Industrialized Cyclist Notepad

On Tuesday, Fuentes openly admitted his client list included other sports beyond cycling, naming athletics, tennis, soccer and even boxing.

On Wednesday, Fuentes offered to name all of his clients, saying that he remembered every codename as well as indicating he had a ledger locked away in a safe back on the Canary Islands.

When attorneys representing WADA and CONI both pressed Fuentes for more names, the judge hit the brakes.

There was no anti-doping law on the books during the May 2006 raids and Spanish courts have refused to widen the legal net to anything beyond questions of endangering public health, which could result in minor fines, suspended jail terms and the suspension of medical licenses for Fuentes and his sister.

That interpretation has infuriated many who view the Puerto case as nothing more than a farce.

via VeloNews: Operacion Puerto judge restricting case to health issue.

But at least that cat’s out of the bag, which must make some people extremely uncomfortable: Doping exists in all high-level sports when it provides an advantage. Doping is the hallmark of industrialized sports, where the pursuit of big money and self-preservation of careers by those in the front office is placed far above any sort of integrity, and the health of individual athletes doesn’t even register as anything other than a business concern.

EDIT: Of course I understand that individual athletes choose (more or less) to use these substances for their own selfish reasons. But these athletes are just trying to make childhood dreams come true. And the athletes are the only individuals to suffer consequences from doping. The industry hiding behind them, the UCI officials, team coaches, owners, managers, and sponsors never seem to face any real consequences for the doping that they also profit upon (other than the occasional out of court settlement to a pissed off rider). The worst dopers are wearing suits, not lycra.