Eradicating exemptions seems fairer than allowing athletes to use artificial means of lifting themselves back up to their natural level of performanceIn more optimistic times, the news that Dr Michele Ferrari’s appeal against a doping conviction was turned down by an Italian court this week would have felt like a superfluous postscript to a story whose denouement had been revealed years ago. Instead, the decision to uphold the verdict on the man who introduced Lance Armstrong to EPO seems like a footnote to a story that has simply moved on.For a while after Armstrong’s fall it looked as though enough good work was being done to permit the provisional victory of hope over ingrained scepticism when it came to the...
Little sign of the hoped-for spirit of openness can been seen following British Cycling’s plunge into notorietyThere was always a more than even chance that the affair nicknamed Jiffy bag-gate would never arrive at a definitive ending. The investigating UK Anti-Doping agency has limited powers, the events in question hark back five years and more into the past, the allegations were vague – that triamcinolone had been in a certain bag delivered at a certain time to be administered to Bradley Wiggins, who has stated via Instagram that the bag “was never delivered to me” – and the key witness, Dr Richard Freeman, appeared unwilling to engage fully with the inquiry.As a result, Wednesday’s statement from Ukad confirming that no...
UK Anti-Doping Agency’s long and expensive investigation has reached what feels an unsatisfactory conclusion for all involved, including Bradley WigginsA 14-month investigation. Thirty‑seven witness interviews. A significant hit on the UK Anti‑Doping Agency budget. Yet still we are no closer to knowing whether the package delivered to Sir Bradley Wiggins at the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2011 contained a legal decongestant or a banned drug. Or to hearing from a key witness, Dr Richard Freeman, whose illness seems to have provoked a nine-month silence worthy of a monk.But we can be sure of this: few parties come out well from the Ukad investigation, which was closed on Wednesday. Not Team Sky or British Cycling, whose response to the initial claims the...
British Cycling’s reboot was somewhat derailed by the latest revelations in Parliament but its 39-point plan should draw a line under the era between the Athens and Rio OlympicsThe press briefing on Thursday morning by the British Cycling chairman, Jonathan Browning, and the UK Sport chief executive, Liz Nicholl, at British Cycling’s headquarters in Manchester should have been all about the governing body’s 39-point plan to revamp its culture and management. This appeared to have been planned as a pre-emptive strike against revelations in the much delayed Phelps report into the culture within the Olympic team prompted by the scandal last spring involving allegations of sexism made by the sprinter Jess Varnish.The agenda was immediately transformed, however, by the dramatic...
If the cycling body can expect further battering until the truth is laid bare, UK Sport may be charged with forsaking diligence in its obsession with medalsWhen lawyers for UK Sport drew up the contract for British Cycling’s £30.6m funding agreement after London 2012 one clause seemed innocuous enough: “You shall fully communicate and provide information to us regarding the outcomes of the Peter King review.”Four years on, however it is the basis for frosty skirmishes between Britain’s most successful Olympic sport and the body whose millions have allowed it to thrive. Related: UK Sport accuses British Cycling of a ‘complete lack of transparency’ Continue reading...