so much better.

[Memnoch]

On a serious note, it's probably about time cycling joins the other sham sports (pro-wrestling, bodybuilding, hotdog eating etc) and fully embrace and encourage the union of sports and drugs. Hell why stop there? Why not pre-select the winner, choreograph crashes, stage brawls at the handing out of the yellow jersey and whatnot.