Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins
Why does anyone really care? I think a pro body builder by the name of Mike Christian put it best years ago: "People want to see freaks." There should be no testing at the pro level in any sport. We test based on some vague idea of keeping it "fair", or keeping the playing field level, or because "modern" doping was unavailable in days of yore to our heroes from the past. All nonsense. Make everything available to everyone, and quit with the "wink, wink; my guy isn't 'cheating' but yours is" crap. All it means today is your guy hasn't been "caught". Yet. Testing has turned into no more than a political tool to make sure some one's pet wins. Or loses...
Just for the sake of argument, what if ingesting the very best currently developed performance enhancers is no longer thought of as "cheating"? If everyone in the current game has access and can decide for themselves to take advantage of them or not, how could it be "cheating"? Nutrition and training are better today than ever before. Both have been developed to a level of refinement unheard of in generations past. It's not like the top athletes can forego any of that just because of some substance they are ingesting. A couch potato will never wake up one day and win the Tour because he's been on EPO for a week.
What about commonly available, over the counter, health food supplements? We can ingest protien, carbs, amino acids, vitamins, and a plethora of other beneficial "natural" nutrients in quantities that vastly exceed those obtainable simply by eating normal foods. Is that "cheating" as well? We are extracting performance enhancing substances and greatly concentrating them, allowing athletes to consume them in entirely unnatural quantities. Where does it cross the line into the realm of "doping"?
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Agreed. IMO all these guys dope in some way or another, including the successful Americans like Lance and Greg. The physical demands are too great to overcome without some *help*. I did some amateur bike racing back in the day and it was infinitely more difficult than any other sport I tried (cross country, football, wrestling). Like all sports the pro's make it look so effortless you sit there and think "Hey, I can do that". Not.
I recall a late night TV host, Carson maybe, asked Greg LeMond if he ever had to walk his bike up some of the hills. LOL.