04/19/24
February 08, 2012
Cyclist: Why Doping Must Never Be Legalized: "I was a professional cyclist. ... I had several contract negotiations with teams that were at a higher level than mine. I possessed all they wanted as far as skills, personality, engine, etc. But there is always a question they ask at the final meeting. It is code. And if you answer incorrectly, your contract offer is pulled. That question is 'Are you willing to do everything it takes for the team to win?'"
I've sometimes pondered letting athletes use whatever PEDs they want. Looks like a good argument against.
posted by jmd82 at 08:22 PM on February 08, 2012
Putting the Tommy Simpson clip at the top of the piece made me grimace, and I think I know why. In fact, I've always known why. As I've said here before, doping is to cycling what brown envelopes stuffed with cash is to the NCAA. It haunts the sport, and while riders don't fall off their bikes and die these days, they still fuck themselves up and die young in their beds. And those deaths weigh on the conscience of everyone who lines the roads or wears the jerseys or watches on television.
That cyclist's right: the urge to escalate isn't going to go away, whether it's from teams wanting to keep up with the competition or riders who just want their bodies to hurt a little less in the third week of a grand tour, and there has to be something to stand in the way.
posted by etagloh at 01:30 AM on February 09, 2012
Yeah, that is actually as strong an anti-legalized doping argument as I've ever heard.
Who was the sports writer who made the "Jesus Juice" argument - the theoretical invention of a side-effect free performance enhancer and whether we'd approve of that or not?