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Not sure why we let a foreign body, with limited knowledge of our sport give penalties based on the sport they are familiar with. That is like the NFL allowing the MLB to handle their suspensions.
If not you who has the power to initiate such a change. As a fan I am sad to see this happen. Losing James Stewart was a major blow to the sport. Had he been suspended for 4 races or something we may have been able to squeeze a few more years out of him.
DeCoster, Hewitt, Carmichael, Stewart, Reed, Windham, Canard? It isn't all related to drug testing but a broader view of protecting the sport's athletes. There are a few top athletes that have been on the losing end of some situations that must have an opinion and care enough about the sport to help fellow athletes.
The've been feeding and injecting cows with anabolics for decades and still do in some countries
Currently, it appears that the cost both in dollars and man hours make it prohibitive to design and implement our own drug testing for this sport. There really is a rather small number of riders in the testing pool when compared to other sports. This kind of limits the options to (1) adopting a program such as WADA or USADA which have the skill, protocols and expertise to do something this sport probably could not justify doing on its own; or (2) just not testing. The down side of the WADA/USADA programs are that if you want to use them they have their predefined penalty structures. I doubt they are going to change them for our sport, its kind of a situation if you want to use us, this is what you get. If you don't want it all, don't use it. As for not testing, my personal opinion is that it is needed for so many reasons including this is a skill/conditioning sport not a test for the best chemist.
I then wrestle with the hypothetical of what would be a fair penalty system that accomplishes the goal of eliminating PEDs and not being overly punitive:
1. Lets say a penalty of only disqualifying for the round in which the penalty occurs. This doesn't work because to be truly effective it would require instantaneous results for testing every rider. Impossible to do and the results take time to obtain. It wouldn't make any sense to wait months after the season to determine the results simply because the testing isn't in.
2. Lets take the other extreme of lifetime ban for every violation. This would be insane for all the reasons previously discussed in all the threads.
3. Lets take the middle ground of scaling the penalty based on rider fault. WADA/USADA attempt to do this but are much too punitive in my opinion. I suspect that part of the reason for this approach is the idea that if people realize how severe the penalty is they will not even attempt to use prohibitive substances. (As an aside, similar arguments arise in the case of the death penalty as a deterrent.) Regardless of the soundness of the deterrent effect concept, it clearly results in a occasional penalties that do not fit the "crime". Intertwined in this entire approach is to what extent is the Rider responsible for what is consumed. The WADA/USADA approach basically puts it all on the rider with only very narrowly defined exceptions based on relative negligence or fault. If your competitor poisons you, you get relief but other wise it is on the rider with the only relief being a reduction in time from 4 years to probably in the area of 1-2 years. The carry over from the Olympic cycle in the WADC is too pronounced now that WADA is being used in different sports with different event cycles, I hold out hope that the code will reflect its broader use.
While I understand the draconian deterrent effect approach, it needs to be modified. Things I'd like to see are:
1. Probation or minimal suspension for the first offense for many of the less significant prohibited substances. (I personally am OK with severe penalties for the 2nd and later offenses. If the rider can't figure it out after the first time it is all on them)
2. The FIM TUE process needs to be fixed so that it accomplishes its purpose. From what I gather it kind of resembles a black hole, things go in but may not come out.
3. There should also be better Rider advocacy that helps get the Rider through this testing process including the TUE and prohibited substances. It isn't fair to develop such a complex structure and code that allows an athlete with the best of intentions to fail simply because of ignorance or lack of ability. Athletes are generally not chemists, doctors or lawyers. They need assistance. From my understanding, USADA does a good job of this, the FIM not so much.
4. Different types of substance violations should have different penalties.
5. The entire process from time of violation through appeal needs to be sped up considerably. This isn't a case of litigating the AT&T anti-trust suit. The issues, penalties, defenses are all relatively simple. In fairness to the Sport, the Athlete and the Teams, the process needs to resolve much quicker.
So there are my thoughts, what are yours? As for Broc, I don't think anyone is celebrating. It is just another sad example of a system that needs some tweaks.
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Post a reply to: Time to say goodbye Broc, good run