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FEATURES: RACY LANGUAGE: CONTADOR DECISION COMING NEXT WEEK
Tim Maloney
January 30, 2012
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FIRST, THE BACK STORY...
"The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will announce their verdict on three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador's doping case on February 6, the organization said Monday. A verdict was initially set for mid-January, but CAS opted to delay the ruling, blaming the delay on media allegations of bias against the three-man arbitration panel.
"Contador tested positive for the banned anabolic agent clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour de France, but the Spaniard was cleared by the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) in February 2011, prompting the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and International Cycling Union (UCI) to appeal the decision to CAS.
"The 29-year-old Spaniard claimed he had ingested the banned substance by eating a contaminated steak, an explanation which satisfied the RFEC but which failed to pass muster with the International Cycling Union (UCI) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
"If CAS upholds the appeal the Spaniard faces a competition ban and being stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title and the Giro d'Italia, which he won for a second time last year, and any other victories since July 2010."
AND NOW THE OPINION...
Will the Contador ruling be a black eye for the sport whichever way it goes?
And so it appears that after an 88 week long process, we will (hopefully) soon see the much delayed decision by the Court for Arbitration in Sport on the appeal by the International Cycling Union (UCI) and WADA (World Anti-Doping Association) of the decision by the Spanish cycling federation to clear Alberto Contador of charges of doping with clenbuterol at the 2010 Tour De France. Contador returns to Europe Tuesday from the Tour of San Luis in Argentina with a second place overall, two mountain-top stage wins and the King of the Mountains title.
Recently some journalists have posited that there will be no winners in the outcome of the Contador trial. That a win for the Spaniard will hurt cycling's legal authority to enforce doping controls, but also permanently stain the reputation of the Spaniard. And should the UCI and WADA win their appeal of Contador's non-sanction by the Spanish Federation, they feel, will also hurt the sport with yet another black mark on pro cycling. Double jeopardy for pro cycling if you will.
That kind of moral relativism is a total crock. Yes, if Alberto Contador gets away with doping, and the appeal of the UCI and WADA of his doping case is not enforced, that is a black mark on pro cycling. Having spent an estimated $4 million on his legal defense, if the CAS upholds the Contador decision by the Spanish federation, this will only serve to further destabilize the system of doping enforcement in not only cycling, but all sport. It would demonstrate that wealthy athletes like Contador can beat the system by leveraging their cash to buy legal resources, while the UCI and WADA are constrained by how much they can spend on aggressively pursuing these cases.
However, if the appeal by UCI and WADA wins the upcoming case by the Court for Arbitration in Sport, the rule of law in doping enforcement will have prevailed, and that is not a black mark by any means. Meat or no meat, Alberto Contador should not have had any clenbuterol in his blood sample. Those are the rules. Period. Perhaps there will be some short term damage to pro cycling if Alberto Contador is stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title. But the long-term benefit towards cleaner cycling far outweighs any short term negative impact to the sport. Clearly, the Contador decision will have a major impact on the 2012 cycling season, but just what that will be still remains to be seen.
Contador Photo: Bettini
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