Your cheatin’ heart
Will make you weep
You’ll cry and cry
And try to sleep
But sleep won’t come
The whole night through
Your cheatin’ heart
Will tell on you– Patsy Cline
So today’s big news is that Ivan Basso has been given a two-year suspension for “intending to dope” as he called his involvement in the Operacion Puerto case. Readers of Road Bike Action magazine might find a touch of irony in the fact that their July/August issue lists Basso as one of the top contenders for the Tour. I received a copy about a month ago, as part of some promotion for re-upping my USA Cycling membership for another year.
As busy as I’ve been, I’ve not had enough time to get into race shape, so the expense of renewing my license may wind up being just a way of staying a Cat 3 until I can get enough time to train and race. Like the Chicago Cubs fans from the 70s, I always tell myself “maybe next year.” Maybe. We’ll have to see. Hopefully USA Cycling is putting that membership fee to good use.
And speaking of next year, it’s just a few weeks now until that big race around France kicks off in the swingin’ city of London. Getting close to the anniversary of the end of last year’s Tour and all the turmoil in the cycling world that certain revelations wrought. I would have loved to travel to London, meet up with family and friends, and watch the first couple of stages of the 2007 Tour go by. But it would be a truly odd feeling to be at the Grande Depart watching this year’s race start without its current champion defending his title. I don’t think I’d really enjoy seeing it all that much. Maybe some other year.
I have mixed feelings about the Tour — and for that matter about the state of professional cycling right now. On the one hand, all these doping scandals could be a sign that maybe — just maybe — the sport is getting a grip on an ancient problem. And it is truly an old, old problem (dare I say “tradition”?) in professional cycling. But scandals don’t always lead to solutions. And what disheartens me most is the mess of an anti-doping system that currently exists.
The Floyd Landis case certainly opened my eyes to that. The conduct of USADA, the less than stellar work at LNDD, the way the whole thing has dragged on leaves me feeling that the system must be completely scrapped and started over again. Forget about the courtroom theatrics, the LeMond incident, or whatever you want to call it. There’s something seriously wrong with the system, itself.
Take a look at the Jeff Adams case (the Canadian paralympic athlete). He was suspended for two years, for a positive test for a cocaine metabolite after what can only be described as a truly bizarre incident in a nightclub. Dick Pound said last year that if Nazi frogmen had held Landis down and forcibly injected him with steroids, the punishment Landis would receive under the strict liability rule would be less than for someone who intentionally doped. Perhaps, even, he might be excused for having a presence of synthetic testosterone.
Adams’ case is almost exactly that scenario. And yet, he gets a two-year suspension, even when the arbitrator begrudgingly admits that Adams’ story stands up. It may be a hard story to believe or imagine, but truth is often much, much stranger than fiction.
There’s a huge element of injustice in the Adams decision. One that gives me pause, and one that makes me wonder what impact this case will have on the Landis case. Maybe none, but the arbitrator in question was Richard McLaren, who’s also on the Landis panel. I wonder why Adams chose to have only one arbitrator. You’ve got to wonder what the result would have been if three people had to make the decision.
But even with three arbitrators, as opposed to one, there’s no guarantee that justice would be done. The system is pretty well stacked against the athlete, and it’s hard for an athlete who’s been accused to prove his or her innocence. Even when they are innocent. Perhaps the Landis case will be one of the first where a high-profile athlete is able to turn the system on its ear.
With all the doping stories in cycling, it’s getting harder and harder to know who’s telling the truth anymore. The idea that the vast majority — if not all — cyclists dope flies in the face of WADA’s published statistics, which show that at best (or worst) about 4 percent of the tests conducted come up positive. Except, that’s on the A samples, WADA doesn’t publish any statistics about how often the B sample backs up the A. They want us to believe that the majority of the time that’s the case, but we don’t have the information to know if that’s true. Somewhere out there, there are clean cyclists winning races (and many of them not making such a public spectacle of their “cleanness” as a certain Mr. Wiggins).
Iban Mayo, as we’ve seen over the last couple of days, was briefly accused of having a positive result at the Giro only to have the UCI come out and announce that, no, it really wasn’t. For Ivan Basso, however, I doubt we’ll ever know the true story. Was he doping already, or was he merely intending to when he got involved with Dr. Fuentes? Whatever it was, Basso’s cheatin’ heart got the best of him.
Thanks for the kind words – they’re much appreciated right now.
Not only did the Arbitrator find that my testimony was “unshaken” through cross examination, there were two independent witnesses to the event, one of whom is an employee of the crown, and the other a photoeditor for a major Canadian magazine – very credible witnesses.
A couple of points re. the story – it was never offered as an excuse. It didn’t need to be.
Ingesting cocaine out of competition is NOT prohibited. There was no reason for me to invent anything. An athlete could admit to ingestion without it being an infraction.
WADA code 2.2 (comment)
“An athlete’s out-of-competition use of a prohibited substance
that is not prohibited out-of-competition would not constitute an anti-doping rule violation”
Cocaine is only prohibited in-competition, and I was never charged with anything under the “Use” clause of the code, only under “Presence in Sample”.
The Arbitrator found that there was no attempt to cheat, no performance enhancement, and that the substance was not present in my system at the time of the test, although it was present in my sample.
This is the first time in history that someone has been found guilty of presence in sample when the evidence shows that the substance was not present in the system.
In Canada, we only appoint one arbitrator – we were rushed into the process, and the ADR people who manage the process told us that McLaren was “the best”. The prosecutor and the defence have to agree on the arbitrator, so after a number of our suggestions were not available for various reasons, McLaren was picked.
Jeff.
I’m truly saddened to hear the result in your case. If ever there was a situation where no infraction should have been found, and no penalty applied, it was yours. What are your plans? Will you be appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport? It seems to me that you have a strong case to be made. I realize that such an appeal is costly and time-consuming. But I’d certainly get behind such an effort.
McLaren’s decision is truly a travesty, and certainly not justice as far as I see it. Sorry you’ve become so well acquainted with the anti-doping system.
Whatever you decide to do, best of luck in the future.
– Rant
Rant:
Thank-you in advance for allowing me to use your blog to express to Mr. Jeff Adams, my sympathies for the apparent injustice he finds himself in. I see he reads this site.
I am sorry about all the snarky comments being made related to his defense story, especially from the professional journalists. Here is a example of how their writing hurts the athletes. My wife thought Adams was unbelievable with such a lame excuse after reading the online Toronto Star news. I then had her read Adam’s recent post on the DPF forum, and now, she cannot believe how unfair the system is, and the impressions she initially had due to the slant the journalist had in the Star.
Admittedly, I did not know too much about Mr. Adams until the recent news that was released. However, I am well read on Jellotrip’s contributions on the DPF forum. I do not know Adams and I do not know Landis. I read about their contributions in society, the way they conduct themselves, and the words they write on the forums. I feel I can trust what they say about their innocence.
I am very disenchanted with the methods, inflexibility, and lack of common sense the anti-doping and anti-drug administering bodies take at “cleaning up” the system. It is a sorrowful state when you find yourself trusting the authorities less than the “guilty” athletes.
I recommend readers go to the DPF forum, look up Jellotrip under members, find member’s posts under profile options, and read some of Jellotrip’s earlier contributions. It is worth your time if you have not read them.
Best of luck to Mr. Adams and Mr. Landis. Forget honesty, luck is what you need these days.
Peter (in Ontario).
Peter,
No thanks necessary, I’m always happy for you to leave comments here. It is a complete travesty, the situation that Jeff Adams is in. And it boggles my mind that professional journalists have been writing about his story the way they have. Being skeptical is one thing, swallowing the anti-doping authorities pablum hook, line and sinker is another.
I wouldn’t have a problem if they cast a skeptical eye on both sides, but when they cast a skeptical eye only at the athletes and not at the authorities, that just gives the authorities more license to run roughshod over the athletes in their zeal to hunt down all the witches — er, I mean dopers — who are “ruining” sport.
What the media fail to notice is that it’s the very people who claim to be saving sport that are doing it the most damage. Ironic, to be sure. Maddening to the nth degree for those of us who understand what’s really going on.
– Rant
Rant,
thank you for following through with this all and being as touched by Jeff’s story as was i. it does make a *huge* difference hearing it in Jeff’s own words rather than the press as pem pointed out which is just another layer that frustrates and scares me… Jeff, you have a lot of people pulling for you — stay strong! and, please, tell us if there is anything any of us can do.
back to you, Rant, and your queasiness about enjoying the Tour with all that’s going on with Floyd. i agree and i disagree. no matter how disgusted Floyd is with the system, i do not think it has dampened his love for the sport one iota — otherwise he would not be fighting it with everything he has. in the same vein, i think that as fans of the sport we must continue to follow it and love it and fight for a just system, otherwise all is lost.
i want Floyd to get justice but, if in the process, i turn my back on cycling then the bad boys win. we fans have to stay true! i say you should visit your family and friends in London, then hope on over to France and visit me. keep cycling in our hands, the hands of the fans, rather than those a-holes who sentenced Jeff Adams to a two year ban. it’s the only way that cycling will survive and the only way that there will be something for Floyd to come back to… whenever that may be….
Cam,
You have a good point. We can’t let the turkeys get us down. And I’m sure that come the Tour, I may not be totally into this year’s version, but I’ll follow it, and I won’t let the a-holes, as you say, win. Turning our backs and walking away wouldn’t force the changes that need to happen. For that we need to keep the pressure up.
And you can rest assured, I’ll be doing my part to keep the pressure on the powers that be to change the system to one that is (gasp! what a concept!) more fair.
– Rant
Hi Rant,
In the Floyd Landis arbitration i felt that McLaren was a bit of an unknown but with Jeff Adams ruling we have certainly seen his true colours come through. He seems to be a bit of a yes man for Pound. WADA needs a complete overall not only in it’s rules but from the top down. Unbeleivable ruling in that case. My heart goes out to Jeff and i hope he appeals. As in the FL case the media has again shown their ability to fabricate stories without the facts. Frightening to think that we really on the media to help us form opinions on issues like politics, wars etc. All the best to Jeff. Despite all the scandals in cycling i have actually found myself paying attention to and watching more racing. I caught a few stages of the gyro and dauphine libere. And i will be in London for the prologue and stage 1. My first time attending the Tour and i am quite excited about it. Despite not knowing who to cheer for i think that it will be one of the cleanest Tours ever. However it would have been nice to have seen FL.