I was gutted when I heard about Stuart O’Grady’s drugs confession. In many ways, it is harder to take than the Lance Armstrong revelations.
Over the last couple of years, as Stuart O’Grady made the final transition of his incredibly versatile career, I formed the view that he was one of Australia’s greatest contemporary sportsmen.
In fact, it is a wonder I never found time to write a Roar article to that effect.
This was a guy who fluctuated from the track to the road with equal success.
He had won gold on the track at the Olympics, won one of the world’s great road classics in Paris-Roubaix, and worn the yellow jersey in the Tour de France.
This ability to succeed in his sport in a variety of disciplines informed my view that he deserved recognition as one of our finest sporting products.
O’Grady was not a Hollywood story, and that was a primary reason I admired him.
He was just a bloke who had crafted a career for himself in one the world’s most taxing sports, simply through hard work and plenty of character.
He had been a sprinter when his body allowed it, but evolved over time into a stoic team man.
He would grit and grind his way up mountains in service of a team leader, often taking a greater workload than common sense would allow. He just ploughed on.
I think I had a bit of a sentimental connection to O’Grady too, because he was the first Australian I ever saw in the yellow jersey.
There is something striking about an Australian in that jersey, it represents the Australian capacity to tame an unfamiliar environment and beat others at their own game.
I was only six the first time O’Grady wore it, and at time I greeted it with a naive mix of pride and confusion.
My confusion arose when news reports said that even though he was in the lead, he wouldn’t be in the Tour. I figured they either had insufficient faith, or O’Grady was a bottler.
Though I scarcely understood the nuances of cycling and the Tour, I did appreciate the enormity of O’Grady’s achievement.
He was only the second Australian to feel those golden threads across his shoulders, and he did it twice.
Trailblazers like Stuart O’Grady, and Phil Anderson before him, made yellow slightly less foreign for future Australian contenders.
Lance Armstrong’s story was an unbelievable fairytale, which even the staunchest Armstrong supporter must have doubted on occasion.
However Stuart O’Grady’s path to the top of world cycling was so ordinary, so grounded in reality, that only the most extreme cynic would have doubted his legitimacy.
We looked at Armstrong and assumed he must be some sort of freak. When we look at O’Grady by contrast, we saw a bloke far more limited in natural ability, but who had drained that talent to the last drop through sheer force of will and dedication.
Perhaps, many of us drew hope from O’Grady’s rise for ourselves.
That’s why the revelations of the last few days have knocked me about. If we can’t have faith in Stuart O’Grady’s legitimacy, then what can we believe in?
Riddos
Guest
Lroy, can see where the skepticism comes from hard not question most rides these days. FWIW Cadel did seem to get left off the T-Mobile and other Tour teams without much reason, maybe due to not fitting in with the team 'program'? And Froome has won this years TDF with climb times that wouldn't have had him in the Top 10 a decade ago. A sign that if not Froome, then at least the others may be cleaner then previously?
Josh
Guest
Sad but only the great admit their guilt.
Lroy
Guest
I think its time for us to accept, that probably all riders on the tour have been on the juice.. thats why they are good enough to be on the tour. The difference between not taking drugs, and taking them is not the difference between first and second.. it is probably the difference between 1st and 50th!!! Lets cut the BS.. Cadel Evans has been on the tour for a long time... he has met that disgraced doctor Ferrari... he was riding during all those years when everyone else admits they were doping...... Are we going to pretend that a guy doesnt do drugs just because he is Australian? Ive got my doubts about this years winner as well.. winning by over 5 minutes.. isnt that the sort of margin Armstrong used to win by?? Even Contador was nothing special this year... I think its time to assume the only guys that are clean are the guys who cant finish on the podium. The only way to stop this stuff, is for riders to be sequesterd in hotels, only given food prepared by tour chefs.. curfews .. no uauthorised entry etc... all food and drink for the actual ride come in sealed containers provided by the TDF ... Riders of the tour de france must complete both the Giro D'Italia and Spanish tour prior to the TDF... that way they cant train at altitude, bank their own blood then transfuse it later... All prize monies go into a trust fund, which can only be accessed ten years after the race was won. and most importantly... LIFETIME BANS FOR THE FIRST OFFENCE!!! Jesus, the current Olympic road race champion is a convicted drug cheat, how is that possible?? When a guy does something that is "unbelievable" on the tour, maybe we should take it as just that.. unbelievable. Oh yeah, Chris Froome, the cleanest rider who ever lived.. wins the tour de france by 5 minutes??
Griffo
Guest
Absolutely agree. He was the first road cyclist i ever supported, riding in yellow then in green when i first started watching the tour. He almost won the green jersey one year. Then with Olympic Gold in the Madisson and that Paris-Roubaix win were the acheivements that he deserved (or at least I thought at the time). Coming back year after year at the tour gained him so much respect and after George Hincapie had some tours scrubbed from his name it became apparent at the start of this year's tour that O'Grady was the record holder for most tours. All of that is tainted now. Every bit of it. I don't know if it matters whether he's telling the truth or not about it being a one time thing. It leaves a bitter after taste for what should be a toasted and well enjoyed career for typifying the battler spirit that we love so much in this country. At least I can say that between me and Cadel Evans we've won more Tour de Frances than Lance Armstrong. That's some consolation. Hopefully it stays that way