LANCING THE BOIL

Lance Armstrong is reported to have admitted taking performance-enhancing drugs during the Oprah Winfrey show.  Come, come Lance, I know that being interviewed by Oprah is nerve-racking but I wouldn’t have thought that chemical support was needed.

HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN.

It appears to be the open season for debunking heroes, mostly through the medium of the national press.  A thousand page dossier from the US Anti-doping agency claims to show that Lance Armstrong, the multi-Tour de France winner and cancer survivor, was a sophisticated drug treat and that Sir Jimmy Saville, the lovable TV personality and charity worker, a predatory paedophile. In both cases the legal process has yet to be conducted and there are still unanswered questions to be addressed, such as why Armstrong passed a hundred percent of his drug tests and why there were no complaints against Saville during his lifetime.  It would appear that Jim managed to fix that.

ARE YOU NOW, OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ....

A weary Lance Armstrong has given up the fight to prove that he did not use performance enhancing drugs in his cycling career, by deciding not to participate in an arbitration process. The cyclist has suffered years of persecution from the U.S. anti-doping agency, lead by Travis Tygart.  Arnstrong was subjected to hundreds of drugs tests during  his career, all negative, so the only evidence available to the US agency must be hearsay.  It is good to know that the spirit of McCarthy lives on. After all we don’t want to confuse the verdict with evidence, do we.  Tygart intents to erase all Armstrong’s wins including all his Tour de France victories. You may think that the USA rules the world, Mr Tygart, but the victories are not yours to take way. I think that you’ll find the clue is in the title “Tour de FRANCE”.