Doping - don't trust anybody

[imtommygunn]

The ironic thing is Kimmage is the one person who doesn't hedge his bets and lost his job plus has been sued numerous times. Walsh knows what side his bread is buttered on and is now obvious his pursuit of LA was personal and nothing to do with sporting justice or ethics. Walsh is a fraud.

Yeah i get the impression quite a few feel like that. No proof on sky but there is something about brailsford (isn't that his name?) doesn't sit right for me.

I think kimmage deserves respect but i think the whole escapade with him has had a damaging effect as a person. Seems an alright sort but totally consumed and has left him with demons.

[JimStynes]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3718988/Olympic-cyclist-Lizzie-Armitstead-escapes-ban-three-missed-drugs-tests-Medal-favourite-allowed-compete-Rio-winning-minute-court-case.html

One of Britain's top cyclists has missed three drug tests but will still compete in Rio after winning a last minute court case, it emerged last night.

Lizzie Armistead, 27, who shot to fame in 2012 when she won Great Britain's first medal at the London Games with a silver in the women's road race, was facing up to a four-year ban after being charged last month by UK Anti-Doping for three 'whereabouts' failures in a 12 month period.

Under World Anti-Doping Agency Rules athletes are expected to pick an exact location for one hour every day in case they are needed for testing.

She was suspended on July 11, and as a consequence denied the chance to race in the final build-up to the Games.

But she has successfully argued at the Court of Arbitration for Sport to have the first of the three failures wiped off her record, claiming an administrative error by her accusers.

That has enabled Armitstead to race in Rio on Sunday as one of the favourites for gold.

Yesterday Armitstead issued a statement through her representatives, saying: 'It has been an extremely difficult time for myself and my family'.Armitstead had committed her three failures on August 20 2015, October 5 2015 and June 9 2016. But a legal team managed to demonstrate to the satisfaction of CAS that a testing official was at fault for the first test.

The Armitstead statement said: 'The ruling relates to a UKAD anti-doping test which was asserted to have been attempted on Thursday 20 August 2015, whilst Armitstead was staying at the team hotel, during the UCI Women's Road World Cup in Sweden.

'CAS ruled that the UKAD Doping Control Officer had not followed required procedures nor made reasonable attempts to locate Armitstead. CAS also ruled that there was no negligence on Armitstead's part and that she had followed procedures according to the guidelines.

'Armitstead undertook in-competition testing the following day, as leader of the UCI Women Road World Cup.'
The independent panel of leading legal experts from CAS promptly and unanimously cleared Armitstead of the asserted missed test.'

Sportsmail understands the testing official did not explain to hotel staff why he wanted to know Armitstead's room number at her team hotel in Sweden at around 6am that morning.

Having been refused the information by the hotel, he then attempted to contact Armitstead on a mobile phone that the cyclist had put on silent while she slept. No further attempts, it appears, were then made by the testing official and a missed test was logged with UKAD.

In the same statement Armitstead said: 'I have always been and will always be a clean athlete and have been vocal in my anti-doping stance throughout my career. I am pleased that CAS has accepted my position, having provided detailed information demonstrating the situation around my strikes.

'This issue was one of administration and was the result of UKAD not following proper procedure nor fully attempting to make contact with me despite clear details being provided under 'whereabouts'. I was tested in competition the day after this test, reinforcing my position that I do not cheat and had no intention of not being tested.

'I think that there should be clearer guidelines for those administrating tests and would like to work with UKAD going forward to explore how this can be better addressed in the future so no other athlete is put in this position.

Meanwhile, I hope that UKAD can now return to the important job of making sure all athletes are clean and that Rio is the clean Olympics that we all want.

'I understand how important it is to be vigilant in my role as a professional athlete and realise the potential implications this could have had. I would like to thank British Cycling and the team around me for all of their help and support. I am very much looking forward to putting this situation behind me and firmly focussing on Rio again after what has been an extremely difficult time for myself and my family.'

The two latter failures mean Armistead remains in a precarious position until October this year.

UK anti-doping rules state an athlete who misses three tests in any 12-month period can face up to a four-year ban.

British former Olympic champion runner Christine Ohuruogu was suspended for 12 months in 2006 after missing three tests.

In her statement, the Monaco-based rider took full responsibility for her latter two failures. 'The October 2015 failure was the result of a filing failure on ADAMS caused by an administrative oversight,' said the statement. 'Armitstead did not dispute the oversight. The June 2016 missed test was the result of Armitstead not updating her whereabouts on ADAMS, having had an emergency change of plans due to a serious illness within her family'

Armitstead, who plans to marry Team Sky rider Philip Deignan next month, is an outstanding bike rider, finally realising her potential last autumn when she won the world road race title with a stunning victory in Richmond, Virginia.

This season she has managed to race to six victories already despite taking the whole of May off to work on her climbing in preparation for the hilly Rio course.

[bennydorano]

Can't say I've any sympathy for her, doping or not she's pretty much brought the situation  (& suspicion of doping) upon herself.

[JimStynes]

Can't say I've any sympathy for her, doping or not she's pretty much brought the situation  (& suspicion of doping) upon herself.

Three missed tests is a bit  No sympathy for her. Golden Girl of British cycling so it will all be swept under the carpet.

[imtommygunn]

I was reading about this this morning. Imagine she was russian. Double standards. Same happened with golden girl Ohuruogu - all swept under the carpet.

[nrico2006]

Why is Isinbayeva not allowed to compete and other Russians are?  Surely if there is no evidence to suggest an individual was guilty of doping then they cannot be banned purely on their nationality.

[screenexile]

Ordinarily you'd give the girl the benefit of the doubt but it's just too difficult to in the current climate!

[Minder]

Ordinarily you'd give the girl the benefit of the doubt but it's just too difficult to in the current climate!

I'm not sure you would give anyone the benefit of the doubt for three missed tests

[gallsman]

Why is Isinbayeva not allowed to compete and other Russians are?  Surely if there is no evidence to suggest an individual was guilty of doping then they cannot be banned purely on their nationality.

What other track and field athletes from Russia are competing? The IAAF banned the lot.

[Hound]

Ordinarily you'd give the girl the benefit of the doubt but it's just too difficult to in the current climate!

I'm not sure you would give anyone the benefit of the doubt for three missed tests

Well:
1. Her phone was on silent at 6AM and the tester did not try again
2. Forgot to update the system re a change in her location due to "administrative oversight" on her own part.
3. Forgot to update the system re an emergency change of plans due to a serious illness within her family

Obviously no excuse at all for No.2, but its only after 3 misses that you get in trouble. You would think knowing that you have 2 strikes on your card would mean you would be ultra careful to keep the system updated re your whereabouts, but a sudden family illness would be one reason when you could perhaps forget

[imtommygunn]

The first instance was the one that got her off so why didn't she contest it at the time ??

[Esmarelda]

Did anyone hear Jimmy Magee's interview on the last word last week? Hilarious.

Balls.ie summarise it here quite well, although it's hard to beat listening to it and the silence that followed every time he spoke.

Also worth checking out Ewan McKenna's tweets after the show at the end.

http://www.balls.ie/uncategorized/utterly-bonkers-jimmy-magee-doping-messi-michelle-smith-odd-debate/341112

[nrico2006]

Why is Isinbayeva not allowed to compete and other Russians are?  Surely if there is no evidence to suggest an individual was guilty of doping then they cannot be banned purely on their nationality.

What other track and field athletes from Russia are competing? The IAAF banned the lot.

The big supermodel high jumper isn't banned.

[laoislad]

Why is Isinbayeva not allowed to compete and other Russians are?  Surely if there is no evidence to suggest an individual was guilty of doping then they cannot be banned purely on their nationality.

What other track and field athletes from Russia are competing? The IAAF banned the lot.

The big supermodel high jumper isn't banned.

Rule 1

[nrico2006]