The drug mockery of contemporary international sports

5

First there was the shocking news of 2006 Tour de France winner, Floyd Landis, of the USA, testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. Then, before the dust had even settled, the news broke that US sprinter and co-world record holder for the 100m, Justin Gatlin, had tested positive for testosterone.
These two latest scandals have come against the backdrop of ongoing claims in the US that the power-hitting Barry Bonds is a tainted athlete and should not receive support for the records that continue to tumble around his bat.
Once more the world of sport is being forced to come to terms with the seemingly rapid growth n the use of performance enhancing drugs by athletes who have gained the admiration of the billions of enthusiastic supporters of sport across the world.

The Landis case
In the case of Landis, cycling enthusiasts became curious after the following achievement during the closing stages of the race:
“Freaking amazing! Floyd rode himself into third place after a super-human breakaway in today’s Stage 17. He rode all the competition off his wheel to win the stage by almost five-and-a-half minutes. Pereiro put up a strong fight to keep the yellow jersey, and Sastre is in a close second place. But with only 30 seconds to make up on the leader, Floyd is poised for Satuday’s time trial.”
To many the performance on the particular day simply seemed too good to believe. The performance was astounding and apparently left many very concerned.

Of course cycling has been under a microscope for many years having been the fist sport in which an athlete dropped dead during a race a the Olympic Games several years ago for an overdose of drugs.
Over the past few years the UCI has been involved in significant increases in the number of drug tests being conducted especially during the Tour de France, the world’s most prestigious and demanding road race.
In the recent past the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA), headed by Dick Pound, has been aggressive in its commitment to the fight against drugs in sport.