Sometimes I wish I didn’t like cycling so much. The sport at the top professional level is still soaked in dope and invested by double standards. Convicted dopers will ride the Olympic Games road race yet others guilty of the same offence have been ordered to stay at home. The reigning women’s world champion who missed three out of competition doping tests and was provisionally suspended as a result has had her ban lifted because the first test wasn’t conducted using the correct procedure. So much for rules! If she wasn’t British imagine what the anglophiles would be saying about it? She has been almost unbeatable this year. That will be one tarnished Olympic gold medal in my opinion should she win it.
Chris Froome won another Tour de France in a style reminiscent of a certain Texan whose name is now never to be mentioned. But Froome wouldn’t dope. He just trains harder. Wants it more. He’s a once in a lifetime athlete. He’s a nice guy and he says he has never done anything illegal. Blah, blah, blah. We’ve heard it all before and been lied to a thousand times. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.
My enthusiastic grip on the sport has loosened a little. I didn’t watch every stage of the Tour this year.These days my life catches up with me sometimes and I actually get tired.Maybe it’s me who needs a shot of EPO?! I can’t be bothered sitting up to all hours watching the metronomic precision of Team Sky as four of their domestiques grind the competition into the ground killing the race as a spectacle. And Froome just sits there, twiddling his little gear. He looks like he is riding to work.
Of course there are many who will turn a blind eye or simply don’t believe that these sporting giants have feet of clay. So be it. I won’t attempt to change your opinion if you leave me to mine but there are times I just wish I didn’t like cycling so much.
I’ll still be watching the Olympics, cringing as jingoistic, nationalistic pride overwhelms the nation when we win our 104th gold medal in the pool. (God, those swimmers have white teeth! Does anyone else actually compete in the Olympics?!) But for me, the dark cloud of doping will still hang over the games. But I’ll be another one who turns a blind eye. I’ll enjoy the sport, I just won’t take the results very seriously.
It was interesting to hear the comments of Australia’s chief sporting official at the Games, Kitty Chiller when asked about doping bans which have been applied to Russian athletes. She replied that those Russian cheats won’t be competing against our clean Australian athletes. Gulp! Let’s hope these aren’t famous last words.
Enjoy the Games!
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 