The world was stunned when Lance Armstrong was stripped of multiple Tour de France titles for drug use. Now the spotlight has turned on Stuart O'Grady, multiple Olympic medallist and Tour de France stage winner. O'Grady wore the famed " Yellow Jersey " for three days - and now admits that he used the illegal drug EPO to enhance his performance.
O'Grady retired as a cycling participant, probably in anticipation of an event that is now coming back to haunt sportsmen and women of all competitive codes. The specimens of blood and urine collected at doping tests are kept in perpetuity - and are being retested years after the event with new detection methods that were not even dreamed of at the time those specimens were first collected.
Legally, an eight year statute of limitations applies, but once those tests reveal guilt, there is nothing to stop the news flashing across the sporting world and that brings into moral question that persons right to claim fame and fortune arising from their sporting performance.
Fame is an aphrodisiac. The urge to be " number one " is relentless and few can resist the pressure to use any method available to reach that pinnacle - and the rich monetary rewards that fame and sponsorship lavish on a winner in most popular sports.
The question people are starting to ask is - " Just what is the real purpose of dope testing ? "
The sport administrators claim that it is needed to ensure fair competition, but drug use is so widespread that some people think that any drug free competitor must be a rarity these days. Perhaps the time has arrived to step back and allow sports people to develop their bodies in any way science can devise.
Most would agree that we need to draw a line to establish a reasonable time frame to put the issue of drug testing to bed. If eight years is the legal statute of limitations, perhaps all blood and urine samples should be destroyed and no further testing conducted after that period.
We are locked in a battle that will be never ending. Science will continue to develop performance enhancing drugs that are impossible to detect with current testing, but other scientists will develop better testing that will come into play years down the track. Such is the nature of science.
We seem to be on an endless treadmill. Only a savvy limit on the time frame will end the damage being done go all sporting codes !
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