Contador - CAS ruling. (All things Contador/doping - merged)

[Eldron]

It's not about what you believe. It's about a standard across all sports. There isn't one.

 

I don't think there ever will or should be one. Take the salary penalty - it could have cost Conty 3.1 million euros (one years salary) if he got a 2 year ban - thats a hectic penalty. Give a professional chess player the same penalty and he would laugh at you - he could pay a year's salary from the petty cash in his wallet.

 

Likewise a 6 month ban for a cyclist is a harsh penalty - 6 months for a professional sailor where there are only a handful of races a year is silly.

 

Horses for courses I reckon.

[TNT1]

'"I have never doped," he said. "I think I am an example of cleanliness. I believed in the test system, not now. I do not believe in the system. I know what I'm exposed to and that's why I never doped.

 

"The only mistake I made is to eat meat that contained Clenbuterol. I have made some 500 controls in my life that have been in my house, on birthdays, they have taken me out of the cinema... and I accepted this because I always trusted this test system, but I do not believe in it. The system is obsolete and outdated."'

 

Contador to appeal ban

[covie]

If the system was outdated you would not have been caught, however if you're dopeing method is outdated you will get caught

 

Ok ok im just stirring

[Noneking]

:: 28 / 01 / 11 :: Alberto Contador press conference:

 

 

“I will defend my innocence until the end”

Today is a sad day, truly sad for me. It’s a day in which I feel greatly disappointed and greatly deceived. As you know, two days ago I received a draft resolution for a one-year sanction from the Competition Committee.

 

 

“The way things have been until now has been shameful, the way things that should’ve been communicated officially have been leaked to the press. All this has shown me how down-and-out and how full deficiencies this sport that I love is, the sport that I’ve given my life to and in which I’ve suffered so much to get where I am. And everything so that now, based on an obsolete rule, they want to throw it all in the dirt, so that I lose everything I’ve achieved.

 

Throughout my life I’ve undergone more than 500 controls, many of them by surprise, at home, during family meals, birthdays… I’ve had to leave in the middle of movies, I’ve had to leave my friends in restaurants, but it was all because I believed in the anti-doping system. Not anymore. I do not believe in the system now.

 

I know my responsibility, I know that I’m a point of reference for a lot of people, and I know what I expose myself to, that’s why I’ve never doped. I can say this loud and clear, with my head held high. I consider myself an example of what it is to be clean, and so I find it hard to watch the way I’m slandered every day, the way terrible things are said about me, when the only mistake I made was to eat meat without stopping to analyze it first to see if it had clenbuterol in it. Every time I go to a restaurant, will I have to take a piece of meat with me in order to check for clenbuterol?

 

The people in charge of the anti-doping organizations have to reconsider this case. We’re facing a completely outdated rule, which all scientists know is not up-to-date with the current anti-doping system, which was made years ago when they couldn’t detect minimum quantities which in no way affect your performance, which are physically impossible to take voluntarily, and which in my case have in no way helped me achieve victory.

 

As long as this rule remains out of date with the advances of 2011, cases of false positives will continue to occur. This rule will have to be changed; I don’t know when—whether it will be months or years from now. But meanwhile, what about me, and the people who are in a situation similar to mine? As long as this change remains unaccomplished, honest and fair sport will never be practiced, as I have always practiced it.

 

When I received the one-year proposed sanction, I immediately told Bjarne Riis, and told him that I wanted to go home to be with my family and friends. But I couldn’t allow myself to forget that it’s only a draft resolution and that in these 10 days that I’ve got, I’m going to work as hard as I can with my lawyers so that justice is done. I’m enormously grateful to Bjarne and to my sponsors for their confidence and their unconditional support—it’s unimaginable. As leader of the team, I think that making the decision to leave is best, so that all the riders keep working as normal.

 

I’m tremendously unhappy with the Competition Committee’s proposal. What’s happened during these last few months is beyond belief, and a disgrace. It’s become a soap opera and a political lawsuit with all the leaks, the baseless and malicious comments of WADA and the UCI, which I believe have played a key role in this proposed resolution. In the meantime, I’ve wanted to keep working, focusing on my own business, but I’ve also been on the point of exploding many times because of things that were being said. I could hardly endure it, but out of respect for the process I’ve preferred to keep some distance so that the Competition Committee can work without pressure from me, even though all that has come to nothing. I disagree with this proposal and I’m going to work to change it, but if that’s not how it works out, I’ll appeal wherever necessary in order to defend my innocence until the end.”

[TNT1]

 

 

Horses for courses I reckon.

 

Nice. So become a rugby playing horse, cause there are no rules, and drug taking is just fine.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

:: 28 / 01 / 11 :: Alberto Contador press conference:

 

The people in charge of the anti-doping organizations have to reconsider this case. We’re facing a completely outdated rule, which all scientists know is not up-to-date with the current anti-doping system, which was made years ago when they couldn’t detect minimum quantities which in no way affect your performance, which are physically impossible to take voluntarily, and which in my case have in no way helped me achieve victory.

 

As long as this rule remains out of date with the advances of 2011, cases of false positives will continue to occur. This rule will have to be changed;

 

I dont pay much interest to these things but, to be honest I think he has a perfectly valid point.

 

A lot of folk have been mentioning plastisers in the blood and so on, but it appears to me that its not an issue as far as the UCI is concerned?? - it appears the entire case is about the minute amount of clenbuterol in his blood which as he states was below minimum levels. Personally, I cant even see a case.

[chris_w_65]

I dont pay much interest to these things but, to be honest I think he has a perfectly valid point.

 

A lot of folk have been mentioning plastisers in the blood and so on, but it appears to me that its not an issue as far as the UCI is concerned?? - it appears the entire case is about the minute amount of clenbuterol in his blood which as he states was below minimum levels. Personally, I cant even see a case.

 

And, there is a 1 in 300000 chance that it came from meat. Unlikely - yes. Impossible - NO.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

And, there is a 1 in 300000 chance that it came from meat. Unlikely - yes. Impossible - NO.

 

Yeah, I also saw those figures, but they sound very unrealistic to me, I would imagine it to be much lower. I also cant see that a real bona-fida survey was done to arrive at those figures, the preparation for that would have taken months at least, so we must assume it was just a quick ad-hoc type survey test which I doubt will stand the scrutiny of a conservative (and they are ALL conservative) Judge in a court of law.

 

........and as you say, it would not have been impossible for him to be the unlucky one, even if the chance was 1 ; 300,000.

 

The lotto odds are I imagine similar or even higher, yet occassionally someone wins.......!

Edited January 29, 2011 by GrumpyOldGuy

[Guest agteros]

Yeah, I also saw those figures, but they sound very unrealistic to me, I would imagine it to be much lower. I also cant see that a real bona-fida survey was done to arrive at those figures, the preparation for that would have taken months at least, so we must assume it was just a quick ad-hoc type survey test which I doubt will stand the scrutiny of a conservative (and they are ALL conservative) Judge in a court of law.

 

........and as you say, it would not have been impossible for him to be the unlucky one, even if the chance was 1 ; 300,000.

 

The lotto odds are I imagine similar or even higher, yet occassionally someone wins.......!

 

lotto is more like 1 in 14 million

[chris_w_65]

lotto is more like 1 in 14 million

 

Fact 3: The Lottery Is A Sucker’s Bet

The odds of winning the lottery are…

1 chance in 54 million (ERLC)

The chance of winning a jackpot like the record-setting Powerball lottery that occurred in May, 1998 is 1 in 80 million!

Compare this to your chances of experiencing some other incidents in life. You have…

a 1 in 3 million chance of freezing to death

a 1 in 2 million chance of being struck by lightning

a 1 in 1 million chance of dying in the bath tub

1 chance in 700,000 of being killed by a dog

1 chance in 86,000 of dying from poisoning. (Baton Rouge Advocate)

A lottery ticket buyer is…

5 times more likely to be eaten by a shark

6,000 times more likely to be hit by a car

500,000 times more likely to die in an airline crash (Seducing America: Is Gambling a Good Bet? By Rex M. Rogers)

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Fact 3: The Lottery Is A Sucker’s Bet

The odds of winning the lottery are…

1 chance in 54 million (ERLC)

The chance of winning a jackpot like the record-setting Powerball lottery that occurred in May, 1998 is 1 in 80 million!

Compare this to your chances of experiencing some other incidents in life. You have…

a 1 in 3 million chance of freezing to death

a 1 in 2 million chance of being struck by lightning

a 1 in 1 million chance of dying in the bath tub

1 chance in 700,000 of being killed by a dog

1 chance in 86,000 of dying from poisoning. (Baton Rouge Advocate)

A lottery ticket buyer is…

5 times more likely to be eaten by a shark

6,000 times more likely to be hit by a car

500,000 times more likely to die in an airline crash (Seducing America: Is Gambling a Good Bet? By Rex M. Rogers)

 

Yeah okay, all the more reason to believe him then, as his risk of eating contaminated food is reasonably high.

['Dale]

Alberto Contador has left the Saxo Bank-SunGard training camp and returned home to Pinto near Madrid. The Spaniard is facing a one-year ban for a positive doping control from the 2010 Tour de France.

 

“I think it's best at this time to go back to my family,” he told reporters.  “I hope and I'm sure that I will be back with you here soon.”

 

[Behan]

It seems like these labs could even find a brain in Julius Malema.

HAHAHA +1!!!!!

[Squier]

I dont pay much interest to these things but, to be honest I think he has a perfectly valid point.

 

A lot of folk have been mentioning plastisers in the blood and so on, but it appears to me that its not an issue as far as the UCI is concerned?? - it appears the entire case is about the minute amount of clenbuterol in his blood which as he states was below minimum levels. Personally, I cant even see a case.

 

There is no minimum level. There is only a minimum level that labs need to be able to detect. As clenbuterol is not naturally occuring in the body any trace found is seen as a positive test. He was just unlucky that German lab that did the testing had new technology that could detect the minute amount in his body.

 

I don't think he is going to get off. This will be become a long and dragged out story...

[levett]

There is no minimum level. There is only a minimum level that labs need to be able to detect. As clenbuterol is not naturally occuring in the body any trace found is seen as a positive test. He was just unlucky that German lab that did the testing had new technology that could detect the minute amount in his body.

 

I don't think he is going to get off. This will be become a long and dragged out story...

 

I'm neither a Contador hater or supporter, but something smells fishy!

- a Google search for Clenbuterol gives (amongst others) - Clenbuterol is abused for its ability to alter body composition by reducing body fat and increasing skeletal muscle mass. It is typically abused by athletes and bodybuilders at a dose of 60-120 µg per day

- The plasticiser is, apparently from blood transfusion bags

- Did this test not take place after the 'rest day' on the TDF

 

Could be innocent (from a steak), or it could be that clenbuterol was being taken earlier on, and that they thought it would have been out of the blood stream before the blood was 'harvested' (maybe the blood was tested by a lab that could not detect very low concentrations?)- but then he must also have been blood doping!

 

I guess we'll never know!

[Barend de Arend]

Contador chose to eat separate from the hotel food, and from his teammates. Contador took the choice to go out of his way to eat something else. That makes him responsible.

 

The EU has tested meat for Clen since 2000. It caused some human hospitalisations in the late 90s. They have found nothing. That makes the contaminated meat story unlikely. Which is why he later changed his story that the meat didn't come from Spain, but instead came from Venezuela. He has been unable to provide contaminated meat sourced from the same butcher.

 

Maybe he also got struck by lightning, won the lotto, and at the same time had a tiny meteor kick Andy's chain off.