L'Equipe and doping stories/allegations

So L'Equipe, one of the most highly newspapers in France, has a story out today saying that swimming legend Ian Thorpe tested positive for abnormal levels of testosterone and other hormones. They say Australia tossed out the results, but now FINA wants to reopen the case.

This is the same newspaper that came forward with the stuff about Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis. Here is my question: Does L'Equipe simply do a better job of covering the drug issue than anyone, or are you at all skeptical about this because of some of the Armstrong stuff seemed a little bogus? If L'Equipe published a story saying the Michael Phelps was under investigation for using steroids, or one of our track stars, would you be skeptical, or grateful that someone out there was working hard trying to uncover the truth about athletes?

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-swm-thorpe-doping-report,1,4001577.story?coll=sns-ap-sports-headlines

 

Can't it be both? L'Equipe certainly seems to cover steroids in minor sports* more aggressively than anyone else, and for that I'm grateful.

But at the same time, their Armstrong coverage was sketchy in the extreme. (And this is coming from someone who is absolutely convinced Armstrong HAD to be doping.)

So, if the Phelps story is true, it's a great scoop for L'Equipe and a story that should get wide circulation. If it's not true, L'Equipe will get another big black eye.

Seems fair and balanced to me.


* "Minor," that is, in the eyes of the average American sports fan.

 

Frog Pussies!!!

 

And yeah, after what's happened with Armstrong, anything from a French paper on doping needs to be viewed with a healthy amount of skepticism

 

Just to be clear, it's Thorpe who is under investigation, according to the paper, not Phelps. Thorpe retired earlier this year.

 

Once again, I'm an idiot. My apologies.

I don't give a rip about swimming, but I certainly hope Phelps is doing what he's doing on the up-and-up.

 

I wonder though if some of our skepticism, myself included, is simply because it's a foreign newspaper. I mean, isn't L'Equipe like The Sporting News of France? If The Sporting News (and just for argument's sake, let's say this is before the Sporting News' rep took a hit in recent years) came out with this story, would I be as skeptical? Probably not. But I admit, some of my hesitation is my feeling that L'Equipe was out to get Armstrong and Landis, and punish them for winning the Tour de France, when pretty much every single rider is probably doping. I suppose some of it is basic American jingoism on my part, but I admit when I see this kind of stuff, my first response is "Well, there goes L'Equipe again."

 

Admittedly, I am not well versed on L'Equipe. But I see them as the European sports version of Fox News -- reporting and investigating with an agenda.

They swung and missed with Armstrong, IMO, so I now hesitate to believe their new revelations.

 

A point that should be mentioned regarding L'Equipe. It is owned by the same organization, ASO, that owns the Tour de France and many other major European events. Its objectivity has always been in question, not to mention its methods.

 

When I read the AP version of the story, it never said that he tested positive -- only that Thorpe had abnormally high levels of two banned substances. Maybe that's splitting hairs, but there's a difference.

 

Having high levels isn't really splitting hairs. With a lot of drugs, there's no way to tell if the substance is actually in the body because of masking agents. I'm not sure about these specific substances, but a lot of the tests are based on exaggerated levels of certain hormones, and crap like that. L'Equipe certainly has agendas. That doesn't mean this story is part of one, but as we all have said, it doesn't help their credibility.