18 months for nolan

[Nettie R]

What I respect Nolan for is that he said up front that he took Perf Enhancing Drugs because is perfomance was not up to scratch. He did not hide behind the excuse that he did'nt know what he was taking or he took cough medicine' date=' or his doctor prescribed something etc etc like nearly all others that have been caught.  So yes, one needs to give him credit for his honestly.

[/quote']

It's admirable, but don't waste your respect on a doper. He made a choice to use the stuff, like you who decide not to use it. He broke his team up, had a sponsor withdraw, left friends unemployed. The consequence of his actions should've got him a bigger sentence...

 

Honesty: It's not as if he confessed to using the drugs before he was caught out... With your back to the wall, the truth is usually the only way out. Except if you're the cough syrup dude...

 

[Andyr249]

Speaking from a legal point of view' date=' I believe organizers of races should put in a clause with their indemnities in the form of a statement - that the rider declares that he has not used any performance enhancing or other banned substance.

That way - when riders do get caught using these substances - I could make a pretty compelling case to prosecute them for fraud in a criminal court.

That will definitely make a rider think twice before using banned substances if he can get banned for a few years, and get a criminal record.

Sport at the professional level is no longer a sport - it is a profession. It is a job like any other. If a professional person is caught doing something unethical or illegal he will most likely be disbarred, struck from the roll, or otherwise be prohibited from doing this profession, and charged criminally. I see no reason for professional sportsmen to be treated any different.[/quote']

 

I like the idea but will it stand in a court of law?

 

It would be another nail in their coffin. Yes, documentary evidence. First prize would be to create an anti-doping statute making doping in sport illegal. Then you would be able to charge them directly for that and not indirectly for fraud etc.

[thoughtforfood]

snip

 

 

 

That way - when riders do get caught using these substances - I could make a pretty compelling case to prosecute them for fraud in a criminal court.

 

 

 

snip

 

 

 

Are the drugs that these guys use not of a high enough schedule (S3, S4, etc), making it a criminal offence to use them without a prescribing doctor? I know there are doctors giving these things out, but a lot of people order med's (and other things!) from online places like InHouse pharmacy.

 

 

 

I'm of the harsher school of thought here; 18 months isn't near enough. It's a pity the 2 year thing is regulated by WADA and UCI, as far as I understand

[BendeBeer]

I'm not looking forward to is seeing Ricco; Vino; Basso, Valverde and the other conviced cheats riding the Tour this year...

[BendeBeer]

Sport at the professional level is no longer a sport - it is a profession. It is a job like any other. If a professional person is caught doing something unethical or illegal he will most likely be disbarred' date=' struck from the roll, or otherwise be prohibited from doing this profession, and charged criminally. I see no reason for professional sportsmen to be treated any different.[/quote']

 

 

Mark Cavendish (about Ricc?)

?To be honest, when I see him, I think I?ll have to fight the urge to get off my bike and hit him.

Marco Pinotti 

 

?Read on magazines that cobra and salbaneo* ?have learnt the lesson? and dream about coming back in the Giro. it makes me puke?

(standing ovation)

[Andyr249]

Sport at the professional level is no longer a sport - it is a profession. It is a job like any other. If a professional person is caught doing something unethical or illegal he will most likely be disbarred' date=' struck from the roll, or otherwise be prohibited from doing this profession, and charged criminally. I see no reason for professional sportsmen to be treated any different.[/quote']

 

 

Mark Cavendish (about Ricc?)

?To be honest, when I see him, I think I?ll have to fight the urge to get off my bike and hit him.

Marco Pinotti 

 

?Read on magazines that cobra and salbaneo* ?have learnt the lesson? and dream about coming back in the Giro. it makes me puke?

(standing ovation)

 

[Eldron]

Bravo Mark Cavendish!

 

One aspecdt I've missed along the way is cash. A ban is one thing but a ban allows the rider to keep his ill gotten gains (prize money, salary etc) that he's earned through cheating.

 

Eldron's final offer:

1st offencse: 6 year ban and R75,000 fine

2nd offence: Life ban and R500,000 fine.

[Brakkies Sport Fotos]

Pops final offer:

 

 

 

1st offense: 5 years in Siberia

 

2nd offence: 1o years on the moon

[PPWTF]

Seems young cyclists are not the only ones looking to PED's for a little something extra http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/11/shanghai-older-residents-drugs-mahjong

 

 

 

On a serious note http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/sports/168145/thirty-athletes-stopped-from-coming-to-games-ioc

[mallo]

No matter what who says CSA will not change their policies "Zero tolerance" !!!!! yet they reduce the sentence handed down.Would be interesting to know how many tests have they done on other riders who came back into the sport since they were bust.

[Guest Boytjie]

" It is with deep regret that Cycling South Africa announces the provisional suspension of cyclist Nolan Hoffman " It looks like the sentence was also handed down with the same feelings !

[16 Spoke]

  Talk about spiking a drink? National team mechanic Melly Claasen's drink was spiked on a tour in China sum years ago, now his taking them to court, incl CSA. Wot a $*#%&% up.

[fandacious]

CSA had nothing to do with the sentence or the hearing. Its done by the Drug free sport' date=' neutral judges appointed by them.

 

CSA and UCI just receive a notice of what transpired.

[/quote']

 

 

 

waars grootlem???

[Old Dog]

Life time ban wont stop it. Think of someone who is not quite good enough to win' date=' there but not quite, so he dopes. What has he got to lose. If he is caught he is out and was not going to win anyway and if he is not caught perhaps he can win. In Saudi people are beheaded but still they commit offences. Women are murdered in honor killings but still people are having extramarital sex. People regularly risk Thailand prison sentences to smuggle drugs.

Put this in context. Some kid drugs to go faster on a bike and we ruin his life. I believe people need second chances. It has worked for me. Also don't make the mistake of assuming your motivations for the actions of others. Perhaps Nolan's motivation was not the money but the wish to not disappoint the people that had put work in to him and supported him and so he made a stupid decision and took a risk. He ended up disappointing them even more fundamentally but that is another story.

To assume a motivation of monetary gain, and then basing a criminal case of fraud on this untested motivation is reaching just a little. [/quote']

The most sensible post of the whole sorry 13 pages!!!!!!