The druggies are back

Of course Ben Johnson, not only the fault of IOC but all US and every other sports governing body. I still think the rule should be the same rule for marthon swimmers in the 60s you may use only stimulants, it was on every entery form. Which ment very few things ruled out. I remember seeing many swimmers and track and field athletes taking pinkies, little heart shaped tablets used by the bomber pilots during WW11. Benzedrine the dexedrine then dexamill.

The main reason I continue to believe Lance raced clean is that I simply don't believe he could have engineered an EPO program that would defeat every single test he's taken. At the TDF, every cyclist is tested before the event starts. Every stage winner (Lance has many stage wins) is tested, plus random tests throughout. I believe Lance was tested at other major events many times - such as the Giro and the US based Tour of Georgia. Don't forget he competed in the Olympics twice. I think an EPO test on frozen urine from 1999 cannot be trusted. They say the samples were well cared for. But can they prove it? They haven't. That only his name was released is a sign that the French press were looking for something on Lance (as they have for seven years). A suspension of an elite triathlete (Beke) was recently overturned because they showed that EPO levels vary naturally during competition. Remember too that the EPO test is not like a pregnancy test - it requires very skilled interpration of the data. Many Lance haters fail to recognize that Lance has always been a special athletic specimen - going back to his days as a swimmer, then triathlete, finally as a pro cyclist. Many physiologists have tested him and his MHR, VO2 max, etc. are off the charts. Combine that with a maniacal focus on the TDF and VERY advanced training techniques and you have a TDF winner. He has been a bit lucky not to have a serious crash in his 15,000+ miles of TDF racing. He's had a fantastic team to support him, but in virtually every test - man against man - Lance has beaten them all.

In the future they are even going to rule it to be illegal to do altitude training. To say the frozen urine is not accurate...? They have disqalified a race horse because it had caffeine in the test, the trainers excuse someone accidently spilled coffee into his feed. I really wish they would let these guys kill themselves with there drugs

Lance is a true champion....remarkable and driven . Numerous riders known to be taking EPO have died of stroke or cardiac arrest, their blood having become so thick that their hearts simply could no longer pump. Armstrong's oncologists gave him Epogen, a brand of EPO, to raise his hematocrit, knowing that this use of EPO, which is banned by the Union Cycliste Internationale and the International Olympic Committee, might raise suspicions if and when he returned to racing, though Armstrong himself had no qualms. "If anything, I've got a manhole cover attached to me," he says, dismissing the notion that his using Epogen might give him an unfair edge. "A year of chemo and platinum is hardly a boost." Any way I look at it he is an honest and special champion. Obviously cycling has it's issues but he isn't one of them.

We have read about people in the recent decade using drugs and supplements like THG, HGH, IGF-1 and passing the drug tests. Now we know that just because athletes pass drug tests doesn't mean they are necessarily "clean". EPO is no exception. We know that testing lags behind the use of drugs and supplements. It is frustrating and sad to say the least. About all you can say anymore is that a person "passed" the test. You can not really say that the person is definitively "clean" anymore just because they passed the test. Cycling appears to be one of the worst sports out there in terms of the use of EPO and cheating. John Smith

John athletes cheat in many ways, I sent an email to you which describes how a soccer team cheats and they have never been caught. I have a video of their cheating it is udisputable. If anyone wants to see this video email me at geochuck@hotmail.com here is the video video.google.com/videoplay

Originally posted by bip Just let them take what they want and be done with it! At least then we might actually be able to monitor their health better. That kinda screws the true athletes who are clean and want a fair shot without illegal drugs.

Originally posted by TheGoodSmith About all you can say anymore is that a person "passed" the test. You can not really say that the person is definitively "clean" anymore just because they passed the test. John Smith I'm a big fan of Lance, but I don't have a lot of confidence in his, or any cyclist's being clean. Saying that someone hasn't failed a test is next to worthless. We don't have tests for everything and doctors are working full time to get around the tests we do have. Personally, I think they're all using to some extent. The major drug busts lately have been with respect to allegedly "clean" athletes who never tested positive. Look at the Balco cases and others. I had no doubt that Basso and Ulrich were using and now it looks like they may have been caught - but without positive tests! Does anyone think Bjarne Riis came out of nowhere to win a Tour de France without a little hypodermic assistance? I was really looking forward to Basso, Vinko and Ulrich going at it this year. Now with them gone I could care less about the Tour. Just let them take what they want and be done with it! At least then we might actually be able to monitor their health better.

Originally posted by A.K. That kinda screws the true athletes who are clean and want a fair shot without illegal drugs. Yes, it does - but no more than they're already screwed at the moment. If there really was reliable testing - for everything - I'd be thrilled with that, but there isn't. Blood doping with your own blood, growth hormone and many other things either can't be tested for or can be eliminated early enough to avoid detection. Maybe we should stop misleading those "true athletes who are clean and want a fair shot without illegal drugs".

The truth is they have caught some athletes using whizzers.