It seems that as far as doping labs go, they can never seem to get anything right. It was not too long ago that an 7 year old anonymous blood sample that had no control samples (since the control samples had been previously tested came back negative) seemingly proved Lance Armstrong was a doper. With even more relevance to the issue at hand, the case against Inigo Landaluze was dropped after his blood samples were mishandled.
The French laboratory that handled the test results may have allowed improper access to Landis’ urine samples, […] According to the report, two technicians who conducted the “A” sample on Landis were involved in tests on the second “B” sample, which is used to confirm the first test. International lab standards do not allow the same technicians to work on both tests to prevent them from attempting to validate their original findings.
So, whether Floyd Landis cheated at the Tour de France could become a moot point if the labs used the same technicians to test both of his urine samples. The problems with all of these mistakes happening are that they never stop; the same mistakes are repeated over and over again and there is no reform. How can the sport of cycling and the World Anti-Doping Agency ever be taken seriously if they can not even conduct legal drug tests?
I am sure that there are thousands of legal drug tests that are never reported on because everything goes smoothly and there is no need for there to be a big media frenzy. However, when dealing with somebody’s career and reputation, a certain level of professionalism and accuracy needs to be upheld. It does not seem like it would be very difficult for the labs to train their workers to know better than to be involved in the testing of both samples from the same person.
The protocols exist; they just need to be enforced. Seeing stories like this a few times per year is much too frequent. An occasional lapse would be understandable, but seeing things like this happen on a regular basis just makes me think that these organizations do not take their work seriously. Instead, it seems as if they want to hand pick whose repuations they destroy even if they can not legally and factually back up their claims.
(Source: ESPN.com)
Could not have put it better… Drug testing on the Tour is a joke.
As a Francophile, I love the Tour for its tradition and that it showcases France to the world for 3 weeks. Fie and ho, however, to the French press, who have been a part of the witch hunt to hang an American. And double fie and ho to the testing folks, shameful. Ugh.
Here’s a case where I’m almost wishing the American legal system could be applied – usually I think that lawyers and torts are pretty wasteful, but we’re talking here about a guy who’s had his livelyhood completely stripped away.
Is this lab in any way associated with the Tyler Hamilton case?
I think it is the same lab, yes. I haven’t really looked into it, though.
As for the legal system, my wife is in law school and I like to think that it works (if slowly).
I believe that there should be very tough sanctions on those who cheat, but I also believe that there needs to be protection for athletes unless there is some sort of definitive proof that they have cheated.