Quotes without Comment

From Michael Hiltzik's LA Times series, part 1 and part 2.

The less discretion there is in the finding of a doping offense, the better it is.

Mr. Pound

[WADA policy states that every athlete is responsible for everything he or she ingests or applies to the body. In the case of adulterated supplements], If you didn't know what was in there, it's your own damn fault.

Mr. Pound

For people who have never had to deal with something like this, it's hard to grasp what it takes away from you. You have no idea what happened. You have no control over the fact that they are going to announce to the entire public that Rachael Burke, this girl that everyone has seen grow up in the spotlight, has tested positive for steroids. The next day, you have to walk on the pool deck and people are saying, 'I wonder if that's why you were so good when you were 8 years old.' You're accused and convicted without a chance to defend yourself.

- Rachael Burke, swimmer

We're not in this to falsely accuse.

Travis Tygart, USADA head counsel.

You have a closed system where very few people in the world know what the science is, and the system has a vested interest to make sure its findings are confirmed. The lab should just be a fact-gatherer, but the WADA system is designed in a way that the labs are not just objective fact gatherers, but part of the body of prosecution.

David Black, Commercial Lab Director

In their opening and closing statements, USADA said they were going to prove me a cheater. It's a war in there, and you're fighting for your character and your integrity.

David Vencil, swimmer

The rules are designed to make it as easy as possible to convict an athlete. Their tests are presumed to be scientifically valid. It's assumed that their labs did everything perfectly. And they have no obligation to provide you with documentation to rebut these presumptions.

Howard Jacobs, defense attorney

These are the same old tired arguments that we've heard for six years, and it's the same defense counsel who bring them up

Terrence Madden, USADA CEO

If you're a clean athlete, you have nothing to worry about. We don't proceed if it's not a doping case.

Travis Tygart

It's not serving the purpose it was meant to [the hearing]— to give the athlete a real opportunity to be heard

Anonymous CAS Arbitrator, fearing controversy.

When any organization, including [USADA] turns this fight against doping on innocent athletes, that behavior is unacceptable.

Christopher Campbell, arbitrator

The athlete is being held accountable, but the lab can have a series of small errors and is not held to a strict liability. No deficiency in the lab performance ever seems to rise to the level of impeaching their finding.

David Black

We are fact-finders, and we apply the law within the narrow strictures that we are given.

Maidie Oliveau, arbitrator

The system, as a system, is a pretty good one. It can be tweaked here or there, but we're not sitting down with a blank sheet of paper and redesigning the entire world anti-doping system.

Mr. Pound

[end]

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Wednesday Roundup

News
At Eurosport.com Ivan Basso considers Pereiro the "moral" winner of the Tour....

But I find it normal and even necessary that Landis has the chance to defend himself to the end. In any case, until the moment when the federal and legal institutions will allow him to go.

Reuters has Landis the #2 story of the year, behind Tiger Woods.

ESPN says Landis unlikely to appear at this year's "tougher" Tour of California. I'm not sure about the toughness -- there's more climbing, but the time trial is less than 15 miles long. And it doesn't go near TBV's house this year, which kind of bites.

Forums
DPF looks at our calibration story, thinking the E might be reported low due to non-linearity that wasn't accounted for. RH keeps trying to show Landis did not have a naturally high T/E ratio, but no one but him cares anymore. Duckstrap's "opinion" thread has wandered into general philosophy about doping test statistical validity.

Bicycling Forum has a thread following Jeanson that decries testing in general, noting the dopers have "won" the 2000s about as thoroghly as they did the 1990s, and the current approaches to combat them just aren't working.

Toxic still has pit bulls arguing the IV after stage 16 means something, if only to distract attention from the real arguments at DPF that are never addressed.

Blogs
Dugard looks deep into his schedule and commitments, and decides he must pass on the Landis book.

Rant looks at the calendar, compares to Hamilton, and says Landis' 2007 tour may be shot if there is a CAS appeal.

Neil@Road looks at the Tour of California schedule and routes for spectators, and wonders if Landis can defend his title. Not looking good for that, unfortunately.

Whoa also notes the Cyclingnews blurb about The David Witt Memorial Holiday Cycling Classic presented by OUCH to benefit the families of the United States Fire Service engine #27 who lost their lives battling the Esperanza forestry fires in October in Riverside Co. California.....

300pour100 (French) has a funny that Marc has translated for us as:

Fancy that ?!!

I was trying to get a handle on this article from one of our neighbors in St. Pons, from the Nov/Dec issue of Sport et vie.

A double standard

Sunday Sept. 3, 4:30 p.m., on Stade 2 they were going on about Andre Agassi, who had just beaten Baghdatis at the U.S. Open. Everyone seemed very enthusiastic, and, incidentally, we learned that in order to hang on the hero of the day had had to receive (off-court) several sizable injections of cortisone, since he was suffering from pain in his legs and back. Decoded: he was loaded up like a mule, while his opponent that day, undone by cramps from the fiercely fought match, finally had to fold his tents and give in.

No one dreamed of being offended by this!

Aren't you surprised after a month's worth of scandal at the Tour de France? !!

I advise Floyd Landis to switch to tennis. Jonathan Vaughters, too. In 2001, this American rider for Crédit Agricole had been severely stung on his face by a wasp. To reduce the swelling, which was hampering him from seeing the road, he had to take a shot of cortisone. And that put him out of the race.

Moral:

Cycling isn't tennis, neither in the seriousness of its fight against doping, nor in the way it's covered by the press!!!

Sports Frog thinks there may be a Floyd Landis Conspiracy, noticing the "hacker" at the LNDD.

Last Row Sports knows whose fault it was... Carl Lewis.

[end]

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