Lance Armstrong gives up the fight

[Sark79]

haha, true.  I am finding this whole thing hard to deal with.  I feel like a kid that has been told Santa isn't real or the tooth fairy is actually your parents 

[Tonji]

Some reactions from the cycling world

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/armstrong-case-reactions-from-around-pro-cycling

[AndrewT]

What are you on?

[edgascoigne]

They were all at it. Every one of them that was competitive in the Tour from about '85 to a couple of years back.

I'd also hazard a guess that ten years from now others will look back on our naivety in believing current Tours are 'clean'. Cyclists are a product of their time.

[Longy]

Good, I found him very condescening and holier than thou attitude pretty sickening when he was obviously as bad as the rest.

Unfortunately I think there is a reasonable chance that our current national cycling heros are looked back at the same way in 10/15 years time. Cycling still has big problems with doping, it is just the case now that the testers can detect the very advantageous drugs (epo etc) of the past, but no doubt there are undetected "lesser" drugs still out there.

This is unlikely just to be Cycling's problem, it is likely to be a problem at the top level of most sports imo. Just human nature given the massive rewards for getting an advantage over your rivals.

[Tonji]

Good, I found him very condescening and holier than thou attitude pretty sickening when he was obviously as bad as the rest.

Unfortunately I think there is a reasonable chance that our current national cycling heros are looked back at the same way in 10/15 years time. Cycling still has big problems with doping, it is just the case now that the testers can detect the very advantageous drugs (epo etc) of the past, but no doubt there are undetected "lesser" drugs still out there.

This is unlikely just to be Cycling's problem, it is likely to be a problem at the top level of most sports imo. Just human nature given the massive rewards for getting an advantage over your rivals.

I'm told Tennis has/had the biggest doping problem with a massive cover up scandel waiting to explode. Rumour or fact?

[AndrewT]

There have certainly been rumours about Nadal, but I think the scandals in tennis are more to do with match-fixing and abuse within the women's game than doping.

The thing with cycling is that it has never ever really been clean - even back in the 1920s riders took speed to keep them going, Tommy Simpson was full of it when he died on a stage. There was kind of an implicit knowledge that these guys aren't going to be able to do that for 3 weeks without having a bit of help.

I'm pretty sure that Wiggins is clean - he's come from track cycling (which has always had more stringent doping controls) with no big boost in performance.

[TightEnd]

Athletics, swimming...certainly suspicions that athletes are ahead of the testers

As well as cycling, which other sports are suspected of widespread malpractice?

[Tonji]

I'd bet my house (maybe not my life) that Wiggins & the Sky team are clean. The ethos in starting the team was based on this.

[MintTrav]

This is unlikely just to be Cycling's problem, it is likely to be a problem at the top level of most sports imo. Just human nature given the massive rewards for getting an advantage over your rivals.

I'm told Tennis has/had the biggest doping problem with a massive cover up scandel waiting to explode. Rumour or fact?

Swimming is full of it. Cielo is the prob the best known one (and allowed back to win a medal at the Olympics a year after testing positive), but it is rampant. Quote from Irish swimmer Barry Murphy at the Olympics "you can almost go into the locker room back there and point out who is doing it".

[Bazzaboy]

Athletics, swimming...certainly suspicions that athletes are ahead of the testers

As well as cycling, which other sports are suspected of widespread malpractice?

It is rife in boxing in my opinion. There have been a few failed tests recently but that's only the tip of the iceberg. The sanctions imposed on those who have failed tests have hardly been a deterrent to others either

[The Camel]

Athletics, swimming...certainly suspicions that athletes are ahead of the testers

As well as cycling, which other sports are suspected of widespread malpractice?

It is rife in boxing in my opinion. There have been a few failed tests recently but that's only the tip of the iceberg. The sanctions imposed on those who have failed tests have hardly been a deterrent to others either

Had dinner with a friend recently, who is one the best judges of athletics betting around.

He is absolutely convinced Seb Coe was a cheat.

Make significant performance advances at an age when improvement was very unlikely. His 800m times would still put him in the top 3 of today. Every other athlete during the 80s who performed at a level comparable in other events has been unmasked as a drugs cheat.

If only this could be proved, I'd be a happy man!

[Teacake]

What about the practice of "boosting" used  by Paralympic athletes!

The International Paralympic Committee will test athletes to ensure the practice of 'boosting' blood pressure ahead of competition to enhance performance does not happen at the London 2012 Paralympics.
'Boosting' - known medically as induced autonomic dysreflexia - has been used by athletes with spinal cord injuries. By inflicting pain below the spinal injury, athletes are able to increase their heart rate which in turn increases the amount of oxygen to the muscles. The condition can be triggered naturally by injury or even sunburn, but can also be induced artificially and can improve performance by up to 10%.

[Tal]

How many rugby players have got to 16/17, signed for big clubs and gone away on a "training camp" somewhere warm, coming back 6 weeks later 17 stone, stacked with muscle?

A friend of mine who is, shall I say, a good judge of these things, reckons it's completely accepted in the premiership that everyone stacks up over the summer and cleans up a month or two before the start of the season so there's nothing in the system.

Just look how much bigger the backs are these days compared even to ten years ago.

[smashedagain]

Athletics, swimming...certainly suspicions that athletes are ahead of the testers

As well as cycling, which other sports are suspected of widespread malpractice?

It is rife in boxing in my opinion. There have been a few failed tests recently but that's only the tip of the iceberg. The sanctions imposed on those who have failed tests have hardly been a deterrent to others either

Had dinner with a friend recently, who is one the best judges of athletics betting around.

He is absolutely convinced Seb Coe was a cheat.

Make significant performance advances at an age when improvement was very unlikely. His 800m times would still put him in the top 3 of today. Every other athlete during the 80s who performed at a level comparable in other events has been unmasked as a drugs cheat.

If only this could be proved, I'd be a happy man!

Oh my good god. Lord Coe is on your list too