Lance Armstrong ends fight against doping charges part deux

[Stat Brother]

Alberto Contador was convicted of blood doping because not only did he have a trace amount of god know what, in his sample.
He also had a even smaller amount (next to nothing) of the plastic that the transfusion bags are made from.

Ricardo Ricco nearly killed himself when he 'found an old bag of blood' in the back of his fridge, and he self transfused.
The blood was so old it had gone 'off' and damn near killed him.

A cyclist, I think it was Vinokourov, tested positive because he had some else's blood in his system.

 

[Stat Brother]

Ah. Well hopefully we will see more Quintanas over the next few years then!

Blood doping has been illegal in France for the best part of 10 years.
So another encouraging sign is the decent crop of young French talent coming through cycling.
Although they do seem a little hampered by old skool bosses still not embracing the 21st century, a la Sky.

 

[teaboy]

EPO is a naturally occurring hormone that everybody produces and it helps increase the number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells. It has been created synthetically, and this difference can now be detected.

Blood doping is using blood transfusions to increase the number of red blood cells. Typically an athlete will have some blood removed and stored. When the body has naturally replaced the red blood cells the stored blood is re-injected allowing the athlete to carry more oxygen in the blood than previously. Altitude training is fairly similar, except the body naturally increases the number of red blood cells to carry the required oxygen. There have been great steps forward with the ability to detect the mix of old and new red blood cells in a sample, which shows up doped athletes as opposed to those with naturally-increased levels.

Cycling now has a 'no needles' policy for 'recuperation' so injections of iron cannot be given post-race.

And yes - what Spurs were doing would see him banned from cycling. Oh, and yes - I do hate having to know this, but in the long run it will bring cleaner sport.

 

[Stat Brother]

Right now on to micro dosing.

Here's a nice snippet that encapsulates it:-

Michael Ashenden, an Australian scientist specialising in blood doping, has shown athletes can take regular low doses of the blood-boosting hormone erythropoietin (EPO [7.d]) in combination with insulin growth factor or HGH. The combination accelerates the impact of EPO but enables the user to escape detection for the smaller dose of EPO."

 

[teaboy]

I can see why you would hate knowing all this but I think the more educated fans, sportsmen etc become about it then maybe there will be more of a pressure to stop people doing it or at least question it when odd things occur. So from that viewpoint I think it is a good thing we all learn about this. Although we probably shouldn't have to.

I completely agree. I do love the science and find it fascinating and, thinking about it, it's the attitude of non-cycling fans that I hate the most. Lots of people see positive tests as a bad thing - in cycling it's no longer a surprise and another step to a clean sport. As has been said, if you don't test you won't find the cheats. This IS NOT the same as having no cheats - there will always be people that push the boundaries (there always has been). Watching a bit of the athletics this evening they were saying that the reputation of the sport is hanging from a thread, and that the thread was Usain Bolt. I really hope he is clean, but I think I'd be more surprised if he is than if he isn't.

International sport needs to unify its anti-doping programmes - Jamaica should have exactly the same procedures as the UK; Athletics (and the rest) should have the same level of testing as cycling. ALL pro sports should have biological passports, in and out of competition testing, the whereabouts system and the same sanctions. WADA need millions more a year, thousands more staff and actual control over national anti-doping bodies.

 

[Stat Brother]

Tennis, football & all American sport should be ashamed of itself.

[tweet]362535822249046017[/tweet]

 

[Stat Brother]

Lance The Movie(S).

http://road.cc/content/news/89595-british-director-stephen-frears-linked-lance-armstrong-movie


The only film I want to see is Shane Meadows' Tommy Simpson biopic.

 

[The Wookiee]

Why not allow drug taking in all sport in order to create a level playing field ?

No grey areas, anything goes !!

 

[Stat Brother]

That does get mentioned a fair bit, in America.

 

[The Wookiee]

That does get mentioned a fair bit, in America.

It would certainly stop all the worry about what is legal to take and what isn't

 

[Stat Brother]

http://www.thetennisspace.com/bob-brett-on-cilic-drugs-and-the-peril-of-doctors/

 

[Stat Brother]

It would certainly stop all the worry about what is legal to take and what isn't

I'd image it would half the life expectancy of all professional sports people.

But worryingly it wouldn't effect the number of professional sports people.

 

[The Wookiee]

I'd image it would half the life expectancy of all professional sports people.

But worryingly it wouldn't effect the number of professional sports people.

Would it though ?

Am pretty sure most of the legal supplements they take today, probably would of been banned 30 years ago ?

 

[teaboy]

Why not allow drug taking in all sport in order to create a level playing field ?

No grey areas, anything goes !!

Because it doesn't work like that.

You + EPO = 2% improvement
Me + EPO = 10% improvement

Still a 'level playing field'?

 

[strings]

I am against doping in sport. But there is a part of me that wants to see athletes that resemble the Incredible Hulk and the Thing run the 100 metres in 7 seconds flat whilst drugged off their faces.

 

[teaboy]

I am against doping in sport. But there is a part of me that wants to see athletes that resemble the Incredible Hulk and the Thing run the 100 metres in 7 seconds flat whilst drugged off their faces.

Here you go...

 

[The Wookiee]

Because it doesn't work like that.

You + EPO = 2% improvement
Me + EPO = 10% improvement

Still a 'level playing field'?

I don't understand ?

 

[mattpenfold]

If performance enhancing drugs were legalised in sport, then there would be an "arms race" between athletes as to the type and quantity of drugs used. This would not be good for the health of athletes. Any drug that is useful as a performance enhancer is going to have significant side effects. A common one for steroids is liver damage. In patients who have a medical need for such drugs there is regular blood testing to check liver function, and the absolute minimum possible dose is prescribed, for the shortest possible time.

 

[Stat Brother]

Would it though ?

Am pretty sure most of the legal supplements they take today, probably would of been banned 30 years ago ?

It most definitely would.

I think there's still a naivety surrounding PED's esp in this country, where we don't cheat and never cheat!!

Drugs cheats aren't just buying the wrong thing from Holland & Barrett.

We're currently talking about a multi million dollar industry that can generate billions of dollars in wages/prize money/endorsements etc (just add Alex Rodriguez contract to what Lance is being sued for).
Processes at the cutting edge of human biology with blood, hormones, surgeries, all of which is illegal.

If you take the morals away, and maintain the levels of finance 'super humans' will be keeling over left right and centre.
Their hearts explode, or their blood coagulates, they suffer from psychotic episodes, their skeleton collapses and so on.

 

[The Wookiee]

It most definitely would.

I think there's still a naivety surrounding PED's esp in this country, where we don't cheat and never cheat!!

Drugs cheats aren't just buying the wrong thing from Holland & Barrett.

We're currently talking about a multi million dollar industry that can generate billions of dollars in wages/prize money/endorsements etc (just add Alex Rodriguez contract to what Lance is being sued for).
Processes at the cutting edge of human biology with blood, hormones, surgeries, all of which is illegal.

If you take the morals away, and maintain the levels of finance 'super humans' will be keeling over left right and centre.
Their hearts explode, or their blood coagulates, they suffer from psychotic episodes, their skeleton collapses and so on.

Fair enough !!