Is this the biggest steroid bust in the history of sport?
 

I am trying to go through my memory but I think that next to Ben Johnson and his gold medal getting taken away this has to be the biggest steroid/doping bust in the history of sports.

I mean the TdF winner is going to get stripped of his victory due to illegal drugs.

I think this is as if not bigger than Ben Johnson's bust.

Can anyone think of a bigger one??

SunSwingsLow wrote "I think this is as if not bigger than Ben Johnson's bust"

Not yet but it could be.

Olympic Scandal - Ben Johnson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Johnson_(athlete)

Running Off Track: The Ben Johnson Story

http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-41-1392...s/ben_johnson/

In no way do I think this would be bigger than the Ben Johnson case.
Carl Lewis. Greatest Track & Field athlete of all time. One of the greatest athletes in history.
Rivalry. World Records on the line. Olympics


Who was Floyd going up against?
Yeah, it's a huge thing to have happen -if it does happen
Not in that league, though ..Not after what has already happened at the beginning of this TDF and all the speculation still surrounding Lance.
Not nearly as big.

Define "Biggest."

While certainly this could be one of the most public "busts" in recent history, it is certainly not the most impactful doping bust. Also, with the ongoing Spanish Inquisition touching sports across the world that bust could have broader reaching effects when all the details are released.

I seem to remember a lot of press during the '98 TdF while riders protested following their perceived mistreatment in conjunction with the Festina affair. While the bust might not have been sensational the fallout was.

The publicity following the L'equipe story on Armstrong last year was pretty big but not really a "bust" in the conventional sense.

If former TdF winner and perennial favorite Ullrich is found guilty of abusing substances again his possible lifetime ban may transcend this bust within the sport and may make popular media headlines across the globe.

The reacknowledgment that many Warsaw Pact countries were rife with doping is perhaps bigger but really expected and became an international joke. For example, the East German women's teams that were joked about as men.

Landis' bust (if substantiated) and Ben Johnson's are important stories because the venue was popular (the TdF and the Olympics) rather than the athlete. If Landis goes down for this his name will be incidental to the fact that the TdF winner doped.

Good point sorry.

I think my definition was refering to the most visible athlete of their sport getting nailed for steroids. Not only the most visible but also the highest current achieving at the time of their bust.

I think when I look at it in this light it still takes a back seat to the Ben Johnson but I think it is firmly slotted in #2 right behind it. After saturdays predicted fallout perhaps it will take on a new dynamic.

Currently 3 of the best athletes in their sport are under severe scrutiny/allegations/positive tests.

Barry Bonds - Greatest Player in baseball for the past decade
Justin Gatlin - Worlds fastest man tested positive last week
Floyd Landis - 2006 TdF winner (temporarily)

I still think we are putting the cart before the horse with Landis, however, I understand your point.

The Olympics are bigger than the TdF in almost every way and thus any controversy there will be bigger than any TdF scandal. We are biased as cycling fans to understand the controversies of Landis more than most people but most people don't care at the TdF.

edited for spelling

Yes.

Of course it is. It is todays news and todays news is always the biggest and best (or worst). Until next week that is.

As it really stands if it stays just Floyd it will be just a footnote. Better riders than Floyd have been DQ'd in major tours and few here can name any of them. This will be memorable only because testing takes longer and he finished the tour before being DQ'd

I think it depends a bit on where you're from.

If you're from the United States, then this definitely seems like the biggest doping scandal in the history of bike racing. The Tour is the only race most folks have heard of here, and Landis is from the US. This may be the end of popular media coverage of bike racing here, too, with Lance retired and the Tour turning out to be a big dope-fest.

But if you're from Italy, the biggest story will probably still be Marco Pantani getting booted from the Giro, and eventually dying from a cocaine overdose. Books have been written about it, tv news shows covered it, and a movie came out this year.

I bet Ben was more huge and heartbreaking for Canadians than Landis is for Americans.

It was pretty big. I was in grade 6 at the time, I remember it being a big deal at school.

He was a cheat, and made a stupid mistake and got caught. He took drugs outside his normal prescribed doping regimen. Stanozolol wasn't part of what his team doctor was giving him, he took some extra on the side.

That being said, he was racing a bunch of other cheats (from the Wikipedia entry):

"Including Johnson, four of the top five finishers of the 100-metre race have all tested positive for banned drugs at one point or another. They are Carl Lewis, who was given the gold medal, along with Linford Christie who was moved up to the silver medal, and Dennis Mitchell. Of these, only Johnson was forced to give up his records and his medals, although he was the only one of the four who tested positive or admitted using drugs during a medal-winning performance."

My suspicion is that the exact same thing happened to Landis. He was nervous, thought he needed a little extra to get him across the line, and blew the doping protocol.

I firmly beleive that a large proportion of top athletes, including in cycling, are doping and getting away with it because the testing routines and how to beat them are well known by the dope doctors.

They also spent weeks building up that competition and pitted the US vs Canada.

i don't know where you are located but i'm sure from a european perspective -- where the TdF is contested -- this is much bigger story than ben johnson or barry bonds.

ed rader

never has a TdF winner had his title stripped. the others tours aren't the TdF. not the same thing.

ed rader

This is not exactly true. In the Modern Tour (after WWII), this is true. But in 1904, the top 4 riders were disqualified after the fact (including the winner Maurice Garin), for taking a train over part of the tour. I know. It's not the same as doping. And it's very old. But still, an interesting fact.

Indeed, most europeans have no clue who barry bonds is.

Now that is proper cheating !!

PPPHHHSSSSTTTT...90% of Americans wouldn't even of have heard Floyd if he hadn't been busted....TDF winner or not.....This is small potatoes in the big scheme of things....in 10 years no-one will even remember who Floyd is, except in one of those 'Where are they now" segments that TV stations invariably dredge up when they have run out of ideas!......the very fact that you guys are raising the name Ben Johnson, shows the whole world was watching when Ben went down!....Now if this thread was about the dumbest doper to get caught, Floyd would be top 5 easy!

I saw Ben Johnson on TV a few months ago. What a dumb arse. He doesn't know what all the fuss was about......

Thank You!

Also one rider was DQ'd while leading because repairs made on his bike were deamed illegal.

I take it this mean you have no idea which rider was DQ'd in the Giro while in Pink on a very controvertial drug test.

i agree with you that he may go down as one of the dumbest dopers to go down. however, floyd was getting pretty big here once the hip story broke out. he was scheduled for tv appearances, was written up in many articles, was on the news almost nightly (although brief).

however, if there wasn't a human interest angle to it (i.e. no broken hip or adverse condition to overcome) the story would be much much smaller.

"I didnt' take no stereo."
--- Ben Johnson



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No I'm waiting for the time when they raid Tiger Woods hotel room.:D