neverwaslol wrote:
Fleshman is a sore loser and, judging by this story, an idiot as well.
She's not an idiot, she went to Stanford. She just speaks before she thinks something through sometimes. And other times (her blog and RW column) she slows down and makes a great case.
With all that has been said, even though she was wrong about the WADA thing...in that she judged them too quickly, she does make some good points.
Just as there is not really any Fan Stakeholder voice in the sport -- there has not really been any Athlete Stakeholder voice in deciding punishments for cheaters.
Hopefully the new track and field athletes association will get to a point of having a voice.
She makes the points that punishments are too soft, and that changes take years to implement. That is true. As Dick Pound states, it is a matter of will. If you want clean athletics, you have to have the will to have harsher penalties.
Imagine this, you were starting a whole new international track and field federation, and you wanted it 100% drug free. What would you do? You'd probably start with lifetime bans. Who made the cases...and why...for shorter bans back in the day??? Stakeholders for classes of dirty athletes? Why? This new 4 year ban...why do we have to wait for it to be implemented, it should be "we decided on it, it starts NOW." And it should not be 4 years, it should be so long as to serve as a draconian deterrent. THAT is the real way to get the doping stopped. Make getting caught a "death penalty" for the athletes career. Boom, lose all eligibility to compete or coach - For Life. And all your results are erased. Not just a few years back to whatever clean tests. Everything is erased. And you are pursued to pay back prize monies.
The drug use cheating, is no less than theft.
What Dick Pound is trying to get across is that if "they" really wanted to stop the drug use in sport they would make the penalties harsher and they would test more thoroughly.
Yes, cheaters will always try and find a way to stay ahead of the tests...as judged by the chat we've seen on body building chat boards where they talk of using unapproved drugs...where they attain the information for making the drugs from public sources, the drugs never get approved, but someone bootlegs them. It's sick.
They could get the job done if they really wanted; ergo, it IS a matter of WILL.