Guest Jeffery S. Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Eufemiano Fuentes, the doctor arrested and charged for manipulating the blood of over 50 cyclists including Basso, Ulrich, Heras, all top riders and all out of the Tour de France, is set to talk tonight on El Larguero about blood manipulation and performance enhancement, that is at www.cadenaser.com at midnight Spain time, in 10 minutes. The program lasts to 1:30. He said he would not name names, but a few Spanish first division teams could come out. He has argued that the list of guilty cyclists filtered is only partial, that there are many more out there who have been doing blood treatments (apart from other things it seems) in the world of football, athletics, tennis. I think a lot of athletes in Spain and elsewhere taking advantage of the Spain laxity are very worried about this, and at the Tour de France there is real fear many more will be forced to abandon in the next few days for the criminal investigation going on in Madrid, what is called the Operación Puerto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Listening now, he will come on later, after World Cup and other news, but has already said he's been threatened to not go on the program, but came anyways. He is surely guilty of blood manipulation, but wants to take a few others down with him who have not been touched by the criminal case. So could be juicy. Expecting a few soccer players to be indirectly incriminated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Well I think the journalist softened on him and they did not get into football too much, though he insisted on a few ideas that were interesting. First, that the questions of getting an unfair advantage by doping and damaging ones health were separate. I think the point was well made that a pro athlete does a lot of things that can damage his health in the long term, which does not mean the activity is banned. And that some forms of "doping" or performance enhancement were not necessarily bad for the patient's health, indeed applying a cortisone to an bee sting is doping in cycling but not, for example, if you work in the circus. This particular doctor is to be tried for activity affecting public health, not for doping, which is not a crime in Spain, it is something regulated by sport governing bodies without legal backing in the criminal code. Fuentes did not name names, except for listing a few cyclists on the list leaked from the investigation that he had never treated, implying as well that he had many more names he could reveal but for now would not due to them being "professional secrets". I think it is clear, from the inferences, that blood manipulation has been used by not just cyclists, and that hormone or other treatment, like EPO, is used regularly by footballers trying to strengthen their muscle structure on the way back from an injury. I suspect in fact that they have not leaked certain non-cycling names as, for example, it could have meant a scandal for the Spanish national team in the World Cup. But that is just a suspicion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
argh1 Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 The problem with doping scandals in pro sports is.....only the media or non fans of that particular sport seems to care. Just using MLB's example of last season in the midst of a major scandal the league had it's highest attendance ever and revenue shot way up. Not sure about this season. So the guy or gal who buys the ticket, merchandise or sits in front of the tube to add to ratings doesn't seem to care as long as thier team does well? It's almost like a race now. Kinda, lookey see we're a big time league too. Players take drugs to succeed in our league too. Only my observation though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 quote:Originally posted by argh1 The problem with doping scandals in pro sports is.....only the media or non fans of that particular sport seems to care. Just using MLB's example of last season in the midst of a major scandal the league had it's highest attendance ever and revenue shot way up. Not sure about this season. So the guy or gal who buys the ticket, merchandise or sits in front of the tube to add to ratings doesn't seem to care as long as thier team does well? It's almost like a race now. Kinda, lookey see we're a big time league too. Players take drugs to succeed in our league too. Only my observation though. Cycling is more susceptible as they rely on sponsors, teams are names exclusively for them, there is no fan base normally, per se, for a team (only in function of a rider, like T-Mobile and Ullrich). So a scandal hurts a lot more. In spite of the fact that as athletes they are absolutely amazing. Fuentes backed off on the football question, or the host did, as it is a hugely hot subject. But he has said he has treated whole first division teams. That could mean, if he speaks more clearly, banning a huge bunch of players from an entire team, which would effectively kill it's real chances of staying up in top flight. The key doping case in Spain involved a Barcelona doctor who worked with Barça and with Dutch national team players. In a short period one of the de Boers, Guardiola and Fernando Couto were caught, some after leaving Barça. But that doctor, who fed his clients "vitamin complexes", was exposed without anything serious coming of it. All the players in question, coming off injuries, were found to have used drugs to speed and strengthen muscle development. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.