I have no idea how this would get sorted out in practice, but I would draw an ethical line between restoration and improvement caused by the substance itself. An anti-inflammatory isn't intrinsically going to make you stronger, whereas EPO turns your blood into hyperoxygenated tar. Of course, pros take lots of different supplements and medications in conjunction with hyperstructured training regimes, so it's nearly impossible to untangle the character of a single variable. [/quote]
Yeah that’s totally impossible to untangle. They say that one of the main mechanisms of action of anabolic steroids is that they aid recovery and allow people to do an ungodly amount of training, which results in those freak muscles (they have other effects too but some say this is the biggest deal). So yeah that’s recovery but it’s hardly an argument for allowing roids.
Current system is mainly based on “Is it harmful?” and “Does it improve performance?”. I’m not sure what they do with stuff that’s demonstrably not harmful but gives a significant boost. I think they ban most of them.
Broadly speaking, sport is an evolutionary arms race. Outside of a few exceptions that rise to the top and are given special privileges, most athletes are caught in the middle. Juan Pelota is probably the most famous of the special privilege crowd that through his exception has significantly changed attitudes in the peloton. Keep your mouth shut and head down and don’t do anything stupid has been significantly reinforced. A reinforcement of a critical aspect of omerta. Try really hard not to be a vindictive asshole is about all I think that was absorbed in the long term.
Most sponsors don’t give a shit about the dope question and would rather not know. Even the governing bodies don’t really give a shit. Just look at the scandals at FIFA, IAAF, WADA, IOC, etc. If you dig into the T&F scandals and have a conscience, you might not buy Nike ever again. I think cycling has a better reputation these days, but barely.
We feed underprivileged kids across the globe into this mess, celebrate them after they’ve embraced the flawed system and succeed, and then cast them aside when the establishment can’t suck anymore out of them. Fat rich corrupt (mostly) men continue to benefit from the workhorses we admire. I’d rather that money went to passionate workhorse athletes like Adam Myerson.
Speaking of which, has anyone been following along with this?
oh absolutely
he did an interview with myerson on that myerson line podcast and it was pretty cool
myerson’s podcast is basically “let me talk about myself for 55 of the 60 minutes under the guise of interviewing someone else”
i’m sure he’ll find this from googling but FUCK IT the interviews are not as good as they should be
don’t listen to the podcast then. here is a sample:
“i’d like to introduce my dear friend from long ago BIKE RACER NAME HERE it’s so great to have you on the show we’ve been planning this for months finally got it all set up how are you?”
“fi-”
“WHERE did we even meet? i know it was a long time ago and i’d already been racing for years because i started racing so young”
“i think it w-”
“i’m pretty sure my first memory was you at BIKE RACE NAME HERE where we did INSERT RANDOM BIKE RACE SHIT HERE”
“no, i wasn’t at that race”
“oh you’re right you’re right i’d done that race so many times in my very long career i had completely forgotten you’re so inexperienced but man let me tell you about some of my results from that race and that’s where i met OTHER BIKE RACER and THIRD BIKE RACER and i finished in the pack one year and i’d love to live there but it’s just too hot”
I feel like that movie is going to be the cycling equivalent of portlandia and everyone I know is going to ask me if that’s like real life. Then I’m going to tell them it is and ask if they can ask their doctor for some steroids because I’ve already shopped around
I’m about 99.999% sure that I saw Lance eating lunch at the Woody Creek Tavern eating lunch yesterday after my hike. I know he lives there, and he was wearing a stages podcast shirt, and was obviously Lance.
After I told my friends about it they were all “why didn’t you go give him shit about doping?” I know they were just joking, but the dude was eating lunch with his kid and probably has to deal with that shit every day.
That interview is great. I have felt for a while that pro cycling was on the edge of a bubble that was about to burst, seems like Floyd thinks the same thing.