Of all the sports that have had doping or drug scandals in the past ten years, cycling is the one sport that seems unable to get over it. In the nineties, baseball taught us about creatine. A few years ago, Marion Jones taught us to remember that cheating in sports does have real consequences, as she headed off to jail after lying to federal agents about her steroid use. And today, top cyclist Alberto Contador reminds us that cycling just cannot shake its reputation as a doping-addled sport.
At the moment, Contador’s test is simply a little fishy and no accusations can be proven. The USA Today reports that Contador’s urine contained traces of a plastic used in blood transfusion bags. Contador could have had a blood transfusion to boost his stamina. It’s a common illegal practice in sports like cycling. This comes days after reports of an earlier failed drug test leaked out. This test’s results Contador blamed on contaminated food, as sometimes cattle are given steroids (the thought is pretty gross, no?).
As Contador says in the story on the earlier test, “It’s almost normal for people to doubt this sport now.”
No kidding. Floyd Landis was the next American golden boy of cycling once Armstrong took a break, and then he got caught doping. This left Lance Armstrong the undisputed golden boy of cycling, and now Landis is accusing him of doping. Him, and everyone else.
If you’re a sports fan, you’re used to being disappointed by your team. But you stick by them no matter what, and wait for the next competition. You may be disappointed, but you rebound. When it comes to finding out that your team or favorite athlete (or sport) has been blood doping, or abusing steroids, it’s not as easy to get excited about your team. “My team sucked” is a lot different from “my team cheated.”
Regardless of how this turns out, I wouldn’t blame a cycling fan for feeling a sense of fatigue. Cycling is a fun sport that energizes your body and mind. It can give you a natural high…doping and drugs are (and should be) unnecessary.
