Chris Froome

I was just wondering how you corroborated your cheats post by actually naming anyone. You know - the ones who are cleverer than the Russians.

Who are you talking about?

 

Have a look at the Salazar investigation. Then have a look at the career trajectory of athletes who may have been trained by him. Then draw a conclusion.

 

Perhaps Salazar is really good at picking up and coming athletes and getting the best out of them?

 

Perhaps. However all I read in sport is about fine marginal gains absolutely evrywhere. Not completely career changing abilities as a coach at the highest level. Also how many people have now spoken out about his methods? Sure they must all just have personal grievances.

 

So Mo Farah's a cheat?

And what an athletics coach does in the USA justifies "British sports cheats across the board clearly exist it’s just they are much further ahead of the curve than the Russians"?

Fair enough. I'll draw my own conclusions.

 

A number of the continental teams are suggesting Team Sky's bikes have motors fitted.

 

No evidence though?

 

Of course but that's the price you pay when a sport seems to be riddled with star performers who've not been averse to indulging in performance enhancing drugs or taking medication which, as a side line, enhances performances - no one trusts the other team to be 'clean'.

 

I think he's a cheat. Also think team sky are perennial cheats.

 

All the experts who have commented on this have confirmed that this inhaler does not enhance performance.

Why do so many elite athletes have asthma?
Analysis - Philippa Roxby, BBC health reporter

Top athletes are more likely to have asthma than the general population.

This is down to the large volumes of air they breathe in through their mouths when exercising at high intensity over long periods of time.

When the air is cold and dry, this can trigger asthma-related symptoms such as wheezing, shortness of breath and tightness in the chest, also known as exercise-induced asthma. Cyclists are particularly at risk because of the high aerobic element of the sport. Air pollution getting into the airways out on the road can also be a trigger.

Research suggests that around 35-40% of British Olympic cyclists use an inhaler, compared with 21% of the Olympic team as a whole and 9% of the general population.

If asthma is already diagnosed in elite athletes, then intensive exercise can make it worse - but if it is properly treated, the condition should not prove a disadvantage.

 

The Asthma treatments themselves have extremely marginal gains for performance. They are however well known to be masking agents for other PEDs hence the comments earlier about being ahead of the curve.

 

Brad Potts is honest .

 

My two pennorth on the sad but fascinating subject.

All on here are sports fans. I do not believe that in this day and age we watch sport in it's purest form. It's sad, yet true. The financial gains to be made mean that anyone who wants to get to the top will do all they can to get there. Being a phenomenal talent is no longer a guarantee that you will be remembered as the best of your time.

Jamaican athletes have rarely provided bad tests in competition. But they were rarely tested in training, when the hard yards are done. For that reason I have never bought into the Usain Bolt hype; that is not me directly accusing him of anything, it's just that my own tiny opinion is that something ain't right. Likewise the Spanish football team; I found them great to watch, but when Fuentes got busted I found it abhorrent that they suddenly went all crap again. It is seemingly well known in sporting circles that FIFA paid top dollar to prevent their sport from being tainted in the same way as cycling. Russia have pretty much admitted (state sponsoring) that they helped their sportsmen and women across multiple sports. How can you watch them and believe you are being genuinely entertained? Cycling and Athletics seem to take the brunt of the accusations and all that goes with it, but we are totally naive in believing they are the only sports.

And the doping itself is not the only enhancer. It's the complexity around what can be taken and what for. Drug XYZ for example may be banned for causing muscle bulk. Yet you could take the same drug because it helps a sleep disorder. Lo and behold you can take it, train all day without getting tired and ..... bulk up *naturally*. You are not allowed to inject calves blood (increases white cell count) but nobody can stop you eating 8 calves livers which give an identical result. Its all a farce. The salbutomol as mentioned by itself gives very marginal performance gain, but it is known to mask other enhancers. So was the stuff Wiggo was accused of taking. And though it is allowed, Salbutomol can help an astma sufferer intake for more litres of air per minute than without.

It's all ******. We watch multi-millionaire teenager footballers, all clones of each other, knowing that if they can't stay at the required level, someone will step into their shoes. The very peak of physical fitness is earning them rewards, yet also causing their demise - think how many times these days we read about a footballer who has died *unexpectedly* on the pitch ....... it's almost a monthly occurrence.

I love cycling, I love football. But it's not sport in the way I innocently imagine it once was. It's a multi-billion pound, win-at-ALL-costs, cut throat industry where pure talent will only take you so far. I think it's over for Team Sky, but do I think they are alone, no. Do I think cycling is alone with the stigma, no. Do I think we will see pure sport in my lifetime, absolutely not.

 

Asthma is very common in top level sportsman and women. They push themselves almost to the limit and any weakness in the body will come to light. When I was involved in Junior Football 2 or 3 lads in most teams would have to use an inhaler.