Congratulations to Frank “the Big Hurt” Thomas, who smashed his 500th career home run today against the Minnesota Twins, becoming only the 21st player in MLB history to reach that milestone, the Chicago Tribune reports. While the Toronto slugger rounded the bases, the Metrodome crowd gave Big Frank a standing ovation.
Thomas, who spent 16 seasons with the Chicago White Sox before playing for the Oakland A’s last season and the Toronto Blue Jays this year, has been an outspoken opponent against doping in baseball. You can be sure that this milestone wasn’t tainted with performance-enhancing drugs.
Showing posts with label doping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label doping. Show all posts
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
Guilty as Sin
If I had any doubts about Floyd Landis' claims to innocence in doping allegations, they were quickly confirmed with the damning testimony of two witnesses during Landis’ doping hearing which started last week in Malibu, Calif. Last Friday, former triple Tour de France champion Greg LeMond revealed he had been abused as a child and Landis’ manager had used that information to prevent him from testifying. LeMond said he confided the abuse to Landis last summer with the hope that sharing the story would convince Landis to come clean about his doping. According to Landis in a Reuters’ news story, Landis replied that coming clean “would destroy a lot of friends and hurt a lot of people.”
Early today, a little-known cyclist named Joseph Papp explained how he and other cyclists applied a testosterone gel on their bodies to recover more quickly during competitions. According to Papp, “it’s something you can use in small quantities that doesn’t trip any of the scanning…Immediately after the race, you would rub it [the gel] on your chest or your abdomen because within 30 minutes you would experience an increase in your testosterone level. And within four hours you would be back to your normal base line level.” Papp is currently serving a two-year ban from cycling for testing positive during a race last year.
Regardless of what happens during the rest of the hearing, and regardless if the French lab screwed up the testing of Landis’ samples as Landis claims, the testimonies of LeMond and Papp convince me that Landis is guilty of doping. This entire hearing was never about the testing process. It was all about getting Landis off the hook. If the arbitrators have any brains at all, they will waste no time in delivering a two-year suspension and stripping away his Tour de France title. I am hoping that cycling officials will learn something from this case that MLB has not – don’t let one of your “stars” off the hook.
Early today, a little-known cyclist named Joseph Papp explained how he and other cyclists applied a testosterone gel on their bodies to recover more quickly during competitions. According to Papp, “it’s something you can use in small quantities that doesn’t trip any of the scanning…Immediately after the race, you would rub it [the gel] on your chest or your abdomen because within 30 minutes you would experience an increase in your testosterone level. And within four hours you would be back to your normal base line level.” Papp is currently serving a two-year ban from cycling for testing positive during a race last year.
Regardless of what happens during the rest of the hearing, and regardless if the French lab screwed up the testing of Landis’ samples as Landis claims, the testimonies of LeMond and Papp convince me that Landis is guilty of doping. This entire hearing was never about the testing process. It was all about getting Landis off the hook. If the arbitrators have any brains at all, they will waste no time in delivering a two-year suspension and stripping away his Tour de France title. I am hoping that cycling officials will learn something from this case that MLB has not – don’t let one of your “stars” off the hook.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Surprise! Derby Horses Tested for Drugs
It's interesting to see how the alleged doping scandals in baseball and track and field are affecting other sports that you wouldn't think would be affected, such as horse racing. For the first time in the 133-year history of the Kentucky Derby, all 20 horses were given surprise pre-race tests for performance-enhancing drugs on Thursday, according to the Associated Press. The decision to test the horses was made to ensure that the state’s medication rules were being followed, not because there was any suspicion of wrongdoing, said Mark York of the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet in the article. Certain blood-doping agents such as EPO (erythropoietin) and darbepoietin are illegal because they increase the number of oxygen-carrying red-blood cells and boost a horse’s endurance. In some cases, these drugs can kill the animals. A positive test could result in disqualification. Test results will not be revealed until after Saturday’s race.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Doping Allegations Overshadow Swimming Championships
American swimmer Michael Phelps completed an astounding week, winning seven gold medals at the FINA World championships in Melbourne, Australia and breaking five world records. He tied fellow American Mark Spitz for the most gold medals earned at an international competition. Spitz won his seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympics. Phelps surpassed Australian, Ian Thorpe, who won six gold medals in the 2001 world championships and was an international sensation at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
Overshadowing Phelps’ accomplishments, however, is the news that a report had been leaked to a French newspaper that Thorpe is under investigation for a doping test before the swimmer was notified of the result. According to a published statement, Thorpe said he was “deeply alarmed” that the test result was made public before he was informed of it. “The press receiving this information before an athlete jeopardized the whole integrity of the testing process,” Thorpe said.
Thorpe, who retired from swimming last fall, has been an outspoken critic of the procedures used by FINA, the sport’s governing body, to catch drug cheats. He was once reprimanded by FINA for claiming that the organization was naïve in thinking that all swimmers at the Athens Olympics were drug free. Thorpe also expressed suspicion of the timing of the leak, which occurred the same week as the world championships in his home country. “I don’t think it was a coincidence that it happened here,” he said in a statement.
Doping allegations are nothing new to this sport -- I remember the East German and Soviet women being under suspicion of steroid usage in the 1980s. While I believe that Thorpe is not involved in doping – any athlete that is openly critical of the dope testing procedures isn’t likely to be involved with drugs himself, in my humble opinion – it may have a reverberating effect on other swimmers and the entire sport. After witnessing Phelps’ performance at the world championships, one wonders if there is going to be a carryover effect. In other words, if some people suspect Thorpe to be guilty of doping, would they also suspect Phelps? Will this investigation mar what has become one of the most surprising and incredible sports stories of 2007?
Overshadowing Phelps’ accomplishments, however, is the news that a report had been leaked to a French newspaper that Thorpe is under investigation for a doping test before the swimmer was notified of the result. According to a published statement, Thorpe said he was “deeply alarmed” that the test result was made public before he was informed of it. “The press receiving this information before an athlete jeopardized the whole integrity of the testing process,” Thorpe said.
Thorpe, who retired from swimming last fall, has been an outspoken critic of the procedures used by FINA, the sport’s governing body, to catch drug cheats. He was once reprimanded by FINA for claiming that the organization was naïve in thinking that all swimmers at the Athens Olympics were drug free. Thorpe also expressed suspicion of the timing of the leak, which occurred the same week as the world championships in his home country. “I don’t think it was a coincidence that it happened here,” he said in a statement.
Doping allegations are nothing new to this sport -- I remember the East German and Soviet women being under suspicion of steroid usage in the 1980s. While I believe that Thorpe is not involved in doping – any athlete that is openly critical of the dope testing procedures isn’t likely to be involved with drugs himself, in my humble opinion – it may have a reverberating effect on other swimmers and the entire sport. After witnessing Phelps’ performance at the world championships, one wonders if there is going to be a carryover effect. In other words, if some people suspect Thorpe to be guilty of doping, would they also suspect Phelps? Will this investigation mar what has become one of the most surprising and incredible sports stories of 2007?
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