By Babatis Banda: Lance Armstrong has been formally stripped of the seven tour titles he won in his career. As far as the tour is concerned, the victories never happened, and Armstrong has no place in cycling history. The nightmare will not only end here for Armstrong, there will be painful financial consequences as the sponsors and organisers all line up to claim what is now being termed, ‘ill-gotten rewards’. This could add up to tens of millions of dollars.
This is cycling, and not a dangerous sport. Now consider boxing, the sport that is so dangerous that even after the men and women that grace the squared ring have long left the sport, they could suffer life threatening conditions due to the violent nature of the sport. Worse, boxers have died fighting, blood has been shed and bones broken and yet, there has not been any real effort to protect these men and women from their opponents and indeed, themselves.
Armstrong and colleagues tested hundreds of times and were never caught. The doping agency has issued a statement and an apology that they could not catch these cheaters in the so many tests they conducted. Armstrong himself has denied vehemently, ever cheating. It is not difficult to understand why there would be so much resistance to the truth, the consequences are just too severe. Financial claims and litigation by interested parties would and will be so devastating that it is nothing less than a tragedy. It is everything beyond embarrassment.
As far as boxing is concerned, the authorities are so corrupt, that they have decided to put a blind eye to the ugly doping problems in boxing today, even with clear and recent cases being exposed. While it is good for politics to be negative about real positive issues that impact on the sport, simply because people have motives and interests to protect, God will never be kind to such people.
Boxing can still learn lessons while it still can, this is not a sport of kicking a ball, bating a ball, running or jumping. This is a sport of flesh and blood.
Comments are closed.