DOPING IN SPORT ! WHAT CAN OBAMA DO ?

2012 Paralympics, Olympics 2012 London,MR PRESIDENT

GREETINGS !

As a sportsman you would have grown up enjoying news( from a variety of sources) of new "records" being set in the Sporting World. No matter which sport you follow there would be headlines to captivate the audience.

Later you would hear of "transgressions" and sanctions imposed, perhaps you would have been like the rest of us to see someone that you thought worthy of praise brought down by "misdeeds by them or their associates"?

Of course we have "Agencies" to control Sport and the "misdeeds committed" but ask yourself what is happening. Year by year the problem grows the more money committed to the "fight" against "Sporting Fraud" the more people and more sports become "known" to the public.Recently we have certain Swim Suits banned and Horses are testing "positive" to prohibited substances" !

2012 we will have the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London and we will be told that there will be stronger controls in the fight against "Doping", who knows , perhaps there will be a step forward before once again new discoveries will intrude into the Sports World.

There are genuine Athletes(dismayed at what they see around them) out there but there are also Drug Companies whose products will be "bent" into a new usuage which will assist the "Rotten Apples in the barrel" and so some of those on the margind will also be tempted to try their "luck", because that is what is happening now and more and more athletes who are getting their 2 years are saying they were unlucky to get caught !

Look at Road Cycling at present, Basso, Vinkourov and Ricco amongst others returning from their "2 year holidays( because that is what it is !)"are winning almost immediately against Athletes who continued to work for their teams in that period. Most of these disgraced athletes did not suffer greatly because they were "celebrities" and so would have received benefit from employment during their "rest period",even publicity as they continued training and claiming "Errors in the System" that brought them to the attention of the Authorities.

We could continue all day with a variety of sports but i would remind you of an Australian Athlete who was sent home for drinking too much coffee. The Caffeine level was since relaxed and is now once again under consideration. There are many athletes who use "WADA" approved medications and some may benefit from the marginal side effects but nobody chooses to suffer Cancer or other life threatening ailments.

MR PRESIDENT only YOU can put a stop to the "Merry go Round" you have the ability to toughen Federal Laws and Impose Sanctions that will cause the World Leaders to follow your example.

We all know about Marion Jones and some other athletes that have suffered the same fate or are in the system that can impose the same fate if they behave as she chose.

BY IMPOSING A MORITORIUM ON ATHLETES WHO HAVE CHEATED AND ADMIT THEIR GUILT BY 31 December 2010 you will clear a lot of "deadwood" from the "Playing Field"! Not only Current Athletes but Former Athletes should be given this opportunity. When the time has elapsed any people that did not own up will be subjected to HARSHER PENALTIES including Severe Jail Time and lifelong bans from engaging in any sport related employment or visiting any sporting venues.

Too many former cyclists are currently working in the industry in a variety of capacities and many have "Owned Up" to "Sporting Fraud" , the new generation rely on their experience and benefit from the Good but there will always be a taint and the possibility that "weakminded" will try to take the easy road for short term gains. So it is with all sports and only when YOUR moritorium has discovered the depth of deception that is out there will those now in or entering higher levels in their chosen sport be aware of the risks they run in associating with these people.

When your Moritorium "Weeds out" those weakminded individuals, some athletes will choose to continue working with them and others will seek new coaching but there will still be a need for even more stringent Doping Controls and it will be necessary to impose harsher penalties on the "Inspectors and the Laboratories " to avoid the likes of the 2004 Athens samples mixups which allowed a Gold Medal to stand even though through a technicality !

Mr President when you were elected you promised more than you have acheived so far and the public expects that you will reach more of those promises in the next years. Sporting Fraud affects the fabric of society in so many ways and once the younger generations see that they havev a level playing field they will stop trying to cut corners in other fields of endeavour. Eradicating a "Mind Set" will not be easy but Harsher Penalties and the ability to test previously "Negative Samples" in the future with the new techniques becoming available will "OUT" most of those who have a conscience. Many of those people only indulged because they "KNEW( or thought)" their colleagues on the team and their competitors were doing so .

Presently in so many sports the conception is that the "ATHLETE with the best Pharmacist and the deepest pockets" will win so it may also be necessary to prosecute the "Drug suppliers" once the Moritorium has taken effect since if the head of a company knows he is at risk what will happen to the "Researcher who strays outside company guidelines" ?

MR PRESIDENT i like so many others do not have the answers but wish to see the London 2012 OLYMPIC and PARALYMPIC conducted in a fair and sporting manner. Jacques Rogge heads an organisation that wishes for a level playing field but are the victims of those who seek to take whatever short cut that can be acheived .

Worldwide action can only be acheived through your government setting a higher standard and that will come about when those currently in Sport realise they have more to lose than they gain by not "OWNING UP TO THEIR MISDEEDS" !

IN sending this item to the white House it was necessary to send in 3 sections due to their 2500 character limitations !

FATHER AND SON at TDF

This blog item is also on TourdaFarce blog


Personalities are undoubtedly ammunition for the media at the Tour de France each year, but normally all we see is "El Diablo" jumping up and down and "Antler Man" running alongside the race as just two of so many examples of the antics that people get upto so as to appear on the TV.

Consider those who quietly go about their mission and Liam Flanagan and his father are head and shoulders above the scrum.

So many occasions i have come across this pair at the Tour that i wonder if there is a magnet. At Rotterdam i found them near the "Permanence" but on the sunday i went to their hotel. At Morzine i found them on the road as an artist was finishing his artwork which you can read about in their blog. Passed them days later after the climb from Sisteron and at the finish in Bordeaux as i was looking around for georgethecyclist . There are many more sightings as i don't get off the bike each time i see someone that i need to speak with, Fignon & Indurain to name a couple but then my recognition skills aren't instant and braking distance and returning in a one way situation is not always possible.

Lifted item the folowing from Procyclinglive who was describing the visit for racing to "Assen Youth Races".


"In his yellow and black shirt Liam Flanagan stands out in the category 3 peloton. On the cycling track around the campsite people are already calling him Mr. Armstrong. He is not Armstrong yet but is from the same country as the seven fold Tour de France winner.
How does a rider from California end up in Assen? “In Bordeaux where we were for the Tour de France time trial we met the parents of Canadian pro Michael Barry who rides for Team Sky,” Liam’s dad Bill explains. “They told Liam about the youth tour which Michael had done when he was young and Liam got more excited by the minute.” “When I heard about it I knew that I wanted to go there immediately,” Liam says with a big smile.
“First we thought the tour had already been but when we were in Paris and looked it up on the internet, Liam saw that it was still to come. We quickly arranged an UCI license which is only possible from 10 years on in the US. Liam turned ten a week before we arrived in Assen,” Bill continues. “When I was at the start Monday I could hardly believe I really was in this race,” Liam says.
Liam trains a lot with his dad who did triathlons himself. Father and son have followed the 2009 Tour de France and in 2010 they did a recon of 7 stages too. The list of mountains Liam has climbed is impressive: Joux Plane, Mont Ventoux, Col de la Colombière, Col de Madeleine, Col d’Aravis, Morzine-Avoriaz, Andorra-Arcalis and Col de Tourmalet. “I think the Mont Ventoux was the hardest,” Liam says. It seems only the first and HC category mountains are good enough for the 10-year-old.
Despite all his cycling experience, he started at age 4, Liam has never raced against his peers. “That was something different,” Bill says. “The pace of these girls in category 3 has astounded me. Liam has great stamina but copes less well with the changes in tempo.”
Liam rides in the Livestrong shirt. Last year they met Lance Armstrong at the foot of the Colombière. He wanted to race with Liam. “It was awesome,” Liam remembers as we watch the YouTube clip of that day. After this encounter Bill and Liam got more and more interested in Livestrong and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. During the Livestrong Challenge 2009 we raised $2000 and this year the amount raised is above $1000 already. “We met a lot of survivors. They are incredibly strong people,” Bill says. He has taken a year off but worked with cancer patients before that.
Liam will live in France for the next year with his brother Aidan, Roan and his parents. “I hope there is a club where I can learn to sprint and then I will be back in Assen next year, for sure,” he promises.
The young rider wants to add one more thing. “I ride for all people who have and have had cancer. Livestrong is far more than just Lance Armstrong. My dream is to win the Tour de France one day but my biggest dream is to wake up one day in a cancer free world.”
Follow news and videos from father and son Flanagan on www.fathersontour.com and make a donation too.

START UP of SKIPPYAUS

With friends from many nations over the past 12 years of riding the routes of the "Pro tours" as "SKIPPY " so now blogging as "SKIPPYAUS" ! As well as this i have been Volunteering at various events such as Summer & Winter Olympic & Paralympic Games so i am taking the easy route to the "Google and other search engines" so that people can find SKIPPYAUS & SKIPPYBLOGGING !
You may have read some of the blog postings elsewhere and i won't apologise for this as not all will have had the opportunity this past half year.

This past TDF proved that finding access to Internet is difficult even when you are staying with people who are online, there can be limited success in getting a posting up also, and as you have seen with "Skippi-cyclist & TourDaFarce" there has been a lack of the photos interspersed with the postings on "Parrabuddy" ! Yesterday i tried to post a photo to "parrabuddy's latest item w/out success !

With this Blog i will drop in previous SKIPPY news postings and in some cases will edit or mix previous editions so as to help those from various countries use the "Translate" available in Google.

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