doping

Tuesday February 27, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 27, 2018

Pyeongchang Winter Olympics 2018: ‘the Games of new horizons’?

Moments before the XXIII Winter Games ended amid a furious barrage of K-pop and firecrackers, the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, insisted: “We have seen here how sport can make the world a better place … these are the Games of new horizons.”

July 21, 2016

Watching athletes from North and South Korea strolling happily together, for once separated by centimetres rather than 73 years’ antipathy, it was entirely possible to be swept along by waves of sentiment and hope.

Yet another image of Bach, from earlier in the day, was also hard to shake: one of the IOC president despondently confirming that Russian athletes would not march under their own flag  at Sunday’s closing ceremony, because of two doping violations at these Games.

Especially as, with his very next breath, he also promised that the Russian Olympic Committee’s suspension would be lifted very soon if there were no more positive tests. That suspension was imposed on 5 December and will have probably lasted less than 100 days when it is lifted.

August 19, 2004

As a response to the most audacious state-sponsored doping programme in history, it counts as barely a slap on the wrist – even when a $15m fine, being forced to call themselves “Olympic Athletes from Russia”, and a ban on the Russian flag and anthem in Pyeongchang is tacked on.

A closing ceremony that began with the crowd of 35,000 people counting down together to say “one” as the athletes entered the stadium ended with the Russians close to being officially readmitted to the Olympic fold.

September 9, 2000

On the final day of competition, the Olympic Athletes from Russia won their second gold of the Games, in the men’s ice hockey. But it only inched them up to 13th in the medal table – a far cry from their first place in Sochi when their athletes were fuelled by a cocktail of steroids as well as patriotic fervour.

The next Winter Olympic games will be in Beijing in 2022. (Source: The Guardian) 

 

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Thursday July 21, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Thursday July 21, 2016 Dick Pound says ban Russia from Rio 2016 Olympics The founder of the World Anti-Doping Agency says the answer is clear Ñ Russia should be banned from the 2016 Rio Olympics for the good of the movement. Dick Pound, a longtime IOC member and a former competitive swimmer himself, says the IOC has an opportunity to send a clear message about zero tolerance for doping in the Olympics. "This is institutional cheating. It's just not acceptable in sport," said Pound on Wednesday. But the enormity of Russia Ñ both athletically and politically Ñ seems to be giving the International Olympic Committee pause, and it's delayed any decision on the allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia until Sunday. "It's political Ñ instead of focusing as we should on the sport aspects of this," Pound said. Far from marring the Olympic brand, Pound said banning Russia from the upcoming games would improve the reputation of the IOC and the Olympic movement more generally. "It would demonstrate that, on matters of principle, and the protection of clean athletes and the integrity of competition, that the Olympic movement is prepared to suspend even one of its most successful countries, because it has been demonstrated to endorse and in fact organize cheating.Ó Russia has been accused of running a widespread state-sponsored doping program designed to give Russian athletes an edge in international competition by WADA, the agency Pound founded, which has recommended that Russia be banned from the upcoming games. Pound said he understands the IOC delaying the decision for fear of legal reprisal from Russian athletes, but says they've missed an opportunity by not embracing WADA's recommendations. "If I were the president of the IOC, I would be on my knees saying, 'Thank you for taking this albatross from around my neck. We are happy to do what you recommend,'" Pound said. Russia is not the only country

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday July 21, 2016

Dick Pound says ban Russia from Rio 2016 Olympics

The founder of the World Anti-Doping Agency says the answer is clear — Russia should be banned from the 2016 Rio Olympics for the good of the movement.

Dick Pound, a longtime IOC member and a former competitive swimmer himself, says the IOC has an opportunity to send a clear message about zero tolerance for doping in the Olympics.

“This is institutional cheating. It’s just not acceptable in sport,” said Pound on Wednesday.

But the enormity of Russia — both athletically and politically — seems to be giving the International Olympic Committee pause, and it’s delayed any decision on the allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia until Sunday.

“It’s political — instead of focusing as we should on the sport aspects of this,” Pound said.

Far from marring the Olympic brand, Pound said banning Russia from the upcoming games would improve the reputation of the IOC and the Olympic movement more generally.

“It would demonstrate that, on matters of principle, and the protection of clean athletes and the integrity of competition, that the Olympic movement is prepared to suspend even one of its most successful countries, because it has been demonstrated to endorse and in fact organize cheating.”

Russia has been accused of running a widespread state-sponsored doping program designed to give Russian athletes an edge in international competition by WADA, the agency Pound founded, which has recommended that Russia be banned from the upcoming games.

Pound said he understands the IOC delaying the decision for fear of legal reprisal from Russian athletes, but says they’ve missed an opportunity by not embracing WADA’s recommendations.

“If I were the president of the IOC, I would be on my knees saying, ‘Thank you for taking this albatross from around my neck. We are happy to do what you recommend,'” Pound said.

Russia is not the only country with a doping problem, but this situation is unique in that it was run by the state and extended to almost all areas of high-level sport in the country, he noted. (Source: CBC News)

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Wednesday, January 16, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Why Oprah needs Lance Armstrong

When disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong sits down with talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, the world will see a sinner seeking absolution from the only woman who, in media terms, has the power to save him. But in truth, Oprah needs Lance as much as Lance needs Oprah.
His reputation is in tatters and he has a lifetime doping ban which prevents him from making a living from cycling. He’s hoping to walk away from this with a small reprieve: permission to compete in elite triathlons.

Oprah has a TV network which, since its launch, has struggled to make its mark in the multichannel space. She needs world-stopping interviews such as this to deliver the sort of ratings spikes that will keep the channel on air.

And Oprah knows when she’s onto a good thing. Her network OWN has now confirmed that the interview with Armstrong will be extended to a two-night engagement.

The interview was taped on Monday, and we are little more than a day from the broadcast of the first half. Newspapers and online media are saturated with stories, leaks and tips – glimpses of a conversation we have not yet actually seen.

Armstrong will confess, we are assured. To what, exactly, is not clear. Winfrey, speaking on the US network CBS, said Armstrong “did not come clean in the manner that [she] expected”, but she did not elaborate.

At this point, though, one thing is abundantly clear: Armstrong’s confession, when it happens, will be one of the most carefully stage-managed media “moments” in recent memory. (Source: stuff.co.nz.com)

Tuesday October 23, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Tuesday October 23, 2012

Lance Armstrong Is Stripped of His 7 Tour de France Titles

Tour de Fraud, Lance Armstrong gets new sponsors

The International Cycling Union announced Monday that it would not appeal the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s ruling to bar Lance Armstrong for life from Olympic sports for doping and for playing an instrumental role in the team-organized doping on his Tour de France-winning cycling squads.

Lance Armstrong won ultimate possession of the Tour de France’s yellow jersey for seven straight years, but his name is being removed from the Tour record books.

That decision to waive the right to take Armstrong’s case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest court in sports, formally stripped Armstrong of the seven Tour titles he won from 1999 to 2005.

“Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling; he deserves to be forgotten in cycling,” Pat McQuaid, the president of the cycling union, known as U.C.I., said in a news conference in Switzerland. “Something like this must never happen again.”

McQuaid said he was “sickened” by the facts in the 202-page report the antidoping agency made public two weeks ago regarding the evidence it had in the Armstrong case, and called it mind-boggling how former teammates like the five-time national time-trial champion David Zabriskie were pushed to use performance-enhancing drugs.

McQuaid said that Armstrong’s teams had a “win at all costs” attitude fueled by “deceit, intimidation, coercion and evasion,” and that all of the evidence was there to prove that Armstrong doped. He added that he was sorry the cycling union had not caught Armstrong and his teammates “red handed” so he could have thrown them out of the sport. (Source: NYTimes)