As a kid growing up in Brighton all my heroes were sportsmen. Perhaps the biggest hero for me was someone who was possibly the biggest for many a Brightonian athlete of the time; Steve Ovett. And as I grew so my heroes grew with me......after Steve there was Crammy (actually in the same school year as me - I remember seeing him as a gangly kid stroll to victory in the 1500m at the English Schools - anyone else remember that?), then Carl Lewis, Miguel Indurain and so on and so forth, until we get to the noughties where the name of one Lance Armstrong appears in bold print on my list of sporting heroes alongside, and more recently, Alberto Contador.
Lance Armstrong who today resigned as head of his cancer charity, Livestrong, and was also dropped by sponsor Nike who are fending of allegations of corruption themselves (see below)
Sadly though those last two names have now been expunged, in more ways than one! And it is a distressing thing when someone you've looked up to, admired and respected turns out to be nothing more than a cheat. Since the days of Ovett, Coe and Cram there seems to have been something of a tsunami of fallen sporting idols. Ben Johnson leaps to mind, Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin, Floyd Landis, the (tragic?) 'Pirate' Marco Pantani, Dwaine Chambers, Ivan Basso, Jessica Hardy (who medaled at this years Games), Ricky Hatton, Martina Hingis, Roy Jones Jr, Diego Maradona, Eddy Merckx, David Millar, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Shawn Ray, Bjarne Riis, Frank Shleck, Jan Ullrich, Richard Virenque, Alexander Vinokourov (who won this years Olympic road race), Mats Wilander, Shane Warne, Alex Zulle, Djamolidone Abdoujaparov, Lee Bowyer .....and the list goes on and on (List of doping cases in sport).
Are the rewards just so great that cheating is the only way to get to the top in any sport these days?
Sport plays such a huge part in my life that I have to believe that's not true. I have no choice!
A quick glance down the wikipedia list (see link above) tells me that not everyone caught doping is a world-beater or that one particular sport is more prone (shall we say?) than another to dope cheats, although it would be true to say that some sports do get more than their fair share of bad press because of its' dope cheats.
For example, cycling and athletics have both been badly tarnished by a seemingly endless stream of top rate performers who have been caught doping. Although I did spot a name, which I've forgotten.....and is not really relevant anyway.... on the wikipedia list of a guy who was banned from ten-pin bowling for doping! The mind boggles! I digress.......
I remember very well when Ben Johnson was exposed. The furore that followed! The reaction of much of the media and many armchair fans was perfectly understandable, if not a bit illogical. 'If the world record holder and Olympic gold medalist is on drugs then everyone else must be too!'
Every gold medalist was eyed suspiciously. The questions came.
'How come he/she got away with it?' 'What's he/she on?' 'Can a clean athlete even compete today?'
They were endless. They are endless. Those questions and many, many more are still asked today of this years sporting stars. But is it right? Should they be subjected to analysis by the press where very often a guilty verdict is thrust upon someone merely by association?
I think the answer is yes!
Our sports stars and heroes should stand up to be counted. Testing and monitoring athletes ensures a clear playing field for those who are in fact clean. If that means that those around and associated with drug cheats are subjected to more than a normal sized grilling then so be it.
If you were guilty of a crime that cannot have been committed by one person alone, then it is only right and proper that your colleagues and associates be asked to answer for their part in the proceedings. Don't you think?
Yes, there will still those who will somehow manage to slip through the net and I have no reason to believe that anything will change there. Some will still be tempted to cheat. They always have been, they always will be. I guess it's a flaw in human nature that allows people to employ a 'win at all costs' attitude that is literally that - Win at all costs, when perhaps it shouldn't be about winning at all. But then try telling that to a kid who has just been inspired by Usain Bolt's latest dash down the track or Paula Radcliffe's anguished face as she crosses the line. Without winners in sport there is no sport. But where do we draw the line in what is acceptable in a winner and what is not?
The answer to that is easy to answer of course. If the winner cheated then he's not a winner. He's a loser. And should rightly suffer the punishment, whatever that might be, of their respective governing bodies. But for those guys, those cheats, those men and women who have crossed the line (from hero to zero?), did no-one tell them about the line or what? Are they really that driven that to win at all costs becomes more than just a totem and twists itself into a lifestyle whereby the inflicted cements over the cracks and chasms of their own hypocrisy to be able to smile and beguile us mere mortals with their heroic performances and not bat an eyelid!
Next year sees the centenary of the Tour de France. Tour director Christian Prudhomme was, by all accounts, hoping to have a parade of past champions as one of the highlights of the celebrations. But with all the recent revelations his plans are now said to be in tatters. No less than 20 of the last 21 winners of the Tour have now been caught doping with Armstrong's seven titles not being reallocated winners and will therefore have 'no winner', said Prudhomme this week. It is as he said, 'a lost decade' of the Tour.
Prudhomme continued, saying that despite everything he believed that cycling was on the right road and must continue to work to catch the cheats, saying that the UCI (cycling's governing body) was becoming 'more efficient' and was catching 'cheats faster' than ever before. 'There's no other possible way,' he said.
And whilst I applaud his oratory, the emerging facts this week, cast more than shadow over cycling as a whole.
It now seems that in 2002 the UCI accepted a donation of more than $100,000 from Armstrong (UCI criticised for accepting cash payment). Whilst the UCI have denied that it was nothing more than a donation, and was not in fact payment for the cover-up of a positive Armstrong test, they have put themselves (if they weren't enough before!), their methods and their officials well and truly under the microscope.
Then today it emerged that former UCI chief Hein Verbruggen may have accepted a $500,000 bribe/payment from Sportswear giant Nike to hush up yet another positive Armstrong test (Nike deny cover-up).
It's been hard to read the almost daily revelations about Lance Armstrong. I didn't want to believe it. But the evidence is damning and growing every day.
So who left in cycling can we trust? Is there a way forward that might maintain the (race) drama, but involve just a little less scandal?
I leave it to my big hero of 2012, our Brad, to show us the way (Our Brad looks forward...).
A world without Lance Armstrong did at first seem to be world that was lacking something for me. I think even up until the point that I started to write this blog I felt aggrieved, pissed off even at the crap being thrown by Armstrong's former team-mates, colleagues and managers, almost as if it was I that was on the receiving end along with Lance!
But now I think that I was merely in mourning. I've got all Lance's books on my shelves. I can probably even quote you a few lines from each if asked.
What do I do with those now? They won't even sell at a car boot sale!
And what about my motivation? When I jump on my bike and I'm at the bottom of a mountain that I know is gonna hurt like stink, who do I turn to now? I used to conjure up images of Lance thundering up mountains in all weathers, getting to the top and not being satisfied with his time, so turning straight back round and doing it all again. And I'd be there, the lactic already burning like hot coals in my thighs, on a mountain a fraction of the size of anything in the Alps, and I'd be saying to myself 'if Lance can do it twice in bad weather on the big mountains, I can certainly do this bloody pimple!'
Even though he is my big hero of the year, by his own admission Brad isn't a natural climber, so who do I go to for motivation now on my big mountains? Contador's been shown up to be a cheat. So was Alejandro Valverde, both of whom I had previously 'admired'! So, any bright ideas? Suggestions on a postcard please!
In the end though, the sun still came up this morning. Lance's demise didn't change the world, except perhaps for the better. And those mountains won't be any higher or harder as a result of his misdemeanours. And once I've fully recovered from the shock of losing yet another idol I'm sure I'll scale those bastards even faster than I did before.
See you soon.
