[762X51]

Just like Tiger Woods’ was coddled for the viewers he brought to golf. Hell, now that I think about it the entire NFL works this way. Shenanigans are ignored if you can get the viewers to the TV.

[Baynative]

Bike Ping

"Cycling officials let doping flourish and broke their own rules so Lance Armstrong could cheat his way to becoming the superstar the sport badly needed, according to a scathing report into its drug culture."

Still another bad mark against the UCI, in my opinion. In fact this statement not only doesn't make sense, it mocks the sport and [again in my opinion] shows some culpability in helping LA ruin his life.

It raises two simple questions:

1. If everyone was allowed to juice, then wasn't LA still the best rider at the time and...

2. If they had clamped down on usage heard from the start, would he not have still dominated?

Back to my former statement from years ago:

"Sport is entertainment. Let them all do whatever it takes to thrill the spectators and fans, it's their choice. We like film and recording stars that are artificially enhanced, why not athletes?"

[bigbob]

Whenever cheating like this happens, it seems highly unlikely that national organizations are not aware of it, and keep it quiet out of self-interest.

[grania]

If the cycling association allowed Lance Armstrong to be drug-enhanced, why did he have to give up his titles? They should be restored with an asterisk. JMHO

I just don't like after-the-fact changing of the rules for anything.

[llevrok]

I'm shocked! Shocked I say !

[Steve_Seattle]

"While the yearlong probe turned up no major revelations, and found no proof that a payment Armstrong made to the UCI was to cover up a positive test, it suggested doping is still rife in top-level road cycling."

This seems to contradict the headline. The headline suggests that the officials knowingly allowed Armstrong's doping to continue so that - as a superstar - he would help publicize and expand the sport. This would indeed be a major revelation, but the article doesn't support that claim. Maybe the full report does, but the article doesn't.

In fact, there are reasons not to believe it. Armstrong cleverly fooled all the mandatory drug tests; it's not as if the test results were ignored. Moreover, Armstrong was not well-liked, was considered by many in Europe as an outsider, and even many Americans found him a bit prickly. I do not see a huge motive to make him - rather than some European - as the face of the sport.

[Wolfie]

Same as Major League Baseball...they needed the jacked-up home run hitters to drive ratings.

[truth_seeker]

I saw a good documentary on this, recently on Netflix.

Armstrong comes across as a particularly dishonorable guy, that destroyed his fellow American TDF winner Greg LeMond, for example.

People who knew what was going on inside, with Armstrong, don’t like him or respect him. It is hard to imagine he will ever redeem himself.

The sport was harmed, but is resilient. It is after all, a great sport.