Daley Thompson: Cycling should be banned from the Olympics in the light of Armstrong doping scandal

I think the Daily Mail should be banned.

DT performances were consistent and not erratic. There is no big drug culture in London amongst athletes, it is down to good coaches and a lot of hard work. When I was 7 at Sharks swimming club it was a 100 lengths of the swimming pool every night and you could not finish until you beat your time. Sharon Davies was there and what a swimmer. The girl was like teflon and put in twice the amount of work. Only reason I gave up was I had no goggles and blinded by the clorine. I could not even walk home I was blind(Thank you mummy for picking me up). Boxing is also not big into drugs. Another sport a lot of hard work. Cycling should be no different. It is a fantastic sport. First few kilometres chill the legs and wind up gradually. No big rush. By the end of the run you are chasing coaches and cursing the Council for not repairing roads as you hit 80 kmph.I may not win the lottery but I feel like a million dollars. Cars are impressed because you keeping up. It is a fun sport and I love it as a grass roots member. I want to see the pro tour and see cycling in the Olympics. To see Sparticus fall 4 km out at the Olympics was epic. We need our heroes and to cheer them on. I just do not want to see them all taking drugs. Is that really so hard to ask?

Personally, I think cycling should ban the distracting sideshow of the Olympics and concentrate on races that matter.

There's no place for proper sport in a four-yearly festival of physical jerks and jingoism.

Headline doesn't really match what he said, does it? It leaves out the bit where he said it should only happen if the UCI don't sort things out which which I think is quite a key part of it!

I suppose it makes for a better headline for you though.

"I don't think people who take part in cycling, the competitors and the people at the grass roots who go out at the weekend on their bikes just for the sheer love of it, feel any sort of connection or even confidence in the people who run their sport, and that's terrible."

Slightly ironic that some of the comments here suggest that Daley's is some sort of knee-jerk anti-cycling reaction, when in fact it's the commenter(s) who are knee-jerking a little...

Think about it: We have all complained on here about the UCI, and lamented the fact that Paddy McQuid basically can't be ousted because a sport's governing body isn't really accountable to a higher authority with the ability to kick him out (or even force an enquiry for all the Lance bollocks). All Daley is suggesting, really, is that the IOC is a sufficiently big fish to do this for us, in terms of cleaning up the UCI: "Oi, Pat, f*** off now, or your sport will start to suffer, financially and otherwise, in a way that puts a BIG spotlight on you personally."

That's a far bigger stick than has been wielded so far, and just _might_ make him move over.

I wouldn't put the house on it, though.

That said, he needs to separate his disagreements with the UCI from those with WADA - his comment that dopers should never return isn't in the UCIs hands.

A has-been athlete with no discernible career, writing an article calling for a controversial move, in a newspaper that is known for being anti-cycling and reactionary.

Am I supposed to bite?

OK... Daley Thompson: fuck off back into obscurity, you dumb cunt.

The cynic in me wonders if this is just publicity for the newly re-released Daley Thompson's Decathlon on iOS and Android.

On your marks, set, z-x-z-x-z-x-z-x-z-x-z-x-...

I think Thompson's words are ill-advised. Whatever is occurring in cycling is probably being mirrored elsewhere. I for one don't believe that Ben Johnson's record 100m has been beaten clean. I think the evidence is that the opposite is happening and cheating is prevalent in professional sports. I would be surprised if American Footballers achieve their size through diet and exercise, and there are few sports which would not improve with either the application of steroids or blood enhancement (even skill based sports are significantly easier if your oxygen intake is improved - imagine receiving a pass in football breathing heavily, and one where you are relaxed and breathing calmly. It makes a difference). And the Balco affair just went to show that the athletes know how to best the system because it was not the testing that caught them out.

I would be surprised if there is any agency out there that is particularly effective at catching cheats. At least with cycling cleaning house it brings with it the chance for change and hope for the future. Sponsors need to remember this.

I hope that as a result of this the baby is not thrown out with the bath water and it would suck.

Just imagine if athletics had a figure like Armstrong- someone who transcended the sport, and so popular that, if he were caught cheating, it would seriously damage the image of the sport and its ability to generate revenue. And imagine if he were on a successful team like US Postal, with other doped athletes who were also massively popular. I wonder if the IAAF would be keen to expose them?

At a guess Daley may feel like having a 'shit - spoty reference' after spouting that load of crap.
Using that logic sprinting, shot put, the hammer, basketball and of course weightlifting (which i personal exerience of) would be banned. Great athelete mind of goldfish.

The problem is the governing bodies, USADA, IOC, UCI, WADA. they each have a political agenda and love of the media limelight.

I wonder how many main stream sports would disappear from the Olympics if we followed Daley Thompsons suggestions.

Right here goes - chuck out Cycling and Athletics as they have a history and oh include swimming in that as well as they have had some highly publicised doping stories over the years. Judo has had its drug problems. What else of yes Rowing, they have had no drug issues as bad as the above but there must be something going on for them to seem this clean. Gymnastics is another that has had a checkered past, trundle them out the doors as well. There have been simmering rumours regarding football so thats another one for the waste bin.

What are we left with rythmic gymnanstic, I am tempted to tie them in with gymnastics. Basketball, I read a couple of stories about doping in the NBA over the years lob them out. There are other associated sports that should go by mere association with some of the sports above such as syncronised swimming, netball etc

Now where was I whats left, oh, well, ahh um not much really. Then we can include the IOC's liking to employing convicted fraudsters like the hospitality guy caught in the multi million pound salt lake city scandal who was let of for shopping his mates and remarkably was still head of hospitality in London this year. Nice how things don't change.

This shows nicely that people are getting a little to specific in singling out Cycling and bashing it over the head with some serious large sticks. There is problems in many sports - some even manage to hide it quite well football being one, where the money is so great they couldn't afford to have anyone have a look at them. Others like cricket are downright absurd in there pursuit of doping. Banning Shane Warne for a direutic I though was quite humourous. I never realised that reducing you bodies water content actually help the performance of a spinner. What a strange world we live in.