Former WADA chief Dick Pound compares Djokovic with Lance Armstrong
His name would make you think more about a former porn actor, but last week this man pointed out something that professional sportsmen/women and (above all, those hypocrites who know it well) namely, coaches, organizers, journalists, won't ever admit: there is no clean sport. I sense that there is no clean professional sportsman/woman either, and they just stick together on the ame denial.
That said, those who were caught, cyclists and athletes mainly, or Maria Sharapova more recently, didn't denounce any general doping in their respective sport, so that's a point that makes me doubt - unless omerta about some supposedly overall practice is the golden rule even in case of a positive test.
OK, if all of them were on dope, they would still the best in what they do, safe that coaches, organizers, journalists would be real bastards for making believe those who are caught are "cheaters". Well, fact is only very few tennis players get caught, quite a few cyclists and sprinters do, but those who don't are only smarter, IMO.
Of course I'm not smarter than anybody about that, it's just what I feel about it. And maybe Pound is right to compare Djokovic with Armstrong, I mean maybe there are more similitudes than just saying "as long as there is no proof that somebody is doping, the sport is clean"...
If doping is nothing new, it seems that products are more and more efficient, just as there's been more and more money at stake.
Damn, the Olympics are coming, and I can't remember how long ago I watched an athletics or cycling race without thinking of doping at every minute...
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2016/.../#.Vyjj1fmsWSo
Quote:
Former WADA chief warns Djokovic against taking “Lance Armstrong position” on doping
"That's a Lance Armstrong approach. 'I never tested positive therefore I am clean.' Wrong," Pound told STV. (AP)
Dick Pound, the former chief of the World Anti-Doping Agency, has criticized Novak Djokovic's comments about the amount of doping in the sport.
"That's a Lance Armstrong approach. 'I never tested positive therefore I am clean.' Wrong," Pound told STV.
"As long as there is no proof that somebody is doping, the sport is clean," Djokovic was quoted saying at the Laureus World Sport Awards, reacting to Andy Murray's statements that he has been suspicious of players on tour and wants tougher anti-doping efforts.
"I think it all comes down to anti-doping agencies, governing bodies—they need to come out with proof, if they don't it's only rumors," Djokovic also said.
Pound, known for his strident stance against doping and also for his controversial statements on its prevalence in sport, added that the reluctance of sporting bodies to catch offenders is also an issue.
"Let's assume it's double digits and let's be really charitable and say it is only 10 percent," he said. "Our level of positives is 2 percent. The science is pretty robust and the system is good for whatever it does. It's the people that don't want it to work."
Murray, meanwhile, said he planned to keep speaking up about his concerns, but has a good relationship with Djokovic. Boris Becker, Djokovic's coach, had also criticized Murray.
"I've spoken to Boris and Novak and we're all good," Murray said. "I'm practicing with Novak next week in Madrid.
"It's a topic that's always difficult for athletes to discuss these days but we have to try and do our best. All I want is to try and make sure tennis is as clean, a sport, as possible—it's very difficult to keep a sport that way these days.
