Is anyone else as nauseated as I am over this?
During the Olympics, we had a lot of discussions about--let us call it artificial enhancement of power--by athletes. Some posters offered the view that everyone who did well was taking something. I like to hope that's not true. But competitive long-distance cycling certainly seems to prove that jaundiced point.
There is so much that is incomprehensible to me. Most outstanding to me: it seems bizarre that a man who battled cancer would take anything that might alter his blood chemistry. Then there is the sheer stupidity of becoming that famous and expecting that you can keep anything secret. If you win a fiendishly grueling race seven times, more than anyone else in history, don't you think people will pay attention to every move you make? I gather they couldn't find any chemical evidence of any malfeasance by Armstrong. However, many people including teammates have testified against him. It sure doesn't look good for him.
I know that it's possible to cheat at almost anything, but there's not a lot that performance-enhancing drugs could realistically enhance in skating...maybe that's one reason I like our sport so much. Even male pair skaters can't get that muscle-bound, or they couldn't skate in unison with their wispy little partners. At least, I hope there's no incentive to do those terrible things.
But Armstrong's fall is a sad moment. It calls into question everything he's done before or since his bicycling career, including his cancer activism. And it sure makes the sport of cycling look bad. Didn't someone over on the Olympic thread comment that they can't take away the winners' medals, because the runners-up are also taking these substances?
During the Olympics, we had a lot of discussions about--let us call it artificial enhancement of power--by athletes. Some posters offered the view that everyone who did well was taking something. I like to hope that's not true. But competitive long-distance cycling certainly seems to prove that jaundiced point.
There is so much that is incomprehensible to me. Most outstanding to me: it seems bizarre that a man who battled cancer would take anything that might alter his blood chemistry. Then there is the sheer stupidity of becoming that famous and expecting that you can keep anything secret. If you win a fiendishly grueling race seven times, more than anyone else in history, don't you think people will pay attention to every move you make? I gather they couldn't find any chemical evidence of any malfeasance by Armstrong. However, many people including teammates have testified against him. It sure doesn't look good for him.
I know that it's possible to cheat at almost anything, but there's not a lot that performance-enhancing drugs could realistically enhance in skating...maybe that's one reason I like our sport so much. Even male pair skaters can't get that muscle-bound, or they couldn't skate in unison with their wispy little partners. At least, I hope there's no incentive to do those terrible things.
But Armstrong's fall is a sad moment. It calls into question everything he's done before or since his bicycling career, including his cancer activism. And it sure makes the sport of cycling look bad. Didn't someone over on the Olympic thread comment that they can't take away the winners' medals, because the runners-up are also taking these substances?