Whether or not you caught tonight's episode of 60 Minutes, if you're a sports fan you've likely heard of American professional cyclist Tyler Hamilton's admission that he used performance enhancing drugs while competing both internationally as a member of the United States national team and as a rider for various teams.
During tonight's episode, which features the aforementioned admissions which were leaked earlier last week, Hamilton not only admits his faults, but also points the finger at one of the most influential athletes of this generation; Lance Armstrong.
Lance's 7 Tour De France victories are as great of an accomplishment as was his fight with cancer and the millions of people worldwide inspired by his battle, and subsequently the 'Livestrong' campaign responsible for the widespread popularity of yellow armbands.
Hamilton and Armstrong were teammates for the United States Postal team during Armstrong's victories in 1999, 2000 and 2001. He claims that he witnessed Armstrong using EPO, a controversial and popular enhancement drug used by cyclists.
While many would consider Hamilton's admissions to be a testament of his integrity, I question the purpose of pointing the finger at Armstrong, a man whose struggle transcended the very sport he competed in, a sport ripe with positive drug tests and even more allegations, a sport whose profile grew exponentially in the U.S. because of his conquests and a man whose suffering motivated countless of people worldwide to fight the symptoms of cancer and overcome whatever obstacles may present themselves as a result of the illness.
I commend Hamilton for returning the Gold Medal he won at the 2004 Olympics, but the initial test was found to have traces, and were it not for the fact the second test sample was accidentally frozen, he would have lost his medals then, 7 years before tonight's admission of guilt.
Acclaimed author and Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom (Tuesdays With Morrie), echoes many of the sentiments I've expressed above with this short clip courtesy of ESPN. A man so well versed in humanizing professional sports once again conveys the importance of turning a blind eye to certain violations for the greater good.
Last week, another former teammate of Armstrong's and fellow professional American rider George Hincapie came-out and announced that he too had seen Lance inject himself with something thought to have been EPO. As in with the Hamilton case, though Hincapie's statement is not a self-serving as the brash Hamilton's, it brings to mind the same question.
Even if Lance Armstrong had taken drugs like many of the world's greatest riders, including my favourite Ivan Basso from CSC, who was suspended for his usage, does his accomplishments both on and off the roads perform a greater good than that of any other athlete of our time.
More so, the prevalence of performance enhancing drugs in cycling should come as little surprise to those that follow the sport like yours truly. A grueling and debilitating exhibition that often requires consecutive day's worth of 200km+ rides through mountainous terrain, dangerously breaching the limits of physical constraints and VO2 Max. Because of such conditions, riders and their coaches and managers are in a constant search of new means of improving their performances. Blood doping sounds like a terrible procedure, but really it's only allowing the riders blood to become more oxygenated, thus improving stamina, and as a result, performance.
It can be considered a double standard of sorts to fault one person, yet not another, but is it that wrong to turn a blind eye when the accused has been both an idol and a role model to countless people and the face of American cycling?
Perhaps so more reasoning on the parts of Mr. Hincapie and Hamilton would have been more beneficial than the lack of foresight they displayed with their admissions and allegations.
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