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Landis loses appeal with CAS
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by kferaday | June 30, 2008 at 10:03 am
157 views | 10 Recommendations | 3 comments
At long last the sad, sorry tale of Floyd Landis has come to an end. Let's hope he doesn't come back after his two year suspension. The sport could do without him. Landis is the latest in a growing list of Lance Armstrong's former teammates who have either admitted to or been caught doping (Tyler Hamilton, Roberto Heras and Frankie Andreu being the most prominent). Given that almost all of his major rivals (Ivan Basso, Jan Ulrich, Marco Pantani...) have also been either implicated or caught in doping scandals, it makes you wonder how Armstrong could have been so much better than them all that they needed to dope only to lose by such signficant margins.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland announced today its decision regarding ex-Tour de France winner Floyd Landis vs. US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). The court ruled against Landis, ending his fight to clear his name and regain his Tour victory. Landis will have to serve the full two-year suspension that is back-dated to January 30, 2007 as that is when he officially declared voluntary non-competition status. Additionally, Landis was ordered to pay $100,000 in costs to the USADA.
In a statement released by the CAS, it found that: "1. The LNDD is a WADA-accredited laboratory which benefits from the presumption that it conducted sample analysis in accordance with international laboratory standards. 2. The athlete has not rebutted this presumption by showing that a departure from the International Standard occurred."
The panel then went on to conclude from the evidence presented that the "presence of exogenous testosterone or its precursors or metabolites in Floyd Landis' sample proved that he violated the anti-doping rules of the UCI".
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 01:22 on July 1st, 2008
kferaday, I like this story.
I remember when my friend has chemo drugs he could barely walk up a footpath let alone do endurance cycling and at times 'he was like a vegetable' (his words). I'm just reading a book about intrepid cyclist Jane Tomlinson, 'You can't take it with you' who had cancer and I wonder how chemo affected her. I don't know how she managed to do the Ironman and all her other massive cycling trips with all that going on. Maybe some people use 'mind over matter' and that is something both Jane and Lance have in common, they will try their best because they have the utmost motivation to do it. Living on the edge of death, may give some people 'a kick start'. I suppose everyone is different when they take chemo drugs so it would be good to hear from doctors how other patients tend to fair, sportswise.
at 06:52 on July 1st, 2008
I suppose it's possible that the chemo transformed him. But that just makes Armstong's treatment of those who were trying to speak out against doping. Newly minted Italian champ Simeoni and Dick Pound (although he also is very flawed) etc. I also suppose I should let this pass since Armstrong is doing some great work now.
at 08:26 on July 1st, 2008
Yes absolutely. That said, as I've written here and elsewhere cycling really is at the forefront of the fight against doping. The new bio passports, team doping controls and zero tolerance policies and the out of competition testing (that caught Boonen for cocaine recently), there is no sport that does more to fight the dopers.
Compare that to the NFL and MLB where doping is rampant and the doping policies would be a joke if it wasn't for the affect is was having on youth in America. I read a report about a year ago regarding the increase in doping in America at the high school level. A survey of high school athletes in California found that 25,000 had taken performance enhancing drugs. And that's just one state. There shouldn't be one report filed on the NFL or MLB that doesn't make a reference to the out of control doping that goes on in those leagues. The commissioners of those leagues don't want to anything (and most of the mainstream press won't touch it) because there's too much money at stake. Which for them is more important than the health of their children.