The debate is an interesting one, especially in light of the recent release of the 2014 WADA Prohibited Substances List (find it here), and shocking admissions of doping by top Canadian riders, including 2012 Giro d’Italia winner Ryder Hesjedal (more here). Also the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport’s (CCES) received a recent funding boost for its anti-doping efforts, which includes a new anti-doping snitch hotline (read more here).
In light of the CCES funding and with the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games approaching SkiTrax Magazine recently published a CBC Radio interview with legendary cross-country skier and 2002 Olympic gold medalist Beckie Scott, who was only awarded the gold only after lengthy discussions with Olympic authorities when the first- and- second-place Russian skiers tested positive for banned substances. Scott provides some interesting insights about the the CCES’s new measures (find the interview here).
Meanwhile according to the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) cycling is not the sport most affected by doping in the country that hosts the Tour de France, the biggest cycling event in the world – rugby is tops.
In the Science of Sport article (read it here), Tucker references a recent head-to-head debate (find it here) and argues against Oxford philosopher Julian Savelescu’s reasoning that doping should be legalized, pointing out his flawed logic that anti-doping measures are not working.
In his conclusion, Tucker presents a compromise, which includes a stream-lining of the banned substances list and adjustments to the sanctioning system sanctions which he believes are skewed. Read Tucker’s article here.
November 11th, 2013 at 3:14 pm
Interesting story that explains why legalizing drug use in sports would be devastating to the athletes and the wrong way to approach the problem. I was at a party attended by mostly cyclists and their spouses. In a corner of the room I spotted a guy by himself who looked nervous and ill at ease. I asked someone about him and I was told he had been a professional cyclist in California. That statement interested me enough to go and have a chat with the young fellow. Well he told me that he raced as a domestique for a team owned and run by a world famous then barred coach (I will expose in the future for criminal action) for a few years and that he was given and took part in ingesting all kinds drugs and took part in illegal blood work procedures to artificially boost his racing performance. Some of the drugs he used he was not sure what they were or what they did and was convinced that the so called coach (mentioned above) also did not know the negative effects. Basically I thought and realized that he was an experimental Guinea pig. He said he abruptly had to quit the sport as he suddenly become a physical and mental nervous wreck to a point his body would shake and felt different and uneasy around people and had to be hospitalized several times. He said he knew it had to be from experimenting with illegal drugs and abusing his body while on that team. I was incensed and angry to the extreme hearing this and have vowed to expose this criminal coach in the future when I have the resources to get concrete proof and at the right time. I wanted to keep in contact with this Xracer and called the hostess of the party a few weeks later to get his phone number when I was told that he had passed away. He was under 30 years of age. How many stories like this are out there to be discovered and exposed? Yes we know about the racing superstars but how many lesser pros who are out there suffering the affects of taking or having taken PEDS and even worse we know very little of the ones that died before their time from the practice.
November 12th, 2013 at 2:34 pm
Curious. Where is everyone else’s comments?