by Dugald » Sun Apr 29, 2007 11:47 pm
Talking about Graham O'Bree, and thinking about the unsportsmanlike treatment he got from the top cycling pros in the world, reminded me of my disenchantment with professional cycling, and professional sport in general.
I've been thrilled by the performance of quite a number of great sporting figures in many sporting events in my life. I guess one of the last times was watching the magnificent performance of one, Marco Pantani, in the 1998 Tour de France, as he danced his way up through the soaring mountains in his effort to claim the prestigious title "King of the Mountains". Wow, thought I, what a great cyclist this Pantani is. Yes, 'wow' indeed, but I was just one of the thousands of enthusiastic cyclists who celebrated his brilliant performance, only to find out later, that the Italian was a fake! He had cheated us... he had taken performance-enhancing drugs!
The performance of Floyd Landis in last year's Tour de France was not something about which I cheered. Outstanding and all, as his performance was claimed to be, I stood back from the celebrations; I learned my lesson from the Marco Pantani affair. Landis it is alleged, tested positive for having used a performance-enhancing drug in the Tour, and was fired by his cycling team and may well still be stripped of his Tour de France winner's title. He's a cheat, and I don't like cheats in sport. Cheats give a sport a bad name, and I especially don't like the sport of cycling having a bad name.
I was a cyclist for most of my life and took part in many races. I was never a champion, and could count on one hand the number of bicycle-racing events in which I participated with any measure of success, but I never took drugs, and to me it was always a clean sport, a sport in which I felt good about being a part. I gave up watching all international sporting events, including bicycle-racing, after the 1998 Tour because of the Pantani exposé, and I have never watched one since... it's phoney!
The great French "5-Tour-winner", Anquetil, asked the rhetorical question sometime after his retirement in the 1950's, "Do you think we ride for three weeks over some of the steepest toughest roads in Europe drinking soda-pop?". For me, the answer to his question was innocently accepted, and remained so, until 1998 when Pantani's exposure told the whole story. There is now another chapter to this drug story... the one provided by Floyd Landis and his testosterone, artificial and otherwise.
The 'drug story' should have sunk in earlier in 1967 when the 'great' English rider, Tommy Simpson, climbed himself to death in the Tour under the influence of amphetamines. Tommy Simpson was a revered British rider with a string of great cycling accolades to his name. He was looked up to in the world of British cycling. Indeed, he is still looked upon as a great racing cyclist and there is even a prestigious race held to this day in his native Yorkshire which bears his name... yet the man was a cheat!
I was in Glasgow in 1998 at the time of the Pantani exposure and I heard Robert Miller, es Glasgow Wheeler, a great Glaswegian cyclist, being interviewed on the radio. Miller, himself a winner of the Tour de France "King of the Mountain" title, the same title Simpson killed himself trying to acquire, and the one Pantani cheated in his effort to acquire, refused, in a very round about way, to deny ever having taken drugs while riding in the Tour. This 'refusal' left no doubt in my mind that he too, had cheated.
What about Scotland's other great figures in the world of cycling?. What of Scotland's Graham O'bree for example, a man whose cycling exploits excite me more than any other world cyclist, did he establish his unbelievable records under the influence of drugs? Did O'Bree become the pursuit Champion of all the World by cheating? I don't know, I have no proof that he used drugs to cheat in races. In his autobiography he admits to having tried drugs outside the world of bicycle racing, but there is no such admission regarding bicycle racing, but I am not at all sure any more. I do hope he hasn't ever cheated.
Govan's Ian Steele, of Warsaw/Prague-International-Road-Race fame, is one Glaswegian cyclist I feel confident about believing never cheated under the influence of drugs. I think the other famous Scottish cyclists, before the Robert Miller era, were clean performers. But let us not forget Scotland's other current drug cheat, David Miller (no relation to Robert), who was barred from racing for a period as punishment for having raced under the influence of drugs.
Bicycle racing of course, isn't the only sport in which performance-enhancing drugs are used. We in Canada had to suffer for example, the great embarrassment brought upon us by Ben Johnson in the Korean Olympics of 1990. The Americans too, have their more recent embarrassment, through the drug exploits of the once World's 100-metre record holder, Justin Gatlin. It seems cheating is endemic in the world of international sport.
Out of the top five riders in last year's Tour, Lance Armstrong is the only one who would have been allowed to compete in this year's Tour, the other four were are all under suspension regarding the use of drugs in last year's Tour of Spain (charges it seems, have been dropped on a technicality). Should we not wonder about Lance Armstrong? Did he take drugs in his winning of the Tour an incredible seven times? Does this suggest Armstrong got out before his drugs became identifiable? Floyd Landis, and his vehement denial of having taken drugs to win the Tour (they all deny ever having taken performance-enhancing drugs) won't clear his name. Should we listen to those who tell us that there are people constantly working to develop performance-enhancing drugs which cannot be tested? The sport is forever tarnished, and Landis has contributed greatly to this sad state of cycling affairs.
Last summer, International Cyclists' Union boss, Pat McQuaid, said: "I do have an agenda - my agenda is a clean sport and to retain the credibility of the sport ". I wish him luck!