A Cyclist’s Opinion on Lance Armstrong
In my last post concerning Lance Armstrong’s situation, I stated that I thought facts were important. Michael Hiltzik’s article at the LA Times pointed outs similar points, but also included some practices by USADA that would not be tolerated in any U.S. court. Here is an excerpt of his article:
With the whole world atwitter over Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong‘s decision to drop his legal fight against anti-doping allegations, it’s the right moment to be appalled at the travesty in sports this case represents.
It’s not that the case will be seen as a major victory for sports anti-doping authorities. It’s that the anti-doping system claiming its highest-profile quarry ever is the most thoroughly one-sided and dishonest legal regime anywhere in the world this side of Beijing.
It’s a system deliberately designed to place almost insurmountable hurdles in the way of athletes defending themselves or appealing adverse findings. Evidence has emerged over the years that laboratories certified by the World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA, have been incompetent at analyzing athletes’ samples or fabricated results when they didn’t get the numbers they were hoping to see.
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I found this article informative and poignant considering how Travis Tygart and USADA have treated Armstrong. If this is any indication of how we treat our champions, can you imagine what could be in store athletes such as Michael Phelps, Gaby Douglas, or Sanya Richardson-Ross?
For the full article go to the LA Times website or follow this link. Thank you to Mr. Hiltzik for allowing me to use his article in my post.
El Gordo
