Sunday, July 08, 2007

Innocence Lost? Hopes for the Tour de France

Matthew Stevenson has written an outstanding article for the International Herald Tribune about a last bastion of innocence in sport: the Tour de France. Disillusioned, He asks: Has it become the Tour de Dope?

Though I am not nearly as knowledgeable, I must admit that sports seems now to have mirrored an international malaise. The real nature of it escapes me as it has most writers. Hoping to write a decent intro for an excerpt from Matthew's article, I was not surprised but saddened to learn that some 85% of athletes of any sport today freely admit that they would take "a potentially fatal drug, if it would guarantee a major championship win." [See: Drugs, Doping and Cheating in Sports] From the same source, a critical look at the fans who seem willing to look the other way should a favorite star use drugs to enhance performance, drive drunk or bet his/her own sport. But, Matthew had hoped the Tour de France was different.

Has it become the Tour de Dope?

By Matthew Stevenson, Published: July 6, 2007

GENEVA: When I moved from Brooklyn to Switzerland in the 1990s, I had to give up baseball. In those offline days, there was neither a North American sports channel nor streaming Internet in Switzerland. I adopted the Tour de France as my summer pastime and have spent many happy July days in its presence: catching snippets on TV, riding my bike to watch it pass, discussing the results with cab drivers and barbers.

The Tour often starts the day my children finish school and ends when the wheat is cut, making me think of it as a medieval harvest festival with jesters on wheels. I still warm to its revolution around France, its rich literature, the mountaintop finishes, the food en route, and the promotional samples thrown to spectators. For me the pleasure of the race has little to do with the winner.

As this year's race approached, however - amid so many revelations about illegal drugs in professional cycling - I had to confront whether I have been cheering for a sport or a freak show.

Recently, Bjarne Riis, who won the 1996 Tour de France, confessed that he had won while riding high. The week before his admission, last year's Tour champion, the American Floyd Landis, sat before a hearing to protest his innocence against the charge that he won the race pumped up on testosterone.

Before the start of last year's Tour, nearly all the top riders were banned, having been linked to a blood-doping investigation in Spain.

Landis's success in 2006 had offered glimmers of redemption. The son of Mennonites from Pennsylvania, Landis came across as the innocent abroad, who as a boy presumably drafted behind buggies. For a few weeks, until the lab report was in, professional cycling dreamed that it could remake its tarnished image with Landis.

Then, when three-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond agreed to testify, Landis's manager threatened that if Greg went against Floyd, he would reveal that LeMond had been abused as a child.

With such tawdry stories as the prologue to this year's Tour de France, some even suggested canceling it - in effect, sending it to rehab. Since 1903, the Tour has only stopped for the two World Wars.

It may have been nice to think that sitting out the Tour for a year would restore the sport to grace, if not innocence. But the appeal of the Tour has always been its epic qualities. For better or for worse, doping has been as much a part of its chemistry as roadside barbeques and drunken Dutchmen.

A Tour poster from its early decades shows a line of riders smoking cigarettes; the hope was that nicotine would "expand" their lungs. Other stimulants in those formative times included brandy in tea, nitroglycerine, and, yes, heroin. Coffee sometimes came laced with cocaine or strychnine. Later came amphetamines, human-growth hormones and testosterone.

It isn't only the riders shooting up in the shower who have been in on the dark secret of doping. Many race officials, team owners, doctors, coaches and even the press have understood that success in cycling has depended on more than water, bananas and PowerBars.

As a result of the scandals, little excitement surrounds the Tour this year, which has the aura of dog racing. At the same time, I would like to think that the Tour is larger than even its drug culture.

...

Read the entire article at: The International Herald Tribune. I would love to get off into philosophical analogies --but three words "loss of innocence" sums it up. Still, as I have discussed with Matthew, wouldn't it be nice to just spend a nice Sunday afternoon in a non-pretentious ballpark free of colossal, high-tech, multi-media, surround sound scoreboards and enough corporate advertising to finance a moon shot? What's wrong with some peanuts and crackerjacks? Is there nothing worthwhile that is merely enjoyed for its own sake and simple enjoyment, something beyond the reach of big, corporate bucks?


Tour de France 2003 - Armstrong Regains Lead After Fall

Additional resources: Discoveries






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5 comments:

Christopher said...

The imbibing of performance-enhancing drugs by top-drawer sportspeople is simply a reflection of the fact that we are a society of drug-users.

Who of us knows anyone who isn't on some drug or other? whether for blood-pressure, impotence, diabetes, depression, you name it.

Even little children who are considered hyperactive (but probably just high-spirited) are prescribed drugs to make them as sheeplike as the the rest of us.

Come to think of it, how different is your average GP from any old street-corner drug pusher?

Whether to alleviate pain, or to alter moods, or to open the doors of perception, or to enable a baseball player to hit more home runs, a drug is a drug is a drug.

Why shouldn't the denizens of a free society have the freedom to take any drug they like without being thrown into jail?

When dictators take over anywhere, one of the first things they invariably do is outlaw mood-changing, or conciousness-raising drugs.

Is this to prevent too many of their captives from attaining a level of awareness so to see clearly what their jailers are up to?

Perhaps if LSD was again made legal in the USA, more Americans would see what the Bush admintration is really all about, which would cause finger-in-the-wind congresspeople and senators to stiffen their sinews and summon up their blood to call George Bush and his acolytes to order.

Anonymous said...

Yes indeed, le Tour n’est plus ce qu’il était.
My greatest Champion ever, was –no contest- Bernard Hinault, the Michael Jordan of Cycling. Five tours won, second place in two others. The King. And classy too with that.

Today, while most Europeans are already physically broken with a huge “post-season”. Americans trains at home year round just for le Tour. They don’t race other things – except for Greg lemon, my hat on him- Le Tour de France is just our “Play-offs” of the real cycling seasons.

Perhaps, the solution against doping in cycling would be to shorten the season dramatically in order to keep participant to Le Tour as fresh as they can be.

Otherwise, sure, we don’t see champs like it used to be.
For example, again, in order to introduce my childhood hero, Bernard Hinault, (who sign me a yellow shirt - which I still cherish - on the Champs Elysée when I was 12 years old.) how about showing you his palmares:

1972: 1st Premier Pas Dunlop; 1st Brittany Championship

1974: 1st French Pursuit Championship; 2nd Route de France

1975: 1st Circuit de la Sarthe; 1st French Pursuit Championship; 2nd Antibes; 2nd Paris-Bourges; 3rd Isbergues;6th Grand Prix des Nations; 7th Paris-Nice

1976: 1st Grand Prix Chardonnay; 1st Circuit de la Sarthe; 1st Paris-Camembert; 1st Tour d'Indre et Loire; 1st Tour del'Aude 1st Schellenberg-Ruggell; 1st Bruges Criterium; 1st Wohlen Criterium; 1st Cleguerac Criterium; 1st Tour du Limosin; 3rd Midi Libre; 6th World Pro Road Champs.; 6th Grand Prix des Nations; 10th French National Road

1977: 1st Ghent-Wevelgem; 1st Liege-Bastogne-Liege; 1st Dauphine Libere; 1st Henon Criterium; 1st Calloc Criterium; 1st Tour du Limousin; 1st Grand Prix des Nations; 2nd Tour du Tarn; 2nd Tour d'Indre et Loire; 3rd Paris-Brussels; 4th Tour de l'Aude; 5th Paris-Nice; 5th Paris-Camembert; 8th World Pro Road Champs.; 11th French National Road Champs.

1978: 1st Criterium National; 1st Vuelta d'Espana (5 stage wins); 1st French National Road Champs.; 1st Tour de France (3 stage wins); 1st Henon Criterium; 1st La Chataignercie Criterium; 1st Callac Criterium; 1st Plessala Criterium; 1st Neufchatel-en-Bray-Criterium; 1st Plancoet Criterium; 1st Lannion Criterium; 1st St. Croix de Vie Criterium; 1st Moel-Pestivien Criterium; 1st Chateaulin Criterium; 1st Roanne Criterium; 1st Pontoise Criterium; 1st Grand Prix des Nations; 2nd Paris-Nice; 3rd Tour du Lombardy; 5th World Pro Road Champs; 11th Tour of Flanders; 13th Paris-Roubaix

1979: 1st Fleche-Wallone; 1st Tour de l'Oise; 1st Criterium du Dauphine Libere; 1st Tour de France (7 stage wins and Points Jersey); 1st Monziel Criterium; 1st Circuit de l'Indre; 1st Fontenay Criterium; 1st Callac Criterium; 1st Les Herbeirs Criterium; 1st St. Marie-sur-Mer Criterium; 1st Fourgeres Criterium; 1st Chateaulin Criterium; 1st Bourges Criterium; 1st Grand Prix des Nations; 1st Tour du Lombardy; 2nd Criterium National; 2nd Liege-Bastogne-Liege; 2nd Tour of Luxembourg; 2nd French National Road Champs; 3rd Tour du Tarn; 3rd Criterium des As; 6th Grand Prix d'Automne; 6th Paris-Nice; 7th Milan-San Remo; 8th Ghent-Wevelgem; 11th Paris-Roubaix

1980: 1st Liege-Bastogne-Liege; 1st Tour de Romandie; 1st Giro d'Italia (1 stage win); 1st World Pro Road Champs.; 1st Bain-de-Bretagne Criterium; 1st Landivisiou Criterium; 1st Plessala Criterium; 1st Moel-Pestivien Criterium; 1st Fourgeres Criterium; 1st Changes Criterium; 1st Redon Criterium; 1st Plelan-le-Petit Criterium; 1st Brasschaat Criterium; Winner of 3 Stages of the Tour de France (failed to finish); 2nd French National Road Champs.; 3rd Fleche Wallone; 4th Paris-Roubaix; 5th Amstel Gold; 7th Criterium National (1 stage win)

1981: 1st Aix-en-Provence; 1st Palermo Criterium; 1st Criterium National; 1st Amstel Gold; 1st Paris-Roubaix; 1st St. Cloud Criterium; 1st Quimper Criterium; 1st Criterium du Dauphine Libere; 1st Paris Criterium; 1st Tour de France (5 stage wins); 1st Lamballe Criterium; 1st Nogent Criterium; 1st Plessala Criterium; 1st Chateau Chinon Criterium; 1st Lannion Criterium; 1st Josselin Criterium; 1st Toulouse Criterium; 1st Olivet Criterium; 3rd World Pro Road Champs; 3rd Tour of Corsica; 3rd Circuit Sud Est; 4th Grand Prix des Nations; 4th Tour Mediterrean; 5th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx

1982: 1st Tour des Besseges; 1st Tour of Corsica; 1st Tour Armor; 1st Giro d'Italia (4 stage wins); 1st Callac Criterium; 1st Tour of Luxembourg; 1st Tour de France (3 stage wins); 1st Callac Criterium; 1st Lorient Criterium; 1st Tulle Criterium; 1st Polynormande; 1st Grand Prix des Nations; 1st Cluses Criterium; 1st Criterium des As; 3rd Tour de l'Aude; 4th Tour Dde Romandie; 9th Paris-Roubaix; 10th Paris-Brussels

1983:1st Fleche Wallone; 1st Vuelta d'Espana (2 stage wins); 1st Grand Prix Cerami; 5th Midi Pyrenees

1984: 1st Dunkirk Four Day; 1st Callac Criterium; 1st Lamballa Criterium; 1st Heerenhoek Criterium; 1st Tours Criterium; 1st Grand Prix des Nations; 1st Barrachi (with Moser); 1st Tour of Lombardy; 2nd Tour de France (1 stage win); 2nd Criterium du Dauphine Libere; 3rd Paris-Nice; 7th Criterium International; 8th Midi Libre.

1985: 1st Giro d'Italia (1 stage win); 1st Tour De France (2 stage wins); 1st Lomballa Criterium; 1st Bussieres Criterium; 1st Chateaulin Criterium; 1st Saussignac Criterium; 9th Coors Classic (2 stage wins)

1986: 1st Luis Puig Trophy; 1st Tour of Valencia; 1st Coors Classic (2 stage wins); 2nd Tour De France (3 stage wins and King of the Mountains Prize); 6th Grand Prix de Laudin; 6th Midi-Pyrenees (1 stage win)

Read’em and weep…

Anonymous said...

We are also a society of "winning is everything" ...literally.
This notion has helped usher in the all spin bald face lying that is tolerated in the media, and by the public in most all aspects of life.

Americans let the politicians lie, we tolerate lying in the work place, in the fields of professional sports, and now, since the Bush regime, even in the sciences, our sacred cow of the 20th century. When this society realizes that at some point it has become a victim of it's own deceit, we may regain our moral compass.

benmerc

Unknown said...

Christopher I said...

Perhaps if LSD was again made legal in the USA, more Americans would see what the Bush administration is really all about, which would cause finger-in-the-wind congress people and senators to stiffen their sinews and summon up their blood to call George Bush and his acolytes to order.

I think you put a finger on the hypocrisy of US attitudes about drugs of any sort. Anyone with lots of money can get all the drugs they want so long as the money winds up in the coffers of the big drug companies. LSD, however, was often home-made. "Weed" can be grown in your back yard and it is a lovely plant.

Dante Lee wrote..

Today, while most Europeans are already physically broken with a huge “post-season”. Americans trains at home year round just for le Tour. They don’t race other things – except for Greg lemon, my hat on him- Le Tour de France is just our “Play-offs” of the real cycling seasons.

That's one of the things that always turned me off about American culture. Americans are grim because nothing is done for sheer enjoyment anymore. And that brings up benmerc's point.

Benmerc said...

We are also a society of "winning is everything" ...literally. This notion has helped usher in the all spin bald face lying that is tolerated in the media, and by the public in most all aspects of life.

In retrospect, I suppose it is good that I attended a High School that had a mediocre football team. We had to find other avenues. Today, I can appreciate a well played football game but I could never understand this psychotic obsession with winning at ALL cost. Such a win is, simply, NOT a win.

Anonymous said...

Fuzzflash sez...

"Matthew Stevenson has written an outstanding article for the International Herald Tribune about a last bastion of innocence in sport: the Tour de France. Disillusioned, He asks: Has it become the Tour de Dope?"

"SAY IT AIN'T SO, JOE..."

I'm sorry, Kid, Joe can't help you cos he's got money sticking in his hole.

Like this; The Tour is one of the great Spectacles of Sport. I don't care if all the participants are dope-addled to the eyeballs, provided all are equal opportunity addlers. Yeah, I like that, Equal Opportunity Addlers.

The organizers and corporate sponsors pretend that no stone is left unturned in stamping out drug cheats, yet everybody knows that this absolute bollocks.

As a consequence, the Honor of La France is tainted, for she lends her name to the Tour.

But Jesus H. Christ, are they moving a shitload of PRODUCT.

Christopher i inquires: "Who of us knows anyone who isn't on some drug or other? whether for blood-pressure, impotence, diabetes, depression, you name it."

Yeah, me Chris. The last time I saw a Doc was last year when a shyster dentist wanted to pull one of my front pegs. After examining the offending abscess and a few relevant questions, at my request Doc croaked a script for antibiotics, which tamed the tubulent tooth in 48 hours. Been right as rain since. Toal cost was around ten bucks for the pills. The consultation with the Doc was paid for by the Oz government, Dept. of Health, from monies previously leached from me by way of annual taxation transfusions.

I don't subscribe to The Church of Modern Medicine. I use the fuckers, and the Drug Corps behind them, when necessary. Reckon it's the best way to stay long term healthy.

Friends have been urging me for years to take a little pot occasionally, to chill out. But I just say no. Thanks. Could finish up leading to the Hard Stuff. I'm far too responsible for that.