WADA do about ... Corrections!

Hi ZENguys, and ZENdears,

Some astute readers have commented on my last post of late August, and I want to correct the record as much as possible.

Thus, comments included that I didn't have anyone on the UCI on my list: I didn't, this is true, but I don't feel that the UCI per se, is to blame for anyone's problems as of this point.

Head of the USADA, is Travis Tygart, not TAGGART (my apologies, Travis: But that error kept me off your radar screen until this comes through - heh heh)

The Equipe, master of the universe as to leaked cycling information, did not exactly do so as is their usual nefarious modus-operandi: in the Floyd Landis case, news was released from the UCI (perhaps because they knew that the Equipe would do its naughty work in a matter of short hours?)...

Pierre Bordry, is either past president of the LNDD, or current president of the LNDD, or past Minister of Sport and Youth... the French government wouldn't want you to be clear on this, and I will try and determine which is paying him his overly-generous salary, sooner or (yawn....) later!

There are some FONT size problems: I try to fix them but there are risks to reopening and re-editing these posts: basta!

Thanks for your input, to my friends that read these...

Courage, mes amis, amies!

........................................................ ZENmud

WADA do about THE BIG PICTURE...

[Dear ZENers, this column has been CORRECTED and REVISED, with those actions shown in yellow text Sept. 7 2007]

Dick Pound, Floyd Landis, Patrice Clerc (nom?), Lance Armstrong, Jacques de Ceaurriz, Pierre Bordry, Emile Vrijman, Christian Prudhomme, Travis Tygart...

What do these nine names have in common?

They comprise three Americans, one Canadian, a Dutchman and four French... Two Tour de France victors, six blatantly biased detractors, and one objective investigator...

President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA: Pound); Winner of the 2006 Tour de France (Landis), President of Amaury Sport Organisation (Clerc), Seven-time Winner of the Tour de France (Armstrong), Directeur of the former Laboratoire nationale du dépistage du dopage (LNDD: de Ceaurriz – LNDD was recently 'Phoenix-ed' into the “Département des analyses”, under the French Anti-doping agency: AFLD), former Minister of the French Ministry for Youth and Sport (Bordry: scroll to EN translation of a FR press release from AFLD), former Director of the Netherlands Centre for Doping Affairs (Vrijman: download the PDF report), Directeur of the Tour de France (Prudhomme), General Counsel for the United States Anti-doping Agency (USADA: Taggart)...

Is it possible that they are a mixed salade: of manipulators, profiteers, victims and a white Knight, all due to the current RAGE against doping in cycling?

A righteous rage gone haywire, an ignoble pursuit of a noble goal, that is currently displaying the dark underbelly of the Anti-doping movement. Unarguably, the cleansing of cycling is overdue: cycling is one of the oldest sports of the modern era, a sport which, all admit, has experienced a long, historic system of doping, through seven generations.

The summer of 2007 fades: it is three months now, since Floyd Landis faced the modern equivalent of a medieval Inquisition against witches and heretics... his hearing for an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) 'found' by the French LNDD, pursuant to its tests (in its Châtenay-Malabry labs, a Parisian suburb) on participants of the Tour de France.

Floyd faced this armada of legal talent as David faced Goliath, armed with scientific data and legal analysis, paid for by thousands of believers who have chosen to fund his legal fight for legitimacy towards his victory of 2006.

This hearing was to be a slam-dunk against Landis, in the words of USADA attorney Richard Young, because of their evidence: "The science is solid."

What appeared to have actually happened, could perhaps be better described as a 'farcical comedy', 'charade' or 'fraudulent', perhaps, concerning the Prosecution's case.

Entering a world of anti-doping CODES, evidence and Standards for laboratories, 'aliquots', urinalysis, and the several hundreds of thousands of Euros in testing apparatus, the Prosecution was victim of itself, victim of a legal 'Rope-a-dope'. Only the Landis defense itself was able to do, what the Prosecution claimed they would: offer testimony of cold, hard science that was turned inside out, as the Defense showed time and again that the Châtenay-Malabry lab had failed in its duties to uphold worldwide scientific standards, of competence and confidentiality.

Past readers perhaps can recall this writer's angle on the affair, however it bears to be updated here: that there is a disbelief in certain circles of France, and elsewhere of course, that America could produce, in the talents of Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis, eight consecutive victories in the Tour de France – without recourse to 'le Dopage'. These outstanding results by Landis and Armstrong relegated two national French heros, Jacques Anquetil, and Bernard Hinault, to glorified runners-up as five-time winners of the Tour de France (At least one of whom had admitted in his lifetime to ingesting 'assistance' of a chemical nature).

In the case of Lance Armstrong, the LNDD facility produced a dubious report, citing his alleged 1999 EPO use, concerning his remaining 'B Sample' urine specimens remaining from the 1999 TdF. 'Dubious', in that the testing that was achieved was 'novel', done under the guise of 'research', the use of which (for doping-control purposes) was illegal according to WADA rules and preceding IOC rules (WADA itself became an official entity in 2003: it had no jurisdiction over the 1999 samples that remained in LNDD custody), and of the bright-line separation of 'research testing' from 'doping control testing'.

In subsequent press articles, Dick Pound supported 'his' laboratory, the LNDD (Pound is far from being the most neutral mouth on the planet, as would befit the stature of his post as WADA President, and this Organization that he strove to legitimatize), and argued privately and publicly that the Union Cycliste International (UCI) should take action in light of this incriminating evidence against Armstrong.

Emile Vrijman, noted Netherlands sports law attorney and former Dutch Anti-Doping Agency Director, was mandated by the UCI to draft and produce an independent review of this 'case'.

The LNDD, and the French Ministry which controls LNDD, were never 'transparent' or accommodating, as to requests by Vrijman for documents and data concerning the 2004-2005 testing of the 1999 B Samples they retained. De Ceaurriz and Bordry, in harmonized language, denoted the impossibility of cooperation with an 'independent investigation' (Ie: not supported by a French Court's legal order to comply).

(see Vrijman report, pp. 50 (!), as well as 16, 20-22, 37, 47, 121, 126, 128)

It is not beyond objective suspicion, after publication of Vrijman's UCI-mandated report, or the timing of its release in May, 2006, to link the subsequent backlash by WADA President Dick Pound, due to its overly-negative contents, with certain following events affecting Landis and the TdF.

In apparent eagerness to avenge the Vrijman report, could cycling's heavyweights and the Gods of Anti-doping take barely conceivable steps, of which even the most lax observer could barely believe any of the actual evidence originating from what has become 'L'Affaire Landis'?

Jumping ahead, we pass over the Stage 17 victory by Landis, his epic solo breakaway, a majestic tour of assorted Haute-Savoie cols that ended in Morzine (where this author stood applauding, less than one hundred meters from the finish line).

Remember: Floyd was tested EIGHT times in the Tour, and seven of his A Samples were returned negative (four times prior to Stage 17, and three times afterwards).

We fast-forward past the critical urine test of his Stage 17 A Sample, that resulted in his positive AAF. Unlike other, typically suspicious announcements of TdF testing results being leaked by the French sporting newspaper L'Equipe, Landis' A Sample test result was announced publicly by the UCI, presumably in anticipation of publication in l'Equipe, of information that should have remained confidential until the confirming B Sample examinations had occurred.

Nevertheless, Floyd's test result was announced: apparently revealing an abnormally low level of epitestosterone, which skewed his T/E ratio (Testosterone/Epitestosterone) to 11:1, far beyond WADA's allowable 4:1 ratio.

The witch hunt began... and L'Equipe sold quite a few papers in those slow-sports-news days of August. Oh: you do know, of course, that the company run by Monsieur Clerc. ASO, owns both the Tour de France AND the Equipe journal? Interestingly for past readers, M. Clerc is a past French Tennis champion, and also former Director of the tennis club-stadium Roland-Garros, which was referred to in this column regarding the ITF's dispatch of tournament drug samples to Montreal's anti-doping facility. Read it here...

Hmmmm...

According to Floyd, he was contacted in August or September, 2006, by staff of the USADA, and offered the following 'option'. In return for a simple one-month suspension, atypically far shorter than the WADA CODE-proscribed two-year suspension for a first-time doping offense, Floyd would 'simply' have to help USADA, by turning in former teammate Lance Armstrong for his supposed doping practices, presumably while they were teammates at the formidable US Postal team during his historic streak of TdF victories.

Something in there, smacks of premeditation.

Something in there, tears asunder the threads of logic...

Could a laboratory in France, under its Ministry of Youth and Sport, which had been legally reamed by the Vrijman report only a month or two before the commencement of this 2006 TdF, seek revenge against Lance Armstrong through the person, the reputation, of one Floyd Landis?

The mind boggles... if true.

A simple recap:

1999 – 2005:
Lance wins seven consecutive Tours de France.

NB: Which relegated the five-time winners: two French, one Belgian, and one Spaniard to the new second-place tier...

2004-2005:
LNDD performs 'research' on samples from the 1999 TdF, for EPO, samples that then were five years old.

NB: previously, in 2000, LNDD published the results of similar research it had performed, on retained B Samples from the 1998 TdF. Those results were published in the scientific journal 'NATURE' in June, 2000: no athletes were known to have complained (where 28 of 102 tested anonymous B Samples showed evidence of r-EPO presence of over 0 – 3.7 IU per liter). It remains disturbingly unclear why LNDD did not choose to have its second analysis of the 1999 B Samples also published in NATURE or another scholarly journal: unless this 'research' was not scientifically sound.

23 August, 2005:
French journal l'Equipe published its scathing article entitled (FR) 'Le Mensonge d'Armstrong' (“Armstrong's Lie”), spun out of LNDD and French Ministry information, and pinpointing Lance Armstrong, and no other rider, as being one of six 'authors' of positively-tested 1999 TdF samples.

NB: Which instantly generated a thunderbolt of negative press against Lance, his teammates and his sponsors, one month after his glorious moment in Paris, on the Champes Elysées.

NB TWO: This article is no longer traceable by title on the 'l'EQUIPE website (Title above), but you can read about it here, in FR. Mostly listing reactions to the shock, of their scandalous false "testing".

Autumn, 2005 to Spring 2006:
Based on LNDD 'research' and the incriminations in the disparaging article published by l'Equipe, WADA adamantly suggested that the UCI initiate investigations as to the feasibility of disciplinary hearings against Lance Armstrong. WADA did so, knowing well that its suggestions were reproachable, per its own regulations.

UCI contravened, however, and announced its 'independent investigation' under the mandate issued to Emile Vrijman, attorney from the Hague, and former Director of the Dutch Anti-doping Agency.

WADA, LNDD and the French Ministry, who'd thus promoted 'convicting' Lance through the press (l'Equipe), in the intervening months began to withhold cooperation from the UCI-mandated report.

(Entities acting in concert, both together and independently, to trumpet the (Illegal) use of 'research results': See Vrijman, pp. 18, 26, 43, 55, 75, 94, 96, 101, 122, 128, 129)

May – June 2006:
The Vrijman report was published several weeks before the 2006 TdF;
Dick Pound reacted quite strongly in the press.

July 2006:
Floyd wins the TdF this one and only time, following a massive 'bonk' or loss of energy in Stage 16, and a gloriously historic, spectacular solo breakaway in Stage 17, along with a fantastic final Time Trial finish that sealed his lead, and gave him his victory over runner-up Oscar Pereiro.

(TdF trivia: no 'Grand Champion', between Armstrong, Indurain, Hinault, Merckx, Anquetil, EVER won a TdF in a year ending in xxx6)

Late July – early August 2006:
Floyd is pronounced as Positive for an excessive testosterone/epitestosterone ratio, from the Stage 17 A Sample test, a blow which subsequently forced his team, PHONAK (Swiss manufacturer of hearing aids), to withdraw from the cycling-sponsorship business.

September 2006:
Floyd alleged that he was approached by USADA staff, who offered him a 'sweetheart' deal if he turned informant against Lance Armstrong; according to Floyd he emphatically dismissed the idea of squealing.

Fall of 2006 – to Spring of 2007:
Floyd prepared for and submitted, in May 2007, his arguments and evidence before a panel of Arbitrators belonging to the American Arbitration Association, while facing USADA 'evidence' and hearsay testimony by Greg Lemond, also a three-time winner of the Tour de France.

Summer 2007:
Floyd and his supporters, WADA, the AFLD and USADA await a timely, reasoned written decision by the Arbitration Panelists. Once announced as coming out prior to the 2007 TdF, this article is publishing in the last week of August.

+ + + + + +

LNDD, the same lab that failed to conduct proper research, as required under the Declaration of Helsinki and the WADA ISL and IST documents, nevertheless used those results to damn Lance Armstrong in the court of public opinion.

LNDD, which declined to assist in the Vrijman investigation as to how those results became known to the reporter from l'Equipe, is the 'player' that provided the only positive test result against Floyd Landis in his long career, a positive result that, by the testimony of experts in the Arbitration Hearing, had exceptionally disregarded most of the scientific and investigative norms found in the WADA CODE and International Standard for Laboratories.

Is this evidence of a massive State machination, by elements under the Chirac government, to cut down – to surgically remove – from the glorious, illustrious annals of the Tour de France, the greatest living racer of all time (Armstrong)?

Is this evidence of intergovernmental and inter-Agency collusion, feeding on the blind ambitions of prosecuting attorneys and specious public servants? They who, at any cost, and damn the rules and regulations that control such efforts, lusted to create scandal and seed more doubt, in hopes of bringing down these two Americans victors, Lance and Floyd?

Were their hopes restricted to restoring the mythic 'Five Victories' threshold that stood so many years?

Or, conversely, maybe perversely, is this case merely a publicity stunt? A stunt that simultaneously increases awareness and thus financial support for the Anti-doping entities that are growing fat on increasingly available public money, and demeans the efforts of the UCI Federation, through serial victimization of presumptively-innocent, distinguished World Class Cyclists?

Should an Athlete like Floyd Landis, who had to raise legal funds exceeding $2 million to fight a case against a lab result generated by a facility with a litany of seriously egregious errors, be entitled to recuperate those funds in the case where the decision falls towards his innocence of these charges, through laboratory, government or ADO malfeasance?

Questions unanswered, as of yet...

And furthermore, even more incomprehensively, is this:

If in fact Floyd's Positive AAF is reversed by the AAA Arbitrators' decision, he could be forced to face appeals, by virtue of the WADA CODE, that could or would be lodged not only by the prosecuting Agency USADA, but also from:

b– the French AFLD (if WADA CODE Article 13.2.3, which states “...and any other Anti-Doping Organization under whose rules a sanction could have been imposed;...” is the basis under which AFLD has repetitively announced that it awaits the decision of the USADA arbitration before commencing actions against Floyd on its own),

c– the UCI (doubtfully would they enter the case), and

d– WADA.

Is that clear? Here's an imperfect analogy: if your brother is found 'not guilty' in Minnesota for stealing a car, this WADA CODE provision might allow Wisconsin, Manitoba or Mexico to appeal the case to the Swiss Tribune Federal!

WADA, aka Pound, is dripping with vitriol against Armstrong and Landis: what portion of WADA's annual budget would be subverted into chasing the appeal against Landis?

AFLD, as mentioned, remains bloodthirsty for Landis, and has merely 'extended a courtesy' to its American counterpart – USADA – by delaying their own 'prosecution' until the American Arbitration decision: this potentially allows them a supra-legal status: as initiator of a 'double-jeopardy' attack against Floyd, a potential 'Appellant' in the USADA v Landis case, and as potential 'Appellant' in the potential AFLD v Landis case...

Heavy stuff...

This reeks, with the bile of disgust rising in the throats of above-average sporting-litigation observers.

We wait, pensively...

We don't understand the longevity of deliberations that continue to foster tensions, towards an announcement of this decision, now perhaps the equivalent of a seismic event of 9.9 on the open-ended Richter scale...

Changes, chances...

This fall will bring to a motley end, the First Dominion of WADA, as Dick Pound abandons the scepter of power (and benefits: unlimited First Class Travel to EVERY World Class global sporting event, anti-doping seminars, etc., which more than make up for his 'selfless' choice to draw a salary of 1 Canadian dollar/year). Pound leaves the helm of a ship that is decidedly adrift, and losing the moral support of Athletes.

Scheduled this fall are important redrafting sessions for the WADA CODE, to be held in mid-November, in Madrid, Spain. You can download a REDLINE v2 of the revisions document here.

This session will theoretically address the apparent shortcomings of these Inter-Agency documents, hastily implemented in 2003 and 2004, which have created certain innocent victims, while providing initial steps to global harmonization, an as-yet unattained goal. It would be interesting to ascertain how WADA will seek to reduce the Conflicts-of-Interest created as the WADA CODE superseded the IOC Medical Code, and began funneling 'research funds' to the 34 accredited laboratories.

As Dick Pound leaves WADA in November, a bit sullied, rumours abound that Monsieur Lamour, former French Minister of Sport, will 'win election' to replace him.

Dick... Who had himself hoped that, despite his fury, his belligerence, his bellicosity, and his disregard for his WADA CODE, that his stature would make him a natural, victorious candidate for the Presidency of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS/TAS). The news from CAS/TAS this summer, however, was for continuation of the appointment of its Interim President, apparently squashing the hopes of Mr. Pound to continuously inflict the world of Sport with his personal 'duty' to create injustice.

Egos? On the line; every day, everywhere, in each press report...

Winners? Displays of the finest and worst definitions of 'winning'...

Losers? Will we ever really know who actually loses, from the Floyd Landis case outcome?

Consequence(s)????

........................................................ ZENmud

Floyding Frenzy: Vail and the French TWIST...

Je vous écris, un peu fâché par la photo vous avez publié, d'une
supporter Américaine de Floyd Landis en Colorado, montrant
son amertume contre 'les Français'.

[veuillez m'excuser car mon français est d'origine 'Cowboy'!]

Je suis persuadé que votre fétiche, que vous partagez bien-sûr avec
tous les journaux francophones contre Floyd Landis, est aussi
malsain que le dopage dans le sport. Je ferais référence au journal
Parisien l'Equipe.

J'aimerais vous faire noter deux choses le concernant.

Le premier, c'est que aucune journal français, ou francophone, n'est
jamais s’interrogé, ni enquêté, à propos le soi-disant compétence
de ce LNDD (laboratoire national du dépistage du dopage), et ses
multiples incompétences professionnelles. Les preuves, pour moi,
sont dans ces faits mise au point par la 'litige' de Floyd sous les
couleurs de l'USADA, autant que ce labo français est dorénavant
“le département des analyses” : comme par changer son nom
c'est égal à une blanchissement de son réputation indélicate.

Rappelez-vous bien pour vos lecteurs et lectrices que les fuites
d'un labo sont formellement interdite par les textes du Code de
l'AMA (Agence mondiale de l'anti-dopage). Là, le LNDD n'est
jamais réçu quoi qu'il en soit, en forme d'avertissement par l'AMA.

Le dégâts de votre passion aveuglée d'être un perroquet qui cri
'scandale' en suivant le tactique de votre consœur l'Equipe me
laisse très froid. Si Floyd est coupable ou pas, ce n'est pas par
les analyses des techniciens et techniciennes mal formé(e)s de
ce labo malreputé qu'on en saura.

Le deuxième, c'est que personnellement, j'avais vécu en ce beau
village de Vail, dans les montagnes Rocheuses du Colorado, où en
1987 j'était très fier d'être engagée dans l'hôtel qu'a accueilli
pendant deux nuits l'équipe 'Celestial Seasonings', avec Greg
Lemond, Bernard Hinault, Andy Hampsten (qui tient toujours
le record pour ce course!) 'Jeff' Bernard et Steve Bauer, parmi
d'autres.

C'était sur ma recommandation personnel, qu'ils ont tous diné dans le
restaurant de notre hôtel, qu'ils ont choisissaient ma plat préféré, et ils
ont bien monté le même parcours (petit différence du départ), avec des
résultats extraordinaires.

Donc je voudrais bien que vous me comptez parmi 'ces fans que Floyd
mérite'. Il les a retenu car le preuve n'y sont pas, grâce au labo nationale
de la foutaise.

Ce lettre peut être trouvé prochainement sur mon blog.

Merci d'avoir lu,

ç*””*”*”*ç*””* ZENmud *””*ç*”*”*””*ç

WADA done with Dick Pound

Friends of the Floyd-family, welcome again...

I came across some articles today, that indicate that Dick Pound, notorious anti-anti-doping regulator, buffoon on five continents, has seen his 'spreading wings' clipped discretely, and honorably (we would hope), as he ventured to wage a mass-media campaign for the ONLY seat in the world of competitive sports that he has proven himself incompetent to attain...

Wha???

You remember ZENmud's column of March 22, 2007, of course (he wishes)?

Pound's new CRUSADE against justice in SPORT

In which your Humble Narrator and Sage decried the loss of neutrality to that fine institution?

Well, that fine institution has been observing the coming storm, and has taken sufficient steps to prevent a debacle from landing from Montreal, via his first-class-ALWAYS seat on any airline.

Pound, whose rants rave constantly across Blogs, fora and better newspapers anywhere (if that isn't yet a non-sequitor outside the USA, at least), has been stifled by committee - the International Committee for Arbitration in Sport.

The website Gatorsports.com has this AP wire story, excerpted here:

"Italian lawyer Mino Auletta will serve as interim president of the Court of Arbitration for Sport up to three more years, meaning Dick Pound may have to wait until 2010 to launch his bid."

[.....]

"Pound,... expressed interest in becoming president of world sport's highest court. Instead, he was appointed Tuesday as a council member of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport, which oversees the administration and financing of CAS."

We cycling fans were as appalled as we could be, by the failures of the 'system' over which Pound has presided since the inception of WADA, as seen in the Floyd Landis case brought by the world's most incompetent laboratory, the French LNDD.

Nor were we encouraged to see his naked ambition flaunted across the face of the world's newspapers, as he indelicately strove to attain 'critical mass' in positioning himself, through press releases, as the future CAS/TAS president.

Someone heard, someone counseled, and *someone* has concurred.

Let us breathe easier, as we await the Floyd decision, and its inevitable appeal. Although the ZEN opinion is fixed, on Floyd's innocence (at least in the sense of 'failure to prove'), a question lurks in the ZENmind: would WADA or UCI or USADA appeal the ruling to come this summer?

On what basis?

Not having one desire to reopen the scabs that serve as a French lab's 'standard of work excellence', there is little grounds remaining if Floyd is declared 'not positive' based on these incredibly negligent work efforts by the French lab.

Pound will, according to the International Herald Tribune, join fifteen other members of the ICAS. ZENhopes that that is sufficient dilution of a caustic, acidic substance.

Courage!

ç*”*”*””*ç”*”* ZENmud ”*””*ç*”*”*””*ç”

WADA do about Christian PRudhomme?

WADA do about Christian PRudhomme?

(quoi faire avec Christian PRudhomme?)

Encore une très mauvaise exemplaire de l'écriture de ZENmud en français, pour mes ami(e)s français(es), mes lecteurs et lectrices...

Car je voudrais essayer de vous convaincre, que la malaise qui tourne le monde du cyclisme, c'est une maladie à la française... et en tapant ceci dans mon 'français cowboy', vous pourriez bien comprendre que j'habite pas loin de vous tous, et j'admire le Tour de France, en sachant qu'il n y a pas aucune autre évent sportif, sur notre belle planète, qu'est digne d'en comparer.

Récemment, la direction dudit Tour a été confié à M. Christian PRudhomme, un journalist qui a ...

(mais t'as vu que j'ai tapé 'PR'-udhomme? Ben ouais! Car il était en journalisme, avec beaucoup de PR expérience ('Public Relations' à l'anglais))

... un journaliste qui a écrit beaucoup de choses concernant le Tour, autant de ses gloires comme ses plaies ouvertes.

Mais comment se passe-t-il, que ce Monsieur aux commandes de 'notre' navire de sport, ne voit-il pas les roches devant son proue? Et lui, en navigant notre navire de sport, veut-il pas les circumnaviguer? Veut-il nous détruire, les amateurs de ce sport, qui en fin du compte vont l'aider à gagner pas mal de salaire?

Je vous demande touts et toutes, d'y reflêchir longtemps.

Car PRudhomme exige ce rendement des comptes, par Bjarne Riis, ancien vainqueur du Tour de France 1996. Riis, qui a finalement su comment soulager son âme, en parlant de sa victoire du Tour et ses prises de dopage, notamment l'EPO.

Oui, Riis avait tort de le faire.
Oui, Riis nous a nié de sa participation.
Oui, Riis a été director sportif “ aux yeux fermées ”, évidement.

Mais a-t-on oublié déjà, nos douleurs en attendant les avoues de Richard Virenque, le 'chou-chou' de tous les français(es)? Et admettons-nous que le désir de voir un Tour enfin 'à l'eau claire' est devenu très possible, si on reste en concert ensemble: pêcher, c'est humain ; pardonner, c'est même plus humain, car on a tous besoin d'être soulagé de nos douleurs de temps en temps!

Mais regardons ses paroles, de Monsieur le Tour:

«Bjarne Riis l'a dit lui-même, il n'est pas digne d'avoir gagné le Tour de France parce qu'il a triché. [.....] Il a souillé le Tour .On chassera de notre mémoire cette montée de Hautacam. Ce n'était donc pas possible.» (l'Equipe)

Ce n'est pas à vous, M. PRudhomme, de faire quelque chose de Sovietique avec nos mémoires ! A qui voulez-vous nous passer nos souvenirs forts des années 90 ? Vers Jan Ullrich? Richard Virenque? Laurent Dufaux? Le moins qu'on puisse dire, c'est que Dufaux mérite plus que les autres, car dès qu'ils ont été pris, Laurent est le seule qui a avoué sur-le-champ, quoi!

Je vais partager avec vous tous, une idée que m'est écoeuré... C'est a dire que le Tour doit rompre tout liaison avec le Laboratoire national du dépistage du dopage, car c'est en passant des heures en suivant le Tour de Floyd et USADA, qu'on a appris le lassitude, et le négligence, qui règnent ensemble sous le tutellage de M le Directeur Professeur de Ceaurriz, qui préfère frimer avec Dick Pound et ses chefs au Ministre de la Jeunesse et du Sport, pour le gouvernement français.

Et notez-vous bien, mes ami(e)s : votre journal du sport, l'Equipe - n'a JAMAIS écrit quoi que ce soit, sur l'état grave de votre Labo français, le LNDD... ils le soutiennent même dans la lumière du litige Landis, dans la Californie...

Non, non, Christian, essaies-toi de te garder ta langue, et tes mauvaises pensées sous couvert ! Tu n'es plus le journaliste qui provoquera de la RAGE avec tes paroles insensées !

Laissons-nous voir comment et quand des autres parmi les équipes, les directeurs sportifs, les ex-racers aux micros, laissons-nous les entendre, pendant ils font le vide, cherchant les paroles pour dire à leurs propres enfants et femmes, leurs familles, comment ils ont 'tous' triché...

Faisant le lessive sera la meilleure chose pour ce sport que j'aime même plus que vous, évidemment!

Votre bloggeur humble...

ç*””*”*”*ç*””* ZENmud *””*ç*”*”*””*ç

FLOYDING FRENZY - Day 3 FLASH

ZENistas, Landistas,

Welcome... Floyd!

Did you read the French newspapers Thursday?

ITF, the International Tennis Federation (link to French Le Monde newspaper report), WILL NOT have its drug testing performed by LNDD! They will be performed by the International Drug Testing Management (IDTM), says Le Monde.

See also 'Our nemeses', L'EQUIPE: this French-article touches on the 2006 process for Roland Garros doping procedures...before LNDD was hot on the FIRE of world press.

Sacré bleu!

What can be happening to the Greatest Lab on the Planet? This exceptional laboratory, which knows beyond anyone else who has doped?

Did you know that means these samples from the world's elite Tennis men and women of the world, will be transported (airplane? Pidgeon?), NOT the 18 km (or approx. 11miles) down the road to le Laboratoir National du dépistage du dopage, but to the far-away city of Montreal, some 3433 km (2,133 miles) across the Atlantic. (map courtesy of: viamichelin.com )

Sacré bleu!

These tests will be achieved in Montreal, says ITF, due to the high cost of the testing at LNDD (vraiment? / really?), while insinuations are rampant, if you read the French-language article (translation follows - ZENmud Global Translation Services):

"Le laboratoire national de dépistage du dopage (LNDD) de Châtenay-Malabry fait-il peur à la Fédération internationale de tennis (ITF) ?"

(Trans: "Does the National Laboratory for Doping Analysis from Châtenay-Malabry frighten the International Tennis Federation?")

As we've heard in the Floyding Frenzy testimony, LNDD produces THREE times as many positives as any other WADA-accredited laboratory...

Who shouldn't be afraid when science (like a military force?) runs amok?

You all know by now, that ZENmud rarely swears on this site, but! Now we SINCERELY BELIEVE that LNDD is not only FUCKED UP, but a RIP-OFF!!!

Thanks ITF, for showing the way forward... wonder if the Tour de France is also needing to save its sponsors' money this summer?

Stand by for more fun...

ç*””*”*”*ç*””* ZENmud *””*ç*”*”*””*ç

FLOYDING FRENZY - who is COFRAC???

ZENistas know that the case against Floyd Landis rests on evidence accumulated by the Laboratoire national du dépistage du dopage (LNDD), a public French institution who maintains no evident public website, and which is spoken of in the past tense at the French Ministry for Youth and Sport website.

Wada??? :-)

Now we have heard recently that their LNDD facility has been audited by COFRAC, as this bit (at TrustbutVerify Monday Roundup, from a link to 7Sur7 in Belgium:

The second was performed by COFRAC, a certifying organization which audits the laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry every year to provide its certification.


Go to the website of COFRAC (parlez-vous??), there's a typical search square in the top yellow bar. Type in ° LNDD ° (only the initials).

You'll find three PDF documents: one is entered twice, and they are the "2002 Letter", of general information, such as this gem:

"The recent accreditation of the National Laboratory for Anti-dopage Testing (LNDD, as we know) of Chatenay-Malabry, which performs the testing on the Tour de France, is a good example." (of what COFRAC does, one presumes: translation by ZENmud himself).

Also is a 2001 Annual Report, which included this bombshell:

"With regard to health we should also mention the accreditation of the National Doping Case-finding Laboratory (LNDD) at Châtenay-Malabry for rapid analysis and confirmation of the presence of doping agents. This laboratory, referenced by the International Olympic Committee (CIO), is very active, owing to an increasing number of requests from the world of sport..."

ZENmud is suggesting, faithful readers, that COFRAC has no searchable data on the LNDD, which we have been assured is breathtakingly ahead of the scientific curve, able to develop strong new tests in a single bound! In an hour of time on this website, I find (famous last words?) evidence of 'testing request paperwork' but no archive (same word in FR) in which they publicly post the required data.

But the French don't seem to update their governmental websites: anyone from the French Ministrie du Jeunesse et Sport: please write to the ZENster! s'il vous plaît, RSVP avec les liens souhaités!!

Show us transparency, les gars ("you guys!")!

ç*””*”*”*ç*””* ZENmud *””*ç*”*”*””*ç

Que faire avec LNDD? // WADA do about LNDD???

e vais faire mon deuxième post en français pour mon blog, pour mes lectures et lectrices francophones, qu'est – comme on peut le voir – déjà rédigé en anglais.

Je l'écrirai car le but de mes paroles est de mettre en evidence les comportements des dirigeants et staff du Laboratoire nationale du dépistage du dopage (LNDD), des faits concernant 'leur cas' contre Floyd Landis, et bien cachés des lecteurs de la presse myopique de France.

[Moi? Je suis ZENmud – soyez les bienvenu(e)s – soyez “ relaxe ” ; et je vais prier de m'excuser de mon acccent français un peu 'cowboy'... venant du Colorado... ]

Pour quelle raison n'est-il pas possible de lire, en France ou en Suisse, et dans le monde entier, comment le LNDD a réagi la dimanche 22 avril, 2007? Pourquoi était-il nécéssaire, contre toute réglementation de l'AMA, d'exclure les deux experts de Landis, pourtant mandaté d'y participer et témoigner du bon déroulement de ces testes 'supplémentaires', ce dimanche-là?

Et en plus! On vient de savoir que le Labo LNDD sont dans le boue avec des rapportages à propos l'éffacement des disques durs des ordinateurs qu'ont stocké l'information et contenus crus du dossier de Landis! Du JAMAIS vu dans le monde de lutte anti-dopage...

Pour quelle raison, chères lectrices, chers lecteurs, a-t-il été nécéssaire d'accepter que les représentatifs omniprésents de l'USADA (l'Agence des Etats-unies d'anti-dopage), soit légale, soit scientifique, pour ces tests, pendant que les experts de Landis étaient exclus, évidemment, du dernier jour de ces tests?

Pour quelle raison encore , mes amies, mes amis, n'est-il pas dégueulasse à savoir que, pour le N-ième fois dans l'histoire courante des 'incidents anti-dopage', que le très influent journal sportif et français, l'Equipe, a réçu comme fuits, et contre le CODE d'AMA concernant le confidentialité, ces résultats concernant VOTRE vainqueur du dernier Tour de France, Floyd Landis? Et contre toute réglementation d e ce CODE, et en plus le “Code of Conduct” pour les staffs des laboratoires?

Ce dernier a été établi précisement pour empêcher ces laboratoires de permiter ces fuites, ces resultats précoces? Ces laboratoires, en tête du queue le LNDD, qui comme ses confrères sont tous Signatoires du CODE d'AMA, et qui ont un grand résponsibilité concernant les droits des athlètes? Quelle mobile est lié à ces fuites repétitives quasiment permit par l'AMA, qui fait rien les concernant, malgré les preuves, les 'confessions', et le conflit d'interêt entre l'Equipe et l'Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), un société français qu'est propriétor de l'Equipe ET le Tour de France?

Mais? Ca vous concerne pas?

Je suis triste, moi, de l'entendre...

Par des paroles de l'expert américain Paul Scott, anciènnement directeur des services clients du laboratoire de l'UCLA (Uni. de la Californie en Los Angèles):

“ Dans mes années au labo de l'UCLA, je n'ai jamais vu des choses pareiles comme je les ai vécu au LNDD hier [ndlr: 22 avril 2007]. Des limitations sur Simon Davis (un expert du testing 'Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry', aussi selectionné comme observateur par Landis) et moi-même ont démontré un manque d'objectivité dans ce processus, autant que c'est montré l'interet de l'USADA de controller et limiter nos observations du 'retesting' est en tout, c'est qu'un examplaire d'un des plus énormes problèmes dans la science fondamentale d'anti-dopage que j'ai jamais vécu. [Traduction par ZENmud Language Srevices] ”

Comment était-il que vous n'avez pas lu ces phrases dans l'article de l'Equipe, ce dimanche-là, ou le lundi d'après?

Revenons aux choses sérieuses concernant le toujours-vainqueur du dernier Tour de France, et ses droits civiques, autants valides dans cette affaire que dans un litige d'un quelquonque Tribunal legal. En donnant le feu vert aux tests supplementaires des échantillons 'B' du coureur de Pennsylvanie, le panel arbitrationel a tranché l'utilité de ces 'retests' comme 'étude longitudinal du coureur' au lieu de les recevoir comme un “ Adverse analytical finding ”, ou 'AAF'. C'est à dire qu'on ne peut plus inculper Landis à cause des 'preuves' tardives, accumulée derrière les portes fermés et veillés par VOS policiers, évidement...

(Ou ai-je tort? Quelqu'un du labo, peut m'appeler n'importe quand!)

Il faut bien retenir comme fait, que la question à propos l'admissibilité des resultats de ces tests est une question legale, toujours devant le panel d'arbitration ; soit ils seraient admis, soit ils seraient exclus. Or, on peut imaginer, suite à des fuites, suite à des exclusions perpétré par le staff du LNDD contre ces experts mandatés par Landis, et le laisser-passer donné aux experts et jurists de l'USADA, qu'il y a quelque chose qui cloche dans le monde de la lutte anti-dopage en France.

Y-auront-il des langues mauvaises françaises, que diraient que LNDD 'est mondialement respecté' et donc ces allegations de Landis n'ont pas basé en aucune fondation juste ?

Ont-ils oublié, les françaises et français, ou n'ont ils jamais étaient informé, que le LNDD a été le sujet des lettres des hautes fonctionaires représentants des deux grands Fédérations sportives olympiques, suite à “ L'Affaire Armstrong ” où Lance a été mis dans le collaméteur grâce aux tests et fuites (encore merci à l'Equipe !) geré aux niveaux les plus hauts du LNDD? Que l'AMA s'est mise à balailler touts ces concerns légitimes sous le tapis? Regardons cette photo, montrante Professeur De Ceaurriz at M. Lamour, Ministre de la Jeunesse et Sports

Faut-il que je vous rappele encore, que l'UCI a publié un rapport substantif (en anglais), à plus que 120 pages, montrent les éfforts malsains prises entre l'AMA et le LNDD, par le très connu avocat néerlandais M. Vrijman, avec des faits grossiers donnant une très mauvaise impression du professionalism de ce labo français.

Venant des Etats-unies, mes frères, mes soeurs, je me bat pas contre vous...

Ayant vècu ces derniers dix ans parmi vous, en suisse romande, et en aimant ces paysages plein de paysannes, des vignerons, de la terre : ce sont ces terroirs que font sortir des coureurs qui vous adorez, qu'ensemble ils vous font rever, et alors cette magique me touche, moi aussi.

Je me bat, je vous encourage, comme j'éssaiais ces derniers quatres ans de convaincre mes concitoyennes et concitoyens américain(e)s, de vous lever en haut, et ne pas rester persuadés que votre journal l'Equipe, qui vola et volera l'information confidentielle, qui viola et violera les droits des athlètes, n'a pas publié tout le verité.

Tout ces athlètes ont besoin, et ont le droit, de savoir que le système les concernant va protèger leurs droits, pour que les 'convictions' de dopage ne trainnent derrier eux les sportifs et sportives innocent(e)s.

Après le 14 mai, date fixé pour le processus Landis devant ce panel d'arbitration, commencera quelques semaines de reflexion entre les avocats-juges de l'arbitration. Parmi vous, je reconnais que vous restez persuadés, grâce à l'Equipe, que Landis est autant 'culpable' qu'était Virenque ou, comme beaucoup parmi vous penser toujours, M. Armstrong.

Mais en lisant le CODE, le Standard international des laboratoires (ISL), le Standard international de testing (IST), avec ce “ Code de conduit ” offert exactement pour protégér tous les athlètes des fuites d'information par bias des inconnus payé par l'Equipe pour ce faire...

Moi, ZENmud, je serais un des plus décus si Floyd est rendu coupable, “ accablé ” par ces tests et analyses mal-administrés par des incompétents recherchers qui préfèrent tous et toutes de NE PAS faire leur boulôt, qui ont peut-être un certain nationalism dans leurs point de vu?

Est-ce plus que possible que le LNDD sera sanctionné après les fuites de cette arbitration ?

Bien sûr !

Est-ce possible que, pour ce prochain Tour de France, le Ministre du Sport aura besoin d'engager un autre laboratoire accredité par l'AMA, pour effectuer les testes des cyclists du prochain Tour de France?

C'est possible...

Ce, je sais bien : si Floyd Landis est inculpé sur l'évidence présenté par le LNDD, pendant que l'évidence contre le LNDD est MILLE fois plus acablant, l'injustice rendu se servira d'enterriner le Tour de France.

Là, vous pouvez vous rassurer, ZENmud vous a offert de la verité.

Le verité vous accueillerait, un jour...

COURAGE les français, et françaises!

ç*””*”*”*ç*””* ZENmud *””*ç*”*”*””*ç

WADA do about L'EQUIPE?? BOYCOTT!!!

ZENfriends:

There comes a time when the people of a country must rise against the oppression...

Doesn't sound like we're talking about a Sports-newspaper? Well, in France the tradition to take to the streets is omnipresent, and with the latest scandal-ridden spew published by L'Equipe, the French journal that was the original sponsoring paper behind the Tour de France, the farce continues...

Floyd Landis, valiant and memorable victor of the 2006 Tour de France, has been spared no pain in the on-going witch-hunt produced by the following listed entities:

LNDD: the French Laboratoire nationale du dépistage du dopage;

WADA: the World Anti-Doping Agency;

USADA: the United States Anti-Doping Agency;

L'EQUIPE: French sporting journal.

My various in-depth articles have described in depth how each of these agents has individually failed to officiate over any process of drug-testing, based on what is happening to Floyd Landis.

See:

Part One: WADA do about Floyd???

Part Two: WADA do about Floyd???

Part Three: WADA do about Floyd???

As well as these other subsequent, sequentially-listed articles:

FLOYD GOES FREE under the Pound Doctrine (March 7, 2007)

How not to Laugh with Floyd... Landis (March 8, 2007)

WADA do about WADA? (March 21, 2007)

WADA do about the (Landis) Chain of Evidence? (March 21, 2007)

Pound's new CRUSADE against justice in SPORT (March 22, 2007)

WADA do about Strict Liability... (April 5, 2007)

WADA do about USADA??? (April 13, 2007)


WADA has failed, the LNDD has failed, and the USADA also has; in its quest for success, the US taxpayer-financed Organization, has failed to protect the rights of a falsely-accused (so this legally-trained author believes) cyclist/athlete.

The ongoing case, slated for a hearing in two weeks, on May 14th, took a bizarre twist with the request by USADA for further 'B Sample' testing of remaining Landis urine samples, using IRMS technology designed to discern exogenous testosterone.
(Jacques de Ceaurriz, director of LNDD, Jean-François Lamour, and Colette Besson, president of CA; photo from French Gov't)

Any OBJECTIVE person may think, that with a Laboratory under the gun for past ... well 'shoddy' is the most scientific term I can think of... past shoddy work, with numerous errors at hand, well: that the USADA would have a compromise venue, another laboratory possessing a reputation of total integrity, to perform these 'longitudinal' studies, which could serve to allow a graphic display of Landis' naturally fluctuating Testosterone levels.

Didn't happen that way.

OH! Did I forget to mention, that the French l'Equipe has leaked each very prominent rider's result produced by LNDD? In every case presented to the Lab, in contravention (as to the Lab) of a WADA 'Code of Conduct', which places the strictest confidence on the Lab?

Here's what Netherlands attorney Emile Vrijman said about L'Equipe, writing about its collusion in the Lance Armstrong fiasco of 2005:

The investigator does not know how the research reports of the LNDD came into the possession of Mr. Ressiot, the journalist of L’Equipe. These reports however, must have been provided either by the LNDD, the Ministry or WADA, as WADA and the Ministry had received copies of reports drafted and sent by the LNDD. The investigator regrets the lack of cooperation of these three bodies. It is clear that only a thorough investigation within each of them might find the answer to this important question, that affects the confidence that athletes, ADO’s and the public are entitled to have in these bodies. (UCI Vrijman report, p.121: para 5.1)

So when l'Equipe published Monday (in FR), its most recent leak on the Landis case, its article was totally slanted towards erasing the memory of Landis' (as well as Lance Armstrong's) accusations of malfeasance:

"Floyd Landis, qui s'est évertué depuis plusieurs mois à décrédibiliser le laboratoire français, aura bien du mal, cette fois-ci, à user de cet argument : les nouvelles analyses, effectuées la semaine dernière et clôturées ce week-end, ont été réalisées en présence de deux experts désignés par le coureur américain, et de deux représentants de l'USADA."

[Floyd Landis, who has for several months lost all virtue in trying to discredit the LNDD, will have some illness, this time, to use the same argument again: these new analyses, which took place last week and finalized this last weekend, were undertaken in the presence of two experts designated by the American racer, and two representatives of the USADA.]

The article claimed that Landis' experts, as called-for in the WADA and USADA regulations, were to be allowed full and complete access to all aspects of the testing...

That is not what Floyd's named experts are claiming.

IF
... the world depends on one journalistic, European voice, for the source of the most important information from the world of cycling, that source IS the French l'Equipe;

IF
... the voice of that paper, its authority, its staff, is rank with the festering wounds of losing circulation, odoriferous with the pus of leaks, incapable of registering right from wrong, whether by potentially paying for information or providing a government sponsored and sanctioned violation of the WADA CODE and the ISL Code of Ethics;

IF
... the accusing French laboratoire in which Floyd Landis has been 'found abnormal in ratio of Testosterone to Epitestosterone', has failed in prior occasions to uphold standards, the failure of which is potentially a violation;


Then the boycott of l'Equipe should be organized, its reporter Ressiot should be dismissed, as a call to the sensibilizing of the sport to the science that is not as far into the cutting-edge as certain Pounds, or de Ceaurriz' (Director of the LNDD) might have indicated.

And the implementation of the investigation that would decide on a sudden, necessary dis-accreditation of the French LNDD lab should be initiated by WADA, as requested already by two Olympic Federations, the President of the ASOIF, and the President, IOC Athletes Commission, whose letter was a forceful but neglected request to WADA to rectify the errors of LNDD.

Please consider:

Ending Floyd's career is only justifiable if he was doping.

Ending the careers of reporters who buy or repeatedly acquire leaked confidential (think of YOUR doctor's records?!!) information, and their associated 'Confidential info Dealers/Leakers located variously in French governmental divisions, or in world-renowned Intergovernmental or international non-governmental organizations (WADA, USADA or UCI), is a much more noble goal.

Ending ambiguity, as seen in many articles of WADA's several controlling documents, is also the worthiest task ahead, for parties that represent the falsely, or 'inacurately' accused,such as the Alan Baxters of the world, or Floyd Landis.


When the Police need to be policed by those who are 'protected', then the wobbling imbalance may be too gone, too radically far to re-direct.

WADA already has signs of Roid-rage and overexertion, as directed now by Dick Pound, and (if rumours are true) to be directed by the French Minister of Sport Jean-François Lamour after November 2007.

Due to its haste to install itself as the top-pissing wolf in the Sports Forest... its future is now cast in doubt, as Machiavellian aspects, similar to the Bush-invasion of Iraq, now are riding Floyd Landis into a clear contest of evidence, of will and political support.

Floyd needs your objective and clear opinions.


COURAGE, Floyd - Champion of the Tour de France 2006

ç*””*”*”*ç*””* ZENmud *””*ç*”*”*””*ç