After Bode Miller told 60 Minutes that he often drank the night before ski races, and that he’d even raced while still drunk, he was raked over the coals and forced to grovel and apologize. Now we learn that Tour de France winner Floyd Landis (here’s a recent posting on the subject), who tested high for testosterone after his miraculous comeback stage, drank pretty heavily the night before that stage — “two beers and at least four shots of whiskey,” according to the Wall Street Journal. But instead of being disgraced, Landis may find that his drinking was his salvation: “According to several studies,” Sam Walker wrote in the WSJ, “alcohol consumption can increase the ratio between testosterone and epitestosterone, which occur naturally in the body. Mr. Landis failed the test because it showed an elevated ratio between the two.”
How is Floyd Landis the Opposite of Bode Miller?
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I don’t believe this is a fair comparison. Here’s more from the same article:
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According to Mr. Landis, the drink weren’t part of his usual training. “I don’t ordinarily ever drink alcohol during a race,” he said yesterday. But earlier that day during Stage 16, Mr. Landis had faded in the Alps, surrendering the leader’s yellow jersey and falling more than eight minutes off the lead. Afterwards, he was all but convinced that the race was over for him. “What would you have done?” he asked. “Until yesterday, that was the worst day of my life.”
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If anything, this is the complete opposite to Bode Miller. It makes me wonder if you even read the entire article.
I don’t believe this is a fair comparison. Here’s more from the same article:
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According to Mr. Landis, the drink weren’t part of his usual training. “I don’t ordinarily ever drink alcohol during a race,” he said yesterday. But earlier that day during Stage 16, Mr. Landis had faded in the Alps, surrendering the leader’s yellow jersey and falling more than eight minutes off the lead. Afterwards, he was all but convinced that the race was over for him. “What would you have done?” he asked. “Until yesterday, that was the worst day of my life.”
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If anything, this is the complete opposite to Bode Miller. It makes me wonder if you even read the entire article.
I’m inclined to give Landis the benefit of the doubt for the simple reason that he may not have had any reason to use steroids. Their benefits (so to speak) are found mainly with sports activities requiring explosive strength, not endurance events such as distance cycling. While that’s not to say that steroids won’t help an endurance athlete, the likely benefits to his performance probably wouldn’t be worth the risk of getting caught – especially when, as in the TdF, there is regular drug testing.
I’m inclined to give Landis the benefit of the doubt for the simple reason that he may not have had any reason to use steroids. Their benefits (so to speak) are found mainly with sports activities requiring explosive strength, not endurance events such as distance cycling. While that’s not to say that steroids won’t help an endurance athlete, the likely benefits to his performance probably wouldn’t be worth the risk of getting caught – especially when, as in the TdF, there is regular drug testing.
It is funny to me that the first commenter says that Bode Miller is more the opposite of Floyd Landis, and seems to think he’s disagreeing with an entry titled “How is Floyd Landis the Opposite of Bode Miller?”–and then says s/he doesn’t think you read the article.
It is funny to me that the first commenter says that Bode Miller is more the opposite of Floyd Landis, and seems to think he’s disagreeing with an entry titled “How is Floyd Landis the Opposite of Bode Miller?”–and then says s/he doesn’t think you read the article.
Bode Miller was a willing participant in pre-Olympics hype about all the medals he was going to win — wasn’t he on the cover of Time and other magazines, which means he posed for many photo shoots. And then he didn’t perform well, and partied a lot. If you are going to talk the talk, you need to walk the walk.
Landis has a reputation as a modest guy. He wanted to do well, maybe win, the TdF, but wasn’t boastful. [Still, as the leader of a sponsored sports team, you are expected to do PR for the team and nobody is without ego.] After a discouraging day, he sought temporary solace in the bottle. This isn’t a good thing, but frankly it’s something many of us can relate to, even if we haven’t done it. We have the binge, and we move on.
I hope the alcohol binge turns out to be the explanation, although I may be just being sentimental and holding out false hope. Even if he’s cleared, it may be like Vaughters says:
“Jonathan Vaughters, ex-pro, CEO of Slipsteam Sports and manager of the TIAA-CREF, to VeloNews
‘I believe Floyd is innocent. The majority of T/E tests are over-turned at the CAS level. The guy will probably be proven innocent in eight months time, but in the short-term, the media is killing him. Floyd is basically paying for the sins of all the morons who came before him, who have denied, denied, denied. He’s going to take the fall for everyone who has cried wolf before him. He’s going to be the guy who gets his head cut off and that’s a real tragedy.’ ”
http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/10595.0.html
(The CAS is the appeal level; I think it’s the “Commission for Arbitration of Sports” or something like that.)
Bode Miller was a willing participant in pre-Olympics hype about all the medals he was going to win — wasn’t he on the cover of Time and other magazines, which means he posed for many photo shoots. And then he didn’t perform well, and partied a lot. If you are going to talk the talk, you need to walk the walk.
Landis has a reputation as a modest guy. He wanted to do well, maybe win, the TdF, but wasn’t boastful. [Still, as the leader of a sponsored sports team, you are expected to do PR for the team and nobody is without ego.] After a discouraging day, he sought temporary solace in the bottle. This isn’t a good thing, but frankly it’s something many of us can relate to, even if we haven’t done it. We have the binge, and we move on.
I hope the alcohol binge turns out to be the explanation, although I may be just being sentimental and holding out false hope. Even if he’s cleared, it may be like Vaughters says:
“Jonathan Vaughters, ex-pro, CEO of Slipsteam Sports and manager of the TIAA-CREF, to VeloNews
‘I believe Floyd is innocent. The majority of T/E tests are over-turned at the CAS level. The guy will probably be proven innocent in eight months time, but in the short-term, the media is killing him. Floyd is basically paying for the sins of all the morons who came before him, who have denied, denied, denied. He’s going to take the fall for everyone who has cried wolf before him. He’s going to be the guy who gets his head cut off and that’s a real tragedy.’ ”
http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/10595.0.html
(The CAS is the appeal level; I think it’s the “Commission for Arbitration of Sports” or something like that.)