As we enter the final week of the 2011 Tour de France, it is a pleasant surprise to see that doping has not taken center stage at the event this year. There is still the dark cloud over Alberto Contador’s head regarding the positive test last year for a ban steroid which will not be resolved until August; and the voluntary withdrawal by the Russian, Alexandr Kolobnev of the Katusha team. Other than that, it has been the crashes and surprise victories that have dominated the coverage. The question still remains, how does the sport of cycling handle and punish the convicted dopers?
There are two sides to the argument over the issue of doping and cycling. Some people believe that we should stop worrying about catching the cheaters and let them all use whatever drugs the riders choose to ingest. They believe that the general public wants to see more action in the sport, and like the use of steroids by the sluggers in Major League Baseball, they think that allowing the riders to dope-up will create more action and excitement. For that group of people, there is no discussion of punishment since they would have the sport of cycling turn into a free-for-all. I use the word ‘they’ because I believe in the complete opposite.
Cycling is a sport that is recreational for most people and sometimes a competition among men and women from around the world. Like all sports, during a competitive event, the strength, skills and tactics are tested individually and as a team. The riders are expected to compete on a level playing field with regards to their equipment – the International Cycling Union (UCI) has very detailed bicycle specifications that must be followed. I believe that they should be competing on the same, level playing field with regards to the chemicals that they introduce to their bodies. When a competitor chooses to cheat in an event, they are not only cheating their follow competitors, but they are also cheating the fans and the integrity of the sport.
But so what if the integrity of the sport is cheated? Who cares, right?
If the competitive side of the sport is allowed to spiral down the rabbit hole of doping, then the sport of cycling will suffer in general. The top level of the sport will lose credibility and integrity. Sure, there will still be people that will purchase, ride and compete, but the larger, non-cycling industry corporations will look to other ways to spend their advertising dollars or euros. What company wants to be associated with a sport that is fueled by drugs? Maybe the pharmaceutical companies, but that is doubtful. Most corporations will walk away and once those dollars dry up, it leaves the bicycle companies to sponsor these riders and events, but I don’t think that their pockets are not deep enough. As the recruiter played by Harry Shearer said in the movie The Right Stuff, “Funding. That’s what makes your ships go up…. No bucks, no Buck Rodgers.” If there is no funding to pay the pros, teams or organizations that host these major events than top level competitive cycling will be no more. Along with the reduced presence of
professional cycling we will see much less innovation in the cycling world.
If you believe that doping in cycling should be banned then how should the cheaters be punished? Currently, most suspensions are one to two years for the convicted cheater. Sometimes the doper makes a come back and sometimes they move into another profession. But is the punishment harsh enough? The punishment for cheating in cycling is not harsh enough and that is proven each time another racer is caught doping. The punishment that may be handed down to Alexandr Kolobnev is a little harsher than most – “If the ‘B’ sample also tests positive, he will be fired and will have to pay five times his salary as a fine,” the Katusha [team] statement read. Obviously that threat was not enough to keep Kolobnev from supposedly doping before and/or during the one cycling event that will almost certainly test each rider once during the three weeks of racing.
So what is the answer?
The status quo is one answer. Suspend any convicted racer for one to two years. This may deter some, but the sport is still going to be dogged by convictions, accusations and allegations.
My solution…suspend the convicted doper for life from racing. Any level of licensed racer convicted of doping should be banned from competing in any cycling event requiring a license for life.
The federal judge and first appointed Commissioner of Baseball, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, had it right after the Chicago White Sox baseball players involved with the 1919 “Black Sox” scandal during the World Series were acquitted in court of wrongdoing. He felt that the damage to baseball’s reputation was too great and on August 3, 1921 issued his own ruling:
Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player who throws a ball game, no player who undertakes or promises to throw a ball game, no player who sits in confidence with a bunch of crooked ballplayers and gamblers, where the ways and means of throwing a game are discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball.
He banned the eight players that were involved with the scandal and two others believed to be involved for life. They never played professional baseball again.
The same punishment should be handed down to the dopers. Through their intentional cheating, the dopers are defrauding their fellow competitors, fans, sponsors and the sport – it is obvious that they have no respect for the history of the sport and the spirit of sportsmanship. There is no place for them in competitive cycling at any level. Along with suspending the accused for life, any fellow teammate, team management, team doctor or sponsor who knowingly contributed or supported the convicted of doping should also be banned for life. Any member of the team or management who is not proven to have known of the doping should still be banned for a period of no less than one year due to association. It is obvious that the current regulations do not have enough teeth to keep cheaters from doping, so maybe the pressure from fellow team members who do not dope will keep the others from doping.
Stiffen the punishment and maybe competitive cyclists will not want to risk a lifetime ban. What do you think?