Anti-doping: it is time for athletes to understand that the public prefers honesty to achievement ... and ideally both!
Following Lance Armstrong's loss of his 7 titles, Cadel Evans (2011 winner) last week made an impassioned plea to the public and sponsors to "not despair of cycling", explaining that his sport has changed, that now "intensive training, meticulous preparation of the equipment and natural talent make it possible to win the big prestigious races". We, the simple spectators, just want to believe in it, so go for it, Mr Evans, commit yourself, and you too say #IloveSportIamClean!
It is extremely simple to eradicate doping, it is enough that the athletes do not dop! This may sound simple, even simplistic and naive, but it is not the spectators who are doping. So, in order for the public not to despair of the athletes, do not exhort, say no to doping to say yes to sport. This is the #IloveSportIamClean challenge. How many can take it?
Of course, it is difficult to say no. There are many accounts of the pressure some people felt to oppose the "system". Others were able to explain that it was "without their knowing it", a formula that has remained famous. Today, it is the public that urges and even challenges sportsmen and women: get involved! Go into rebellion, turn the tables, the public will be with you.
And please, let us also stop explaining in the media and among experts that the public, expecting more and more performance, would be disappointed and, above all, because this is the main thing, would flee the audience. These explanations are often heard as justifications. The public expects honesty, sincerity and exemplarity in sport, as elsewhere, particularly with regard to young people, who would like to be taught these - famous - "values of sport". What counts is the story, the surpassing of oneself, the beautiful gesture, the collective. A few years ago, swimming suits made the world records explode. Without suits, without records, were the spectacle and the emotion absent in the London pool of the last Olympic Games? Sportsmen and women, especially those at the highest level, have responsibilities, first of all towards themselves, because the first people they lie to when they dope are themselves. Who can believe they are good at maths with cheat sheets?
As for the explanation that "it's the system", that "others do it well", this is simply cowardice and depressing fatalism. This argument is a consenting adult's argument, it doesn't hold up for two seconds with a child.
Then of course there is the money, the devil of all our ills, which would impose doping in the race for the podiums. Here too, brands would do well to be wary, as the risk to their reputation can, today as never before, do a lot of damage. The mistake would be to continue to believe that there is more to be gained by breaking the rules than by respecting them. It is time for some people to be inspired and to position themselves as anti-doping sponsors. Moreover, it starts with commitment: when a sportsman and a sponsor make a commitment, they do so to each other, but also to the public, to their "fans". You don't lie to your friends, you don't lie to your fans. So why not sign? Olympic athletes have their oath, some professions have theirs. So why shouldn't there be a formal act of commitment for professional athletes when they sign their contracts with the brands, clubs or federations that employ them? Is it so difficult to commit not to doping? Of course, this will not solve everything, but it is the contractual basis of the professional sportsman's code of ethics! And it is a reciprocal commitment, not to dope, and not to encourage doping either, neither physically nor psychologically. Let's bet that the vast majority of people like sport, authentic, healthy and natural sport, the only sport that counts. Invitations have been sent out on twitter: Minister Valérie Fourneyron, Monsieur Prudhomme, Oscar Pereiro, Carlos Sastre, Frank and Andy Schleck, Mark Cavendish, Cadel Evans, Alberto Contador, the UCI, the French Cycling Federation, .... check your twitter inboxes, you have a message, we are waiting for a response.
Affirming one's values also means obliging oneself to live them.
All sports and competitions are concerned. Support #IloveSportIamClean
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