The hunt for Australian dopers begins
Columnist By Andrew Sutherland, 18 Oct 2012 Andrew Sutherland is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- Cycling, Cycling Australia, Lance Armstrong, Matt White
January 17, 2005. Cyclist Matt White relaxes with wife Jane Saville. AAP Image/Rob Hutchison
Related coverage
As the US tries to digest the enormous doping transgressions of its professional cycling team and its great sporting hero Lance Armstrong, we are being forced to consider the doping culture of our own cyclists.
When Tyler Hamilton spoke on 60 Minutes last year we knew he was telling the truth about Armstrong, so the USADA reasoned decision didn’t really come as a shock.
Consequently it was also no surprise to learn of Australian Matt White’s involvement in doping while riding for the American US Postal team from 2001 to 2003. White was first implicated by former teammate Floyd Landis in 2010 but was forced to admit his guilt in light of the USADA report.
Many top riders of the recent era such as Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso, Alexandre Vinkourov and Alberto Contador have been banned for doping, but are we prepared to hear that Australians not linked to Armstrong are also guilty of doping?
In February I wrote an article “With drugs so rife, could Australians be doping too?” A suspicion that at least may have been came from a UCI report leaked to the French daily sports newspaper L’Equipe. It was a list of the riders who competed in the 2010 Tour de France, ranking each on suspicion of doping.
Australians Michael Rogers and Matthew Lloyd were placed in a category that contained riders who showed “overwhelming evidence of some kind of doping, due to recurring anomalies, enormous variations in parameters, and even the identification of doping products or methods”, based on comparison of blood tests with biological profiles.
One of the doctors monitoring that UCI test was the Australian Michael Ashenden, who also oversaw the 2005 testing of Lance Armstrong’s 1999 Tour urine samples which, according to Ashenden, undoubtedly contained EPO.
The outspoken Ashenden lambasted Cycling Australia on Tuesday for hiring White and for its insipid responses to doping in general. Does he know something about our cyclists?
Cycling Australia had briefly entertained the idea of an amnesty to find out the extent of Australian drug taking but quickly dropped it when the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) and its seven million dollar funding disagreed.
The president of the Australian Olympic Committee, John Coates, called for the Australian Anti-Doping Authority to be allowed to compel witnesses to give evidence and produce documents.
Subsequently, the Minister for Sport, Kate Lundy, and Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Justice, Jason Clare, announced a new Memorandum of Understanding between ASADA and the Australian Crime Commission so that the two bodies may share intelligence and work collaboratively to investigate allegations of doping.
Which procedure is best at bringing out the truth? An amnesty; or bans so dreadful that those found guilty will want to implicate fellow dopers; or a combination?
The Australian organisations have chosen the hard-line. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
Passionate about your cycling? Then sign up to The Roar's brand new daily cycling email, delivering Roaring articles directly to you day-in, day-out. You'll love it!
Click here to join now!
Looking to join The Roar team? We're searching for an experienced Group Sales Manager to lead our team in Sydney. Yes, this does mean you get to work with the site all day long! If you're a digital media sales star, we want to hear from you. Apply now.
The Crowd Says (5) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
- Explore:
- Cycling, Cycling Australia, Lance Armstrong, Matt White
October 18th 2012 @ 10:04am
Tim Renowden said | October 18th 2012 @ 10:04am | Report comment
An important question.
The obvious problem with a zero-tolerance approach is that it provides the strongest possible disincentive for others to come forward and provide information, unless they are retiring and completely removing themselves from involvement with sport.
The other problem is that some of the most valuable anti-doping campaigners are themselves ex-dopers. Think of Jonathan Vaughters, David Millar, Michael Barry (who wrote a powerful NYT piece arguing for change this week: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/sports/global/cyclings-new-path-to-a-clean-sport-must-continue.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 ) and others would all be dead to the sport and unable to effect change. The creation of the Slipstream (Garmin) team was a direct response to the experiences of many of its riders of being pressured to dope on other teams, expressed as a commitment to racing clean.
So I think it’s important not to be too hasty with knee-jerk reactions, or we run a serious risk of achieving exactly the opposite of what we want., which is a cleaner and more transparent sport.
October 18th 2012 @ 10:17am
jameswm said | October 18th 2012 @ 10:17am | Report comment
Interesting photo up there. I think hubby Matt White coached wife Jane Saville for a while. She won an Olympic medal in 2004.
The cycling doesn’t worry me too much, but I would be pretty shattered if Jane got caught up in any of this. It sure isn’t a good look for her when her husband admits having doped and coached her around that time. I hope they can re-test her old sample to show she’s clean.
October 18th 2012 @ 11:08am
Moses said | October 18th 2012 @ 11:08am | Report comment
I think Tim is right to caution against knee-jerk reactions. I feel quite sorry for Matt White. How many of us could put our hand on our heart and say that if we were a mediocre professional in that era, struggling to make a living, we would not succumb to the pressures that he did? There are very few confirmed heros that emerge from that era – Bassons and Moncoutie are the only two that spring to mind – we can’t expect everyone to have that kind of character.
It seems from what Gerry Ryan has said over the last couple of days that Orica-Greenedge is working through the situation very carefully and not doing anything hasty. I think that is good. Although I read with interest this morning that Allan Peiper has quit Garmin to move to an un-named World Tour team. Could be Radioshack of course but perhaps he’ll take over Matt White’s job at Greenedge. I think it would be sad for White to be cast out of the sport while far greater sinners — Bjarne Riis I’m looking at you, Armstrong-scale doper and the ring-leader of the disgraceful 1998 strike – remain at the top.
October 18th 2012 @ 9:04pm
liquorbox_ said | October 18th 2012 @ 9:04pm | Report comment
I dont really understand the hype over White, he is a coach, not a medical advisor. The first question should be is he able to coach the team properly?
I think there would be numerous Australians who have doped, why would we be the only nation that is able to withstand pressure from our bosses and team mates to dope? It makes absolutely no sense to think we were not involved at a rate at least equal to other first world countries.
October 18th 2012 @ 9:26pm
Swampy said | October 18th 2012 @ 9:26pm | Report comment
Penalties for doping are too weak.
Let’s be serious – Armstrong is one of the wealthiest sportsmen on earth as a direct result of his cheating. It doesn’t matter that he is now disgraced. The fame and fortune has been bestowed him for a decade.
Armstrong will sit in his estate/ranch and won’t give a damn.
Penalties need to be like those placed on gamblers such as Pete Rose, Tim Donaghy, Chris Munce, Robbie Waterhouse etc etc.
For me, spending time in a proper jail is disincentive enough to curb any risky intentions. Why not work to make this so for sporting drug cheats?
–
Comment left via The Roar’s iPhone app. Download it now [http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/the-roar/id327174726?mt=8].