In the wake of the Alex Rodriguez admission to steroid use, you'd think athletes are doing whatever they can to keep their name and steroids as far apart as possible, especially if they've been questioned in the past. Not the case for seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who, after announcing his comeback to cycling, claimed that he would be undergoing some comprehensive testing by Don Catlin, basically the Tiger Woods of anti-doping scientists. The tests were to be extremely strict and available for everyone on the Internet, but have since been canceled without Catlin ever getting a chance to test Armstrong even once.
"In the real world, when you try to implement a program as grandiose as what you had in mind, it just becomes so complicated that it's better not to try," Catlin said, adding that a contract with Armstrong had never been signed. "We're all disappointed, but it's just not going to be possible."Basically, the story explains that in a world where testing cyclists is now even more important than ever, having such an intense assignment to just one athlete is too much for either party to handle. Armstrong announced on his Twitter page that as of Feb. 4, he has been tested 16 times, and will continue to be tested by the International Cycling Union and the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
As you probably can assume, people are a little suspect of this thing not working out.
Dick Pound, former chief of the World Anti-Doping Agency, last week said: "Armstrong made all the big announcements and the testing has dropped right off the radar. No sign that anything is actually getting done."From the article, it appears it was just more trouble than the whole thing was worth. The "making it public on the Internet" thing was solid in theory but proved to be a burden when concern arose that normal people, like you and I that don't speak Biology lingo, wouldn't totally understand that charts and might make false assumptions.
As for the testing, Catlin said he couldn't even find a spot during Armstrong's race in Australia to test the American rider.
"There are so many people lining up to test cyclists right now," Catlin said. "We tried to do one sample in Australia, but we didn't even get that done because it was so hectic. There are practical issues, but I think someday that will change."I guess being really good at something these days just isn't enough. If you're good, you must have cheated and if you didn't cheat the system, you cheated the results. I guess when on a bike, there is no "innocent until proven guilty" business. There's just guilty.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-11-2009 @ 6:13PM
Bob said...
Why is it that in most sports people want so desperately to believe that their favorite athlete is "doing it right", but in cycling the majority keep hoping for Armstrong to be proven "dirty"? Is it just because Americans have little interest in cycling, and foreign countries don't like Americans dominating "their" sports? If this testing regimen conflicts with the events (as BOTH sides seem to agree on), then it needs to go. Lance will be tested plenty by the regular officials--we'll just have to settle for "negative" or "positive" results, as before, instead of all the extra data they were hoping to publish.
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2-11-2009 @ 8:58PM
SodaPop said...
This is really not a big surprise. When Armstrong came up with this idea of his own independent testing he probably wasn't aware of how often he would be tested by official drug testing agencies.
Armstrong (according to his Twitter feed) has been tested in and out of competition at least 16 times since October when he announced his comeback. The new biological passport system adopted by cycling is far and away the top anti-doping system in all of sports.
Even team Saxo-Bank (formerly CSC) who were running their own controls just announced they were stopping their program because there are so many official tests now it doesn't make sense to continue an independent program.
It's a little unfair to lump Lance in with A-Rod. Baseball's anti-doping policies and penalties are a joke in comparison to cycling. Would baseball players ever adopt a "wherabouts" system where they have to let the dope testers know where they can find then at least an hour of every day so they can be tested out of competition. Cyclists have to do this.
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2-12-2009 @ 9:17AM
SodaPop said...
Looks like the only thing changing here is the person doing the tests. Instead of Catlin, Armstrong will Danish anti-doping expert Ramsus Damsgaard, who is also conducting testing for Armstrong's team, Astana. The data from UCI, WADA, and USADA tests will still be posted online.
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2-12-2009 @ 12:02PM
Bob said...
Thanks for the heads-up, SodaPop. Clearly, Lance is aware of the importance of his pledge, and how people will view any deviation from the plan.
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