Saturday Roundup

In case you have missed it be sure to read Floyd Landis' op-ed piece,"Dopers Must be Stoned" (or so says Patrice Brunet) published here on Monday.

WADA Watch has been issuing a series of fascinating reports from the Madrid, and today he ran into a couple of old veterans who have covered the Floyd Landis story -- and some surprise visitors to the Observer Dungeon: Pat McQuaid, Anne Gripper, Richard Young, Arne Ljungqvist, and Rune Anderson.

WADAwatch will state, clearly, that in spite of feeling a bit adversarial as to what has transpired at the nexus of doping, cyling, the UCI ProTour v ASO, and the diabolical leaks perpetually non-astonishing us all, that spread from the French journal L'Equipe, meeting these men and one woman, speaking with my convictions, was an eye-opening, and incredible moment.

[...]

Discussing the Mayo case, WADAwatch projected its amazement that the French laboratory had the right to shut down mid-contract, and that that amazement was reflected in some rather harsh words, mostly directed at the French facility, given its 'history' in maintaining itself in the wrong spotlight, case by case by case...

News
The LA Times Michael Hiltzik who is covering the WADA conference in Madrid, notes that the Barry Bonds indictment has been hardly noticed by the participants there who have concentrated the majority of their time in overhauling the WADA code, and finding a successor for Dick Pound. The European delegates nominated a dark horse candidate late Friday just to make things interesting today:

There remains some question whether a vote will even take place. That's because the European bloc of government members is discontented with the sole candidate, John Fahey, an Australian politician with no anti-doping record.

Late Friday, the Europeans nominated an alternative, former French sports minister Guy Drut, an Olympic gold medalist in track and field. It's unclear whether either candidate now can attract enough votes for a mandate to run the agency for the next three-year term.

The Miami Herald notes the election of John Fahey as new president of WADA and the adoption of the new code.

St Louis Today opines that every sport needs a "hero" like David Millar who has become one to cycling, and Floyd Landis just fights on.

The Globe and Mail wonders who will mourn Dick Pound's departure as controversial head of WADA, and they post a list of those who will not be sorry to see him leave.

The NY Times' Juliet Macur writes that many at the anti-doping summit in Madrid question the drug policies of professional sports, and once again Floyd Landis is mentioned in the same paragraph which states that due (in part) to his doping scandal cycling has lost revenue and TV ratings which has prompted it to clean up its act.

The CyclingNews touches briefly on several of yesterday's happenings at the summit in Madrid.

ESPN publishes a short piece on the newly adopted WADA code which will be made official today at conclusion of the anti-doping conference in Madrid, Spain .

The Washington Post provides the usual list of suspects noted when anyone pens a piece about cheating nowadays, but adds a surprising
element to the story when it reveals that even a children's chess tournament has been compromised.

The Herald Sun snarks that it's time for an Australian drug summit, because they don't want to get to the point where their athletes to turn into Floyd Landis.


Blogs
Rant reacts to the Barry Bonds announcement and wonders what kind of case the Feds really might have.

Jeff Bean notes Dick Pound's stance on professional sports and PED use after reading the NY Times piece posted above.

DeFeet gave us a plug in July, and we just noticed. Thanks and sorry...