Zinger

Fascinating interview with a former Women's cycling star on the systematic doping taking place in American cycling long before the Armstrong era and how the system that’s in place today in US cycling is basically the one that was put in place by the people that helped to create the doping culture.


Perspectives on Doping in Pro Cycling: Inga Thompson | The Outer Line

Excerpted in part:

Mention the name Inga Thompson to a modern cycling fan, and you might get a raised eyebrow. “Inga who?” But to fans and observers of the sport from the 1980s and early 1990s, Inga Thompson was perhaps one of the most successful and influential women in cycling. From her meteoric debut on the American scene in 1984, to her final major race – a dominating victory in the 1993 US Women’s National Road Race – Inga proved herself to be one of the greatest women’s racers the sport has ever seen.

And yet right after that 1993 championship, Inga quietly packed up, moved away from her long-time residence in Reno, and for almost twenty years severed all ties with the sport and the people with whom she trained and competed. She didn’t even touch a bicycle. The woman who dominated US cycling for nearly a decade, carrying on where Connie Carpenter left off after the 1984 Olympics – a woman who had lived and breathed cycling, and inspired others to take up the sport – simply hung up her wheels and vanished.

In late 2012, Inga finally broke her silence of almost twenty years, first contributing an opinion to VeloNews on corruption in pro cycling in which she tersely stated her position on why she would never let her own son compete in the sport; and in early 2013, an essay on the doping scandals for Crankpunk.com. While she now occasionally posts online in various forums, this is the first detailed interview with Inga since she decided to end her self-imposed exile, and comment publicly on the challenges facing the sport.

ColnagoC40

Wow, great article, thx for posting.

beatlebee 

great read, thanks.

midschool22

Nice read. Thanks.

oldskoolwrench

A very interesting article; props to Inga for staying true to her ethics, and her body!

roadandmountain

Brilliant article. I just love reading delusional posts from those who defend the dopers though. It's very interesting seeing the psychology of people who can't accept reality.

mjh365

Thanks for shar. That was a good read.

Zinger

Yeah, you know, Sue Novara Reber was always my favorite of the girls racing. She came along before Inga did and retired the same year that Inga started. But I just don't know what to think of the coaches associated with this era anymore after reading that interview......Len Pettyjohn, Jim Ochowicz, Sue Novara or any of them anymore.

And I never did like Eddie Borysewicz anyway but now just want to kick his butt if I had the chance. What a crappy system !!!



Even though I didn't follow Inga's career after the Coors Classics were cancelled, I'd have to say that now she would have to be my favorite girl cyclist from the era after reading this based on such an exemplary character. And she always did give a fun competitive interview back then too. What a phenomenal rise in the sport she had, too, right off the bat.

Zinger

You mean like Pantani? Instead of arguing over the dopers we should probably be vilifying their enablers and the system that punishes clean riders. Because athletes who want to successfully compete in a system like that are going to go along with the program (that they didn't really put into place) when there's money to be made at the only thing they've ever done. If it weren't these guys it would have just been someone else.

kevmk81 

This is a disappointing read. So I wonder, are junior racers at the national level being persuaded to use PEDs? I hope not. Is it rampant for U23's? I was under the impression it's becoming "cleaner" lately.

busygizmo

Thanks for posting, great read. I read her Velonews article a while back, pretty sad stuff. I'm glad she was strong enough to say no and has been able to lead what seems to be a fulfilling life.

Sad to see that the enablers are still out there. BMC has a few on staff.

Homebrew01

I don't know about now, but back then Chris Carmichael was jamming needles in the butts of juniors, telling them it was "vitamins".
Worse than Lance in my opinion because he was intentionally doping naive, kids, not himself. Does he get a lifetime ban from anything ?

People still suck up to him, buying his books & training plans. When the East Germans did it, it was bad, but he gets a pass ?!

ericy

I don't know how naive the kids were, but the kids probably knew that to be a "team player" one needed to bend over and take it - whatever it was.

I would have hoped that after the Lance debacle, that there might have been a general house-cleaning, but instead they found a few sacrificial lambs (i.e. Bruyneel), and hoped that they could then claim that the sport was cleaned up.