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Patrick Brady had a piece in the LA times yesterday regarding doping. He suggests offering an amesty for former pros to come clean. There has to be some way to allow the truth to come out and overcome this “code of silence” bullshit.
Anyone who believes that Riis didn’t use EPO on his way to winning the Tour de France also probably believes that the moon is edible and that large waterfowl deliver babies. But his regret-filled confession was a stunner — not the least because it came at a news conference, not under interrogation….
So cycling is at a crossroads. These initial admissions could finally turn the tide against the omerta — the sport’s code of silence. But Tour de France Director Christian Prudhomme has called for anyone who admits doping to be banned. Confessing in exchange for unemployment isn’t much of an incentive.
What cycling needs now is its own “truth and reconciliation commission” — a way for riders to confess in return for amnesty. This is the only way to uncover the full depth and range of drug use in the sport. As long as working professionals fear losing their jobs, concerns for home and family will trump truth. A system of punishment-free confession would give cycling’s governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale, an unprecedented opportunity to learn what doping occurred, the physicians involved and, hopefully, a way to prevent it in the future…
Will an amnesty work? It’s such a dirty word these days with the level of ridiculousness the debate over immigration laws has come to in this country. But I do think that allowing people to come forward and tell the truth has to be rewarded in some fashion.
Even if that reward is only allowing someone to keep their job.
Read the rest at latimes.com
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