Monday, November 05, 2007

Monday Roundup

Over the weekend, we've put up quite a bit of new material folks may not have noticed, so we'll add pointers here.


News

AFP reports T-Mobile is considering giving up on cycling, mainly due to the Sinkewitz revelations. (tip from an emailer)

The CyclingNews, in a late update, says that Team T-Mobile denies that the communication giant is pulling its sponsorship.

The CyclingNews earlier reported that Patrik Sinkewitz says he didn't invent doping, we didn't think he had. And Jorg Jacksche has asked that his doping suspension be further reduced so he can race again even sooner. He feels his cooperation with authorities should be the ticket to that shorter penalty. In the PM Update the CyclingNews continues to reveal the Patrik Sinkewitz interview which may have far reaching effects on the cycling world. Sinkewtiz appears to have little conscience or remorse about his foray into the world of doping, though the moralistic tone of the CyclingNews piece seems a tad disingenuous as well:

The lack of guilt feelings or of understanding that he did wrong runs through the interview – he knew it was wrong, but did it anyway. "That's the way we cyclists have always handled it. I didn't think about it when I put the stuff on," he admitted. "But taking something in order to improve my performance was simply a part of my life."

The VeloNews
writes that the Andrey Kaschechkin lawsuit could "rock the foundations" of the anti-doping movement and change cycling and how it is run forever:

Kashechkin's lawyer is Luc Misson, who co-defended Jean-Marc Bosman after the Belgian footballer took his team to the European Court of Justice and won over "restraint of trade" in 1995.

In essence, he believes that sports organizations, because they are run privately and are not public bodies, have no legal right to interfere in the lives of individuals.

"The Kashechkin case, as regards anti-doping, could be viewed in a similar vein as the Bosman ruling," said Misson. "It's a case of who wins loses."

He added: "If we lose, we will go to the court of appeal, then the Supreme Court of Appeal, then the European Court of Human Rights. And then we will be in a very good position. At the human-rights court it would lead to a (favorable) decision at a world, if not a European level.

Roanoke.com provides a litany of "liars" and says Floyd Landis is one of the few who has not fessed up, yet.

Pedal Magazine features an editorial by Landis arbitrator Patrice Brunet in which he advocates for tougher treatment of the accused athlete's entourage for encouraging and or facilitating doping in the first place. Brunet also suggests the possible criminalization of doping in Canada.

Blogs
Rant writes about the Andrey Kaschechkin human rights violation case which is due to be in court in Liege tomorrow. Kaschechkin claims that WADA violated his human rights with an out of competition doping test this past summer, and the court action may have wide ranging implications for the ADAs as well as the athletes they test.

GMR posts the response that he got from the letter he wrote to his representative David Dreier concerning the Landis case:

You may be interested to know that H. R. 2829, the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act of 2008, provides $9.6 million for the United States Anti-Doping Agency for anti-doping activities and the $1.7 million for the United States membership dues to the World Anti-Doping Agency H.R. 2829 passed the House on June 28, by a vote of 240 to 179, without my support. This legislation currently awaits consideration in the Senate.

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