It's no longer a question of if, I think, but when. Lance Armstrong, hero to many and still one of the most powerful men in cycling, is inching ever nearer to the day when he will have to offer up a mea culpa.
This saddens me. I've followed Lance's career since before he won any big races in France. I remember when he was a domestique with enormous potential, a powerful cyclist built for speed and strength.
Evidence is beginning to build that his size and strength (the pre-cancer Lance) might have been chemically enhanced. The Sports Illustrated article I linked to here is pretty damning -- still circumstantial, but damning. The author suggests that the testicular cancer Lance suffered from -- and became a hero for having defeated -- could have been self-inflicted through his steroid use.
Maybe, maybe not. I'm not anti-steroid and I don't buy the scare stories the media likes to trot out.
The newest controversy started when two former teammates, one of whom was his close friend Frankie Andreu, on Lance's team when he won his first tour admitted to EPO use that year. Both say they never saw Lance use drugs and Lance says it's just an attempt by the NY Times to smear him.
It will be a dark day for many people when Lance is brought down by his past. For all the people who look to him as an inspiration, I feel sad.
But this whole thing could be avoided if we simply admit that pro athletes in most sports -- who compete at the highest levels -- are using whatever it takes to succeed, including illegal drugs. Rather than criminalizing drugs that are harmless when used correctly, we should accept that athletes are using them and provide medical supervision to make sure they are not killing themselves.
When steroids and growth hormone are used correctly, they can be beneficial. When used without medical supervision, they can be very dangerous. I'm sure many people will disagree with me, but as I see it, the "drug war" mentality that has made performance enhancing drugs illegal is the real issue here, not whether or not athletes Lance Armstrong are using drugs.
Tags:
No comments:
Post a Comment