zero doping – cero dopaje

It seems to me it  was a bad decision putting a  lawyer”  “Travis Tagart” to head up USADA. Prosecution lawyers, and lawyers generally do not concern themselves with justice, they consider only winning for their client within narrow definition of the rules, in this case the carefully crafted one sided  rules of  federations, not the law of the land.

How can you make sure someone is guilty and give them a fair defence?

Jurisprudence and  the judicial process demands a hearing before guilt is determined in which an accused is allowed to both hear and challenge evidence and given notice to prepare, in which  the prosecution aimed at winning, the judge aimed at upholding rules and jury who decide guilt are all different and independent people. And that is why the law of the land is what it is.

Only after that process can guilt be determined, and the guilty sentenced.

It is clear that USADA are afraid of the law, which is why the force athletes to agree to this one sided farce  in which Travis Tagart seemingly  wants to play judge jury and executioner, dictating guilt and sentence, and the accused only has right to just as one sided arbitration decided by a different federation.

The problem is , with these mock executions USADA brings a process which needs to be squeaky clean into further disrepute and controversy.

I do not know whether Lance is guilty or Innocent. I am happy to believe either based on the facts.

What I do know is he has the right to be treated as innocent until proven guilty by a court process
in which proven liars and cheats like Hamilton and Landis and  others that cut sweat heart deals
are treated as totally unreliable witnesses.

Lance is right to stay clear of this banana republic injustice , in which a decision is made behind closed doors by USADA and Tygart in which they  choose which facts   are considered, then decide guilt and pass sentence.

It is sad that Travis Tygart has turned such a serious business into yet another doping  farce by trying to use  a banana republic justice system. No wonder USADA appear  afraid of the legal system, and want to create  their own instead. 

My advice? Find someone else who is impartial, who is interested in justice and jurisprudence,  Whise first job is to put a proper process in place, which if separate from ordinary judiciary  must be modelled on the same,  in which the public can trust. Then and only then give Lance a hearing with all the normal legal safeguards.

If a proper process said Lance was guilty , in which Travis Tygart does not play judge  jury and executioner  then and only then will I believe it!

I am reminded of the Butch Reynolds case, in which thes institutions railroaded inadequate justice through a flawed process that went all the way to the supreme court. Reynolds only lost an appeal on a massive settlement for that because by having these myriad of quangos they can then argue on which one has jurisdiction for any who have the temerity to challenge.

I suspect it is the Butch Reynolds case, that made the system even more one sided as it is now: which basically says – if we say you are guilty , you are guilty.

They need to know the process has victims. I met Diane Modahl for example, and if proof is needed these quangos are fallible, people need look no further than her.

I want clean sport too. But the difference I suspect between me and Travis Tygart, is I not only want to see justice, I want justice to be seen to be done. Not current injustice which says “If we say you are guilty, you are, trust us.” The public want and deserve better than that.

What has happened to justice?

 Alberto Contador failed a drug test. Process followed, and when his  B sample confirmed he was provisionally suspended, pending a hearing.  

But in armstrong’s case there is no physical evidence at all. He has never failed a doping test.

Yet he is suspended simply on mere allegations despite being adjudged no case to answer by a grand jury investigation, and is not even given the evidence on which to defend himself against allegations.

All we know about his accusers are such as Landis , a self confessed liar and cheat – and others “bribed” into accusing armstrong in return for immunity for themselves. Clearly all suspect evidence.

How can they suspend on the base of suspicion?

This makes a further laughing stock out of a sport.

What happended to basic principles of lawa?

• Justice needs to  be done.
• Justice needs to be seen to be done.
• Justice should be impartial.
• Innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

Lance – I hope you read this – I know nothing about law, but I hope you take it to supreme court, to show how your basic rights are infringed – better still, I hope you take defamation cases out against  your accusers for an abuse of process.

On this site we hate dopers, but just as much we hate the arbitrary response of doping agencies, which make it too much of a birth country lottery.

Thomas Voeckler is sport entertainment personified.

The reason I watch sport.  The underdog who reaches hidden depths to compete with those at the top of the tree. He made the tour de france this year a spectacle to remember for all time..

He has also been let down badly by the drug authorities.

When contador attacked and Voeckler was finally dropped, was the time when Voeckler slipped from the podium. There is a good chance – I believe – he would have been on the podium but for one Alberto Contador.

But should Contador even have been there? He failed a drug test one year ago without a doubt, and his case is still pending. That is outrageous , that one year on these pen pushing beurocrats (who all should be sacked) are still trying to a arrange a date for a hearing. Over a year on.

Contador too was booed on some stages.

There are only two possibilites. Either he is deemed a drug cheat, in which case he should not have been there, and Voeckler may well have been on the podium. And what of the other events whose outcome was influenced by Contador? Can history be rewritten.

Or he is cleared to race in which case Contador should not have suffered the undoubted turmoil and indignity of having the sword of the ban hanging over his head. How can anyone compete well, with that on their minds? They have damaged contador too.

Reality is the drug authorities have failed both Voeckler and Contador.

Drug doping should be handled RAPIDLY.  CONSISTENTLY. TRANSPARENTLY so justice is not only done , it is seen to be done.

But our authorities handle the case SLOWLY,  INCONSISTENTLY and with as little transparency as they can muster.

We have long campaigned on this site for a level playing field between all sportspeople.

We hate drug cheats with a passion, but judgement  must be consistent.

If the penalty for doping says 2 years for the first offense, it surely must mean two years.

• It should not mean two years extended indefinitely to five, as it seems to have been for dwain chambers, who is still barred from competing.
• It should not mean 21 months as a matter of convenience , as it has for Leshawn Merritt – welcomed back into competition.
• It should certainly not mean “no further action” as it appears to have done for Alberto Contador, with hearings deferred indefinitely.

How can the public have confidence faced with such abitrary decisions as these? Those in authority, you are becoming a laughing stock.

We really are facing the prospect of Leshawn Merritt competing in London where Dwain Chambers will be refused. That cannot be right.

In a desparately slow process, it seems Contador will appeal any dope suspension as is his right.

It does beg an interesting contrast.

I do not wish to take sides here, or proclaim either innocence or guilt.

But remember Contador was the beneficiary of the tour title by default because  Michael Rasmussen was summarily thrown out of the tour for a number of missed drug tests, but more importanlty pulled by his team.

I have commented elsewhere that I dislike the apparent double jeopardy, that Rasmussen lost the postcdode lottery. Because of where he was born , he was subject to two sets of tesing, national and international, unlike Contador at the time.

But imagine.

If Contador’s sample result had been available immediately, then would his team have been pressed into suspending him PENDING investigation , so he could not have won the tour. The point I make is at least Contador was given the chance to win the tour, and now can appeal that judgement.

Rasmussen cannot appeal his tour victory, because he was prevented from doing so, yet of the two of them,  Contador is the one who actually failed a test!

To me all of this highlights an out of date, system which takes forever to deliver an arbitrary verdict which as much as anything depends on where you were born.

Contador has apparent lenience by the Spanish Federation and because of support is trying to give a year suspension ,where it was clear, that the Danes did their best to condemn Rasmussen and push him out of the sport.

It makes the entire process a laughing stock whoever is guilty and innocent..

Am I alone in thinking that Alberto Contador’s treatment has been disgraceful?

One the one hand I have every sympathy with Contador, simply on the length of time these beurocrats take to reach a decision.

It should not , and must not take 6 months of speculation.

There must be a thorough investigation, but the federations must gear up to do that in a matter of a couple of weeks, so that no sooner the announcement of the doping than the announcement of the decision if anything.

The beurocrats have safe jobs. It makes no difference to them, whether it takes a month or a year. But how can  Riis and Saxobank  function, not knowing even as late as february who his star rider will be?

The delay means those running the sport, operate in complete indifference to how it actually functions.

On the other hand the federation itself has given a decision of a one year ban which means nothing.  You cannot be “a little bit” pregnant.

Either they judge a doping offence was committed on the basis of rules and evidence  to hand, in which case a 2 year ban is mandatory.

Or they judge that there was no case to answer.

In which case he should be treated as innocent.

This “half way house”  of one year ban does yet more to damage the reputation of the sport.

It is also highlights the stupidity of a system, just like the one in athletics, where the central agency uses local federations to fire the bullets for it, it decides the “right” decision and overrules federations if they disagree.

Nonsense. Either the UCI should be responsible or the federations. Take your pick.

In athletics it became clear why the two tier  structure existed as long ago as Butch Reynolds and Diane Modahl. The central agency  wanted to take the decisions, but not be the ones to face compensation fines from legal action. 

All that is needed is:

A set of rules strictly adhered. A process operating in at most a couple of months,  with a clear chain of authority.

To watchers of the Rasmussen affair it seemed as though he faced double jeopardy,  with separate international and federation doping controls, without which he would not have missed too many tests.

And whilst no support of drug offences, the rules should be the rules At the end of the ban, that should be the end.

Rasmussen has served his time, so the present treatment of Rasmussen by the DK federation is completely unnacceptable.

Astonishingly – In the developing saga of Floyd Landis, He has been invited to a conference at the world cycling championships to discuss doping.

The organiser defended his action by saying they wanted an inclusive and no holds barred discussion.

I have to question his inclusion.

The only thing you can be CERTAIN of with Landis is the Man is a liar and self confessed cheat.

Having given two opposing sets of testimony, the ONLY thing you can be certain of is that  he lied - what you cannot be sure of is which version of the “truth” is false, or indeed whether BOTH versions are “economical with the truth”

It seems in remarkably poor taste. At very least they should allow the federal US saga to play out to see whether he is further lambasted by federal sources too.

No doubt he will use the platform for further smearing of all and sundry.