"En katastrof för ridsporten"

Ännu en dopningsskandal skakar tysk ridsport. Isabell Werth, dressyrryttare med fem OS-guld, har stängts av sedan hennes häst Whisper testat positivt vid tävlingar i Wiesbaden. "Det här är en katastrof för ridsporten" konstaterar tyska förbundets ordförande, greve Breido zu Rantzau, på det egna förbundets hemsida.
Greven är en hårt prövad man. Tyskland är världens ledande hästsportnation men har fått sitt anseende skamfilat rejält den senaste tiden.
Det har funnits flera dopningsanklagelser efter OS i Peking/Hongkong och förbundet har upplöst sina landslag i OS-grenarna hoppning, dressyr och fälttävlan i hopp om att kunna rensa ut och göra nystart.
Ridsportikonen Ludger Beerbaum stängdes av och utländska experter kallades in för att rensa upp. Då kom beskedet om Werths test i Wiesbaden.
Hon är nu avstängd tills vidare i avvaktan på att även B-provet för hingsten Whisper ska analyseras. Det som hittades i A-provet var Fluphenazine vilket för människor används som dämpande medel vid psykiska problem. Det står också på förbjudna listan för hästar. FEI ska höra fakta i ärendet den 25 juni, för att bland annat diskutera om Werths avstängning ska hävas eller ej.
Werth har förutom fem OS-guld också tre OS-silver.

Publicerat i dag. 15:29
TT

RI Note: Ren Idrott har idag två ambassadörer inom Ridsporten. Malin Bayard samy Malin Hamilton. Dessa utgör två utmärkta förebilder för alla de ungdomar som är engagerade inom ridspoten. Båda tar stark avstånd till fusket.

Why Don't the French Triumph in Their Tour?

Here’s another certainty besides death and taxes: No Frenchman will win the Tour de France this year or come even close.Or so says the latest skeptic, the French sports daily l’Équipe, which admitted last week that “except in special circumstances, which perhaps they have the capacity to exploit, no French riders right now can imagine being high in the overall rankings” when the Tour finishes in Paris on July 26. Coming from l’Équipe, this is strong stuff. The newspaper’s circulation, usually about 350,000, can zoom by at least a third if a Frenchman appears to be challenging for the yellow jersey. Additionally, the paper is owned by the same people, the Amaury Sport Organization, that owns the Tour, so naysayers are not common in its pages. But l’Équipe’s reporters are both honest and realistic. Casting a general look at some of the 30-plus Frenchmen who will be part of the 180-man pack when the Tour starts July 4 in Monaco, the paper found only a few capable of winning at best a daily stage. It nominated only a single rider who might win one of the race’s four competitive jerseys, that for the top climber.
Even more dubious is Bernard Hinault, the last Frenchman to finish first in the Tour. He did it in 1985, then came in second in 1986, as did Laurent Fignon in 1989.
Since then, no Frenchman has come closer to winning his country’s greatest bicycle race than Richard Virenque — coked to the gills by his own tearful admission in court — who finished second in 1997 and third in 1996. This record infuriates Hinault, now 54 years old and forever outspoken. Quoted this month in the newspaper Le Parisien, the Badger was scathing in his view of French riders.
“There are champions who become like civil servants when they turn pro,” he said. “You have to put a knife to their throats to get any results. The French earn too much money and don’t make enough effort.”
“The French don’t train,” he continued, repeating a criticism by many others. “Nobody taps them in the mouth to get them going. It’s necessary to block their salary and later hand them back the money if they win something.”
He then turned to two theses often used to justify French performance: The Tour is too demanding and the French do not use illegal performance-enhancing drugs, unlike riders from many other countries.
“The Tour is not too hard,” Hinault insisted. “It is necessary to stop complaining. Cycling is a hard profession, but it’s better than going to the factory. If you really want to win, you fight until your last breath.”
As for doping, he added, “The French have taken as much as the others.” Fabien Cancellara, a Swiss, won the Tour of Switzerland on Sunday. Italians win the Giro d’Italia, Spaniards win the Vuelta a España. Riders from Luxembourg, Denmark and Germany win their national races. What is the French problem in the Tour? Partly it is a lack of talent. No French riders are in the top 20 based on performance this year and they consistently fail in major races at home and abroad. Their best young riders are unimpressive. The explanation that the French race clean was dismantled in the big Cofidis scandal of 2004, which involved extensive doping by the French team. A major part of the explanation seems to be attitude. The French shrug off their mediocrity and tend to set their goals low. In the judgment of many critics, they rarely respond to challenges.
Just before the Dauphiné Libéré weeklong race this month, the Cofidis sponsor unexpectedly announced that it would continue to fund the team next year rather than withdraw as planned. Reprieved, the team yawned. The riders had just spent a hard week training for the Tour, explained their manager, Eric Boyer, and so “don’t expect too much from them” in the Dauphiné. In that major French race, the highest Cofidis rider, David Moncoutié, won a mountain stage but ended a humble 11th and his next-closest teammate was 28th. In 2002, Sandy Casar, then 23, finished second in Paris-Nice and was acclaimed as a coming French star. After a few lackluster years, he was reacclaimed when he finished sixth in the 2006 Giro d’Italia.
His overall record shows five victories, one in a stage of the 2007 Tour and one in the minor Route du Sud. Last year, he was the top Frenchman in the Tour, clocking in at 14th place. The public is paying attention. In a poll by l’Équipe of fans last weekend, only two cyclists figured among the top 40 favorite athletes.

By SAMUEL ABT Photo: Bernard Hinault

RI Note: Årets Tour de France startar lördagen den 4 juli i MC. Hörde precis att Armstrong börjar finna formen efter en strålande seger i Nevada City Classic. Detta var första gången på 19 år som han körde tävlingen. Samt att president Sarkozy själv utmanat Lance då det är på tiden att en fransman vinner. Enligt källor "har Armstrong, inte en chans!" Ja, vi får väl se. Det finns nog ett antal grabbar och stall som har den vinsten in tankarna!

Lasse Anrell i Morgonzoo dissar - och jag, ja håller med!

Plötsligt fångade han mitt intresse. Rösten lät bekant, och då han i egenskap av sitt outtömliga ordförråd började ge sin mening i detta med marknadsföring och pengar i sportrelaterade sammanhang, hörde jag att Rix FM morgonens gäst var, Lasse Anrell och frågan hissad eller dissad var just - varför ett stort bolag som Volvo i dessa ekonomiska finanskriser sponsrar en världsomfattande segeltävling med x-antal miljoner kronor - tyckte precis att han sa 600 - kan det stämma? och kan verkligen siffran "700 000 åskådare på plats" vara rätt?. Enorma pengar pumpas dagligen ut från, ibland, outtömliga marknadsföringskonton och vi som betraktare och debatterare förbluffas. Är det verkligen värt det och kommer jag som konsument att köpa just den produkten, associerat med just det varumärket för att det syns? Kanske. Läste för ett tag sen en intressant artikel med Lance Armstrong, ni vet, han den sjufaldige vinnaren av Tour de France, som iår vid 38-års ålder gör comback och driver sitt "företag" "Planet Armstrong - Live strong"! Där ,målet är att samla in pengar till cancerforskning. Det finns ett syfte. För, menar Armstrong, att han annars satt där med ett visst varumärke på skjortärm eller keps egentligen bara skapar ett motstånd och en undran till hur mycket han egentligen blivit betalad till att ha det på sig. Jag förstår hans point. Iår har RI drivit mycket gällande CSR - Corporate Social Resposibility där bla Skandias Sponsringschef utalade sig om sitt engagemang: "Ett starkt varumärke med en CSR-profil kan vara något som gör skillnad när privatpersoner eller företag ska göra sina val". Jag håller med om det. Nog för att segling kan vara sommarfräscht och en underbar sport, men påverkar det mig och mina val? Nej, inte mycket. Fortfarande står mina två toyota väl förankrade på gårdsplanen - inte en volvo så långt ögat når!

Hamilton accepts 8-year ban

Former Rock Racing rider Tyler Hamilton has accepted an eight-year suspension from sport after a positive doping test earlier this year, his second violation since 2004Hamilton could have faced a lifetime ban due to his 2004 suspension for homologous blood doping, a violation first noted by anti-doping officials at that year’s Olympic Games.
Hamilton tested positive for testosterone or its precursors in February. He later acknowledged the positive test, declined to ask for further confirmation of the result and announced publicly that he had taken DHEA as self-medication for depression.Hamilton’s public admission may have contributed to a lesser penalty, but nevertheless the suspension ensures that he will never again compete at the top levels of the sport.
“In the sport of cycling, eight years' ineligibility for a 38-year old athlete is effectively a lifetime ban, and an assurance that he is penalized for what would have been the remainder of his competitive cycling career,” said U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart.

By Charles Pelkey
Published: Jun. 16, 2009

Chambers could be invited to Paris Golden League

PARIS, June 16 (Reuters) - British sprinter Dwain Chambers could take part in next month's Paris Golden League meeting despite his doping-tainted past, organisers said on Tuesday.
"I abide by the (International federation) IAAF rules, which allow an athlete coming back from a suspension to race," meeting organiser Laurent Boquillet told French sports daily L'Equipe.
"If, one week before (the meeting), his performances justify an invitation because he is fast, I will invite him. Right now, he is just on a list of probable (participants)."
Chambers, 31, completed a two-year doping ban in 2006 after failing a test for the steroid THG in 2003. He was left out of the Rome and Berlin Golden League meetings.
The Paris Golden League meeting will be held at the Stade de France on July 17. (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by John O'Brien)

Reuters, Tuesday June 16 2009

Donati says link exists between doping and coke use

Italian anti-doping expert Sandro Donati has challenged the notion that there is no direct correlation between recreational cocaine use and the abuse of performance enhancing drugs, saying this week that the two are often linked.
Under the WADA Code, an athlete cannot be punished for testing positive for the substance in out of competition tests. However, Donati indicated at the Play The Game conference in Coventry that he is sceptical about separating the two.
"I don't understand when, every time an athlete is positive for cocaine, that the sporting institutions immediately explain that it is not for performance, it is only for personal use," he said.
"This is an incredible explanation. I was a coach and I know very well the mental balance of the athlete. It is impossible for someone who uses cocaine for his personal life to have a good balance...because the role of the athlete is very complex.
"It means that someone involved in the use of cocaine is not a normal athlete. It means that the using is only a compensation for other using [of drugs]...the cocaine is only the tip of the iceberg."
As justification for his stance, Donati referred to his work as a consultant for a prosecutor in doping cases. "I know very well the connection in using [of both types]," he said, explaining that the substance is used by some in order to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
It is utilised "mainly to compensate for the slump in mood and aggressiveness during the suspension of anabolic steroids or testosterone," he explained. "There is the consequence of becoming addicted to both categories of substances."
Former Tour de France winner Marco Pantani died of a cocaine overdose in 2004. There have been several high-profile cases of cyclists testing positive for the drug.
While Donati did not name any particular athletes - and therefore didn't make specific accusations of doping against any one individual - it is clear that he would vouch for a rethink of the WADA Code in this area.
He is a former Head of Research for the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and now works as Consultant of the Minister of Social Affairs in Italy.

By Shane Stokes

Fignon suffering from cancer

Cycling legend Laurent Fignon made public the news that he is suffering from an advanced form of intestinal cancer on Thursday. The Frenchman who won the Tour de France twice, and had the dubious honour of being the rider to finish second to Greg LeMond in the closest Tour in history in 1989, has already begun treatment for the disease .
"I am undergoing chemotherapy already and have been for 15 days," he said in a radio interview with the Europe 1 show "7 à 8". "I did the second session a few days ago. Things are going pretty well, I feel good. Right now, I don’t know more than you. Everything is going well."
"They've detected cancer in my digestive tract, but it's not clear where exactly. It is bad news," said Fignon, 48.
"My cancer is an advanced cancer, and since it has already spread, it is almost certainly involving the pancreas. Therefore I do not know how long I have to live. One cannot say what will happen, but I am optimistic. I'm going to fight, and I will succeed in winning this fight."
Fignon's diagnosis comes on the eve of the release of his book, "Nous étions jeunes et insouciants" (We were young and carefree) in which he reveals the use of performance-enhancing drugs during his career. He admitted to taking amphetamines and cortisone, but said that his cancer was not caused by his past doping.
"I candidly explained (to my doctors) what I had done in my career, and they said it can not be that. It would be too simple."

“That guy has got no conscience”

“The worst things happen in cycling”Greg Lemond spoke to Play the Game about the “disease that is killing cycling”. Namely, the use of performance-enhancing drugs. In professional cycling, he said, the worst-case doping scenarios often come true
Lemond, who won the Tour de France in 1986, 1989 and 1990, is the sport’s highest-profile doping critic. In recent years, he has had highly publicized fallouts with Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis and the Trek cycle manufacturer over his blunt comments. Currently involved in ongoing litigation with Trek, Lemond admitted that he is “in a battle to keep [his] reputation and businesses”.
Although he enjoys a reputation of cycling’s “Mr Clean”, Lemond admitted that it was partly due to luck that he did not use performance-enhancers during his career. “I was fortunate to get into cycling when I did,” he said. “If I had turned professional in 1993 or 1994, I don’t know what I would have done. This system corrupts everyone - even the good people”
Despite much vaunted reforms designed to catch drug cheats, he said, cycling is still on a “slow death march”. Doping remains commonplace, and as a result, there will soon be little money left in the sport. He called for radical solutions to halt the trend, including the criminalisation of doping for riders, coaches and doctors. Cyclists, he pointed out, are often used as ”lab rats” for doctors, and over a hundred have died from doping and related causes.
Lemond also criticized the International Cycling Union (UCI), which, he said, operated a policy of “punishing honesty and rewarding dishonesty” when it came to dope cheats. He advocated an independent drug testing agency, separate from the UCI, to test riders competing in the Tour de France.
Riders who come clean and admit their drug use should be welcomed back into the fold, he said. Bjarne Riis, the 1996 Tour de France winner who gave back his yellow jersey, is a good illustration of someone who should remain connected to the sport, he added.
However, citing Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton as prime examples, he stated that he had little sympathy for “those who refuse to admit to their guilt, despite mounting evidence”.
“I know the sport, and I doubt that there is anyone who has wrongly tested positive when they are negative” he said. “There could be, but I doubt it. Standards must be really high to ensure that athletes are not wrongly accused”.
Lemond also criticized the high-profile campaigns waged by certain cyclists to clear their names, despite what he saw as overwhelming circumstantial evidence pointing to their guilt.
“When you have enough circumstantial evidence, and enough witnesses, you don’t need a smoking gun”, he said
Unless another major initiative is announced to clean up the sport, Lemond said, he has opted to walk away from professional cycling. “I still enjoy it as recreation, but as regards following it at competition level, I’m done” he said. “I would not like my kids to go into professional cycling today”.
Finally, Lemond was asked if he thought Lance Armstrong would ever admit to taking performance-enhancing drugs.
“No way”. Lemond concluded. “That guy has got no conscience”

09 June 2009 //By: Marcus Hoy
Foto: Greg LeMond i den gula ledartröjan på sista sträckan av Tour de France 1990.

Colom suspended for EPO positive

Team Katusha's Antonio Colom has been provisionally suspended by the UCI following a positive test for recombinant EPO. The sport's governing body announced Tuesday that Colom returned the positive test following an out-of-competition control on April 2, 209. He was targeted for additional controls using information from his blood profile and his race schedule, the UCI said.
Team director Serge Parsani was surprised at the news. "This is the first I heard of this. If it is on the UCI's website at least they could inform the team," he told Cyclingnews.
Colom is the second rider from the team to test positive. Austrian Christian Pfannberger wasdeclared positive on May 6 this year. The UCI later confirmed that he was found positive for EPO.
Colom is allowed to request the counter-analysis of his B-sample, and his suspension will remain provisional until the Spanish Cycling Federation decides whether he has violated the anti-doping rules.

Cycling News Flash, June 9, 2009
Edited by Laura Weislo

Dwain Chambers' presence would tarnish the Golden League

The Paris meeting's organiser is ready to break ranks and invite the disgraced sprinter to compete
The Olympic Stadium in Berlin is the unusual opening venue for this season's Golden League at the weekend. Normally acting as the show closer, it has been repositioned as the curtain raiser because the bright blue track will host this summer's world championships.
While most eyes will be focused on the meeting between the athletes inside the arena, others will be keenly trained on another get-together taking place away from the track which threatens to be the headline grabber. The major European meeting promoters are once again being asked to revisit their stated policy of not inviting athletes who have been found guilty of a serious doping violation. Laurent Boquillet, the organiser of the Paris Golden League, due to be held on 17 July, is preparing to break a gentleman's agreement with his fellow promoters by extending an invitation to Dwain Chambers to compete.
Boquillet thinks Chambers, as the current top-ranked European 100m runner, would be sadly missed from his line-up. As disappointing as this stance naturally appears, it lacks even a semblance of truth, in that the Paris meet has traditionally been notoriously difficult for British athletes to gain entry to, and his pro-European leanings are a remarkably recent development. Had Boquillet been equally concerned about Europe's top 400m runner or 5,000m athlete, then his argument may have carried some sway. But the truth of the fact is that he is much more interested in Chambers' notoriety than his rehabilitation, or indeed the sport's long-term interests.
Now, before all of the Dwain brigade get on my case about victimisation, let's get one or two things straight. The policy agreed on by Europe's top meets was never designed as a reaction to, or to be exclusive to, Chambers. High-profile athletes such as Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin, Tim Montgomery and others have taken a lot of money from these meets in recent years with little chance of any of it ever being recouped. The major promoters, quite rightly, decided that they owed nobody a living on their possible return and that they also carried a significant responsibility to try to offer a real financial deterrent to those thinking of using drugs. If it is to have any impact then it is essential that all of the meets uphold policy and don't break ranks just to gain a few more column inches or media minutes.
Of course by writing these words I'm offering Boquillet exactly what he set out to achieve, but I sincerely hope that come the weekend his colleagues ensure this is the last time.
The Paris promoter has said he will travel to Montreuil on Thursday to meet Chambers and in his words get "a better idea of the man". He will find him personable and agreeably contrite but that's not the point. With the help of the World Anti-Doping Agency, and a more aggressive approach from the IAAF, there is a real sense of some ground being gained on the cheats in the past 12 months and as a sport athletics must be seen to be supporting that progress. Whether it be Chambers, Rashid Ramzi or anyone else, it would be a real step backwards if they were able to cash in on their notoriety. It's a sad situation anyway when celebrity culture rewards those who flout the rules by which others try to succeed. The least that Boquillet could do is offer that lane to a young sprinter who is just a couple of hundredths slower than Chambers so far this season. That would be a genuine attempt to incentivise and reward European talent rather than a poorly disguised publicity stunt.
This is supposed to be the last year of the Golden League, which is to be replaced next season by the new Diamond League. The plans announced earlier this year are ambitious and their success will depend primarily on an inordinate amount of unity being displayed by the 12 meetings concerned. There are already rumours that the Diamond League may not get off the ground but they would certainly not be doing their case any good if they allow Paris to break ranks on this important issue.
Just when the sport has a world superstar to promote in the shape of Usain Bolt it should look forward not back. Bolt is scheduled to compete in Paris so why the added distraction?

By Steve Cram
Photographs by Colin Patterson

"In allowing Armstrong to come back to the Tour, will be coming back also the ghosts of the past: doping, scheming, bribery...

The authors of "LA Confidentiel", a book published in 2004 alleging that Lance Armstrong used performance-enhancing substances, have hit out at the cyclist once again. In their latest book, "Le Sale Tour" ["The dirty Tour" - ed.], Pierre Ballester and David Walsh write about the return to competition of the seven-time Tour de France winner and his apparent ambition to enter US politics.
The former journalist of L'Equipe and his colleague working for The Sunday Times allege that Armstrong's comeback to the sport after three years of absence is not to promote his Livestrong foundation against cancer, but that his real reasons for it are those of a businessman. According to Ballester and Walsh, Armstrong, after unsuccessfully bidding for shares of the company holding the Tour de France, came back to cycling to increase his personal wealth.
"Since last summer, his [non-profit] Livestrong foundation has a lucrative segment," said Ballester. "And when Armstrong receives 200,000 Euro to host a conference, he puts it into his pocket - unlike the leading cancer experts, who will donate the money."
The authors also claim that Armstrong has a political objective: become the governor of Texas in 2014. In the second half of the Book, Walsh and Ballester ask sports politicians about Armstrong's return, with former French sports secretary Jean-François Lamour saying, "This comeback is not a very good sign. It's even a kind of a masquerade."
Moreover, Ballester accused the organisers of the Tour de France, ASO, to privilege their business over the sports aspect at theGrande Boucle. "ASO's new strategy is more turned towards business than the credibility of the sport," said Walsh. "In allowing Armstrong to come back to the Tour, will be coming back also the ghosts of the past: doping, scheming, bribery... They must have weighed pros and cons, more important and less important, and decided in favour of Armstrong's return."

Armstrong's comeback reasons reviewed by Walsh/Ballester
Latest Cycling News, June 4, 2009
Edited by Hedwig Kröner

... Men visste du att RI's ambassadörer testas mest i världen?

... Det handlar nämligen inte bara om ett ställningstagande. Dopingtesterna är en utmärkt garant för tävlingsarrangörer, managers och sponsorer. Vi på Ren Idrott hyllar fler internationella initiativ för en dopingfri sport! Kolla nedan...


AUGUSTA, GA - Every time she lines up in the starting blocks, you can see a white rubber wristband around Dee Dee Trotter’s right wrist bearing the words, “Test Me, I’m Clean!” in bold black letters.
The wristband represents a message that many of today’s athletes claim to support, but few actually do anything to promote.
The Olympic track and field gold medalist’s non-profit organization, “Test Me, I’m Clean” works to steer young athletes away from steroid use. Trotter and other members of the organization speak to athletes of all ages across the country about the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) and the benefits of natural performance enhancement. The organization promotes three principles: hard work, honesty and honor.
On Saturday, June 13, Trotter will bring her message to Lucy Laney stadium for the AAU Track and Field District Meet. She will sign autographs and talk to the young athletes participating in the meet from 8 a.m. until noon.
Trotter’s public campaign to keep young athletes from using PEDs is unprecedented. Many athletes are quick to dissociate themselves with steroids, but very few have even thought about keeping other athletes away from them. Trotter put together “Test Me, I’m Clean” in 2006 with $10,000 of her own money. She gives out wristbands and T-shirts to support her cause.
All of this seems even more remarkable when you think about the fact that she probably doesn’t make one-tenth of the amount of money that big time sports stars like Terrell Owens or Alex Rodriguez make.
A lot of today’s superstar athletes will only do enough community service to ensure that they have a good public image, or simply throw a wad of money at a charity in an effort to do as little work as possible. Trotter has single-handedly backed a cause that desperately needed attention from somewhere other than commissioners and court hearings.
For more information on “Test Me, I’m Clean,” visit the Web site at testmeimclean.org. The AAU Track and Field District Meet will be held from June 11-1


BY JASON LIND