Comments on: The messy business of sports doping

By: BigAl

BigAl — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:05:01 +0000

I’d take Maradona every time.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:11:21 +0000

Le Monde was the same paper that reported Ian Thorpe was on drugs. I’m not saying either him or Armstrong aren’t, but it goes to show they have a history of making such claims on rather shaky evidence.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:09:46 +0000

He wouldn’t be on EPO, which boosts endurance – not much use in a 100m.

By: Freud of Football

Freud of Football — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:46:19 +0000

Maradona anyone? He was banned from the 94 WC for doping. He’d been on a huge coke binge that had apparantly lasted months, rumour has it that the FIFA officials, needing a star player in the tournament gave Maradona the all clear to dope up so he could lose enough wait to be fit in time for the tournament, not only was he fit but totally rejuvenated, they had created a monster they couldn’t control and subsequently banned him.

By: Freud of Football

Freud of Football — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:45:59 +0000

Maradone anyone? He was banned from the 94 WC for doping. He’d been on a huge coke binge that had apparantly lasted months, rumour has it that the FIFA officials, needing a star player in the tournament gave Maradona the all clear to dope up so he could lose enough wait to be fit in time for the tournament, not only was he fit but totally rejuvenated, they had created a monster they couldn’t control and subsequently banned him.

By: davido

davido — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:35:38 +0000

Fantastic article. I have been saying the same thing about Armstrong for years. FINALLY someone else who can see the truth amongst the whitewash.

By: Michael C

Michael C — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:58:38 +0000

my main reason to distinguish is that we have a history in Australia of people confusing the WADA/ASADA testing for performance enhancing drugs with other testing for illicit drugs,

also between in and out of competition,

and between testing to stop cheats vs testing to ‘promote’ player wellbeing??

but – the general gist beyond that, yep, no worries.

…..and the joke line you finish with is neat.

By: Andrew Sutherland

Andrew Sutherland — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:38:40 +0000

Thanks Wylie. Bolt has got a similar action to Lewis. But he’s better to watch b/c it looks like he’s walking away from the rest. I hope we don’t find out soon that he’s on a new generation of epo.

By: Wylie

Wylie — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:03:45 +0000

Nice article Andrew. Carl Lewis – possibly the biggest hypocrite in sports history. I still hate that guy.

I’m now wondering how fast Usain Bolt could have run if he was a member of the infamous Santa Monica track team.

By: Andrew Sutherland

Andrew Sutherland — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:40:13 +0000

Don’t take the piece too seriously.
It is about all drugs, recreational & performance enhancing, in sport. You’re right to distinguish between the two but the doping authorities dont. Wendell Sailor got two years for taking cocaine not epo. And it isn’t just because of the moral question, it’s known that athletes can take limited doses of cocaine prior to events to improve concentration and reduce fatigue.
Who knows if Agassi took crystal meth to give him an edge? And if he took it to escape his horrible childhood and hatred of tennis then it’s still relevant to sport.
In any case both types of drugs used long term destroy the athlete.

By: MyGeneration

MyGeneration — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:03:51 +0000

Good point. Might as well through George Best in as well.

By: Michael C

Michael C — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:43:37 +0000

what’s Agassi’s crystal meth personal illicit drug use got to do with Lewis and Johnson and performance enhancing drugs???

one is personal health and well being and the other is cheating.

By: Kento

Kento — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:03:02 +0000

Very enjoyable article. I was saddened to read about Agassi. There was also Hingis too. What a sad state of affairs.