I was going to write something about cycling and Lance Armstrong and doping. Then I wasn’t. Then I was. Then I wasn’t… and, well, you get the picture. In the end though it pretty much boils down to this:
- From what I saw on the telly and read in magazines at the time (‘the time’ being the ‘90s through to, uh, well now really), I decided that I never much liked Lance Armstrong as a rider or as a person. Time has not changed my opinion.
- Why do we expect individuals (in any sphere of life) who are clearly driven by an overpowering need to win to be morally incorruptible?
- That said, although every professional cyclist wants to win, not every professional cyclist is, was or will be a cheating, lying ego-maniac.
- Why do we think that there are not also cheats in other sports? Especially ones with more money involved?
- Why do corporations think its okay to walk away from individuals and teams without acknowledging their own duplicity? Why do they not accept responsibility for leading positive change?
And finally, fundamentally, cycling is a beautiful sport. You don’t need (false) heroes to know that to be true. You just need a bike.
But hey, if you did need a hero, you could do a lot worse than choose Fiorenzo Magni, who died recently aged 92.
Your second bullet point reminds me of something Malcolm Tucker said in last week’s ‘Thick of It’, the enquiry episode, along the lines of ‘If you’re in this room, you’ve bent the rules’.
That’s a good line, isn’t it? I do wonder if you could apply it to a team meeting on the Sky team bus…
Nice post Alistair – your final point is crucial – Nike spring to mind..And there is a very long list under your penultimate bullet – Maradonna/Jonson/any East German athlete in the 70s/Marion Jones….on and on!
But what a fantastic clip ( which I’d never seen) . Amazing footage with (at around 45 secs) Magni with a rope in his teeth – I’m presuming this is the time when , having broken his collar bone (in the Giro?) he used the rope to give him power as he was one- handed – legendary stuff I’d only read about! And what a collection of trophies!Really enjoyed this even with the braying of Bruce in the background!
Of course the post was really just an excuse for posting the video…