[HN Gopher] Fighting an anti-doping finding
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       Fighting an anti-doping finding
        
       Author : breathenow
       Score  : 15 points
       Date   : 2024-06-07 19:53 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (lizzybanks.co.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (lizzybanks.co.uk)
        
       | Gualdrapo wrote:
       | I happen to be related to Miguel Angel Lopez (his grandparent is
       | one of my father's uncles). If you happen to not know who he is,
       | he was in the Astana Pro Team and had an infamous short stint at
       | Movistar. A few days ago UCI informed he was suspended from
       | professional cycling due to an AAF, and was involved into a
       | doping scandal but allegedly his name got clear about that.
       | 
       | I haven't met him personally so I can't tell if he's actually
       | done any wrongdoing intentionally or not, but I do know for a
       | fact he has spoken several times about retiring due to the mental
       | toll competition has had on him and several colleagues of his, as
       | far as back as 2017.
       | 
       | And if you take a look at it, it's something that it's not talked
       | enough on the sport circles. In cycling specially, if someone
       | becomes suspect of doping every "fan" will immediately point
       | their fingers at them - unless it's one of your favorite
       | cyclists. It happens everywhere online, from Facebook to Twitter
       | to the rampant tribalism of r/peloton - immediately you'll become
       | public enemy #1 no matter what. Cycling has had a bad story with
       | doping and if the pressure to give results is not big enough, the
       | stress of being labelled as a doper is a new whole level. I still
       | can recall people throwed urine to Froome at some stages in the
       | Tour de France.
        
       | ungreased0675 wrote:
       | What a wild and heartbreaking story.
       | 
       | Who pays for all this anti-doping bureaucracy? It sounds very
       | expensive for both the agency and the athletes.
        
         | nwiswell wrote:
         | A great deal of the money trickles down from the Olympics/IOC
         | (WADA).
         | 
         | Individual sporting bodies are also under a great deal of
         | pressure to comply with WADA standards, since there is a very
         | real threat of being kicked out of the Olympics for
         | insufficiently draconian enforcement (a perennial story with
         | Weightlifting / IWF). So in many cases the athletes themselves
         | pay for it via their dues to their sporting body.
        
       | Something1234 wrote:
       | I really hope people comment on this. It's absolutely fascinating
       | to me how a private organization can ruin someone's life or
       | completely jerk them around like this. With no recourse.
        
         | cobertos wrote:
         | I hate to think of other agencies that act this negligently.
         | Not enough funds/competence to do their task properly but a ton
         | of power to destroy people's lives, the problems too complex to
         | tease out without real focus.
        
         | stefan_ wrote:
         | When they signed up to be professional riders with the UCI,
         | they also signed up to be monitored by WADA. The rules are
         | clear and can realistically not work any other way: the
         | majority of violations are on strict liability, it is on the
         | athlete to establish how the substance entered their body if
         | they want to claim contaminant.
        
           | kelnos wrote:
           | > _The rules are clear and can realistically not work any
           | other way_
           | 
           | Here's one way it can work differently: if someone has to
           | spend any amount of money to clear their name, WADA (or
           | whomever) should have to reimburse them.
           | 
           | It's criminal that the author of this article drained her
           | savings merely to prove that she did nothing wrong.
        
         | adolph wrote:
         | > how a private organization can ruin someone's life
         | 
         | Believe it or not, the cyclists signed up for the possibility
         | of ruin. Maybe there is an argument for some legal intervention
         | to prevent people from agreeing to something so egregious?
        
       | alright2565 wrote:
       | What's worse (and likely the reason this is being posted here
       | today) is the announcement that the global organization, WADA, is
       | appealing the country-level organization's (UKAD) decision in
       | this case: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2024/06/07/lizzy-
       | banks-w...
        
       | wqtz wrote:
       | I geniunely think "anti doping" as a policy practice stands
       | against everything that makes human as a speicies progress as a
       | physcially being. 'Doping' should proudly inducted biomedical
       | research, regulated and commercialized. Because anti-doping is
       | fundamentally a flawed concept, it does not surprise it's
       | application is marred with corruption, negligence and
       | incompetence.
        
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       (page generated 2024-06-07 23:01 UTC)