Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Well, the news from Floyd Landis' arbitration hearing is bad for everyone involved. Bad for USADA/WADA because there are all sorts of violations in the handling of the samples at the French lab who did the testing. But, to be honest, worse for Landis. I won't go into all the details because I think NBC Sports seems to be doing a pretty good job of this but basically former Tour winner Greg LeMond dropped a huge bombshell on the proceedings. It turns out that Greg was abused as a child and had revealed this to Floyd in a call Floyd had made to him shortly after the initial test results were revealed. Last night, LeMond received a phone call from someone identifying himself as LeMond's uncle who basically threatened to reveal LeMond's secret. When LeMond backtraced the number, it turns out it came from Landis' (now former) business manager. Bad day for the business manager and bad day for Floyd. Really bad day for Floyd.

First, I have to say that I commend LeMond for his courage. He could have run and hidden under a rock to keep his secret but instead he decided that he wouldn't be blackmailed. I haven't always liked Greg's comments and what to me sounds like the whining of a former champion seeing his glory fade but to me he stepped up and became something greater than a Tour champion. He became a champion for all those who have suffered from sexual abuse or exploitation as children. He became a shining example of what can be done if a person stands up and says that they won't live in silence and shame anymore. I imagine that it's been a bad 24 hours for LeMond but he alone has stood above the pettiness of all this. I don't know if he can step beyond this venue onto a larger stage but I hope he will offer hope to thousands (maybe millions) of those affected by sexual abuse.

Second, I'm not totally sure what to think about Floyd. I can't believe that he would have told something so personal to his business manager. One of the things revealed today were some pretty vindictive emails written by Floyd to a chat room threatening to expose things about LeMond. If this is what he meant, I have really just lost all respect for Floyd. Reading thte accounts of the hearing I've become more and more convinced that the lab screwed up and that Floyd's positive results are unreliable to say the least. I'm less incined to believe that there was malice involved here; just incompetence (at least initially on the part of the lab). However, with the revelations today about the people Landis has surrounded themselves with and with the way he has handled what LeMond has confided in him, I pretty sure I don't want to think of Floyd as a champion anymore. He may have won the competition but I won't view him as a champion. I know that there have been many athletes who have been not very nice people but to me (and probably only to me) this goes beyond being an ass or a jerk and moves into areas indicating a fundamental lack of character.

I think I'll stop now and see if any more information comes out about this before I go off on some kind of rant.

Bad day for cycling...

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