By: Alec Schaffer and Jordan Bishop
While the Tour of France takes place, the media coverage of the event is buzzing with scandal of cyclists using performance-enhancing drugs, leading a person to question the occurrence of doping at the collegiate level.
Team Sky leader Chris Froome has dominated the early stages of this year’s Tour of France. An explosive display by Froome earlier this week has sparked questions about doping in the sport once again. While Froome vehemently denies using any performance-enhancing drugs; the recent history of the sport and its biggest platform in the Tour, is not on his side.
This is absolutely an issue worthy of coverage; however, the use of performance-enhancing drugs is often ignored and swept under the rug in collegiate sporting events.
As a collegiate cyclist myself I have first hand witnessed the use of performance enhancing drugs at the collegiate level. Although by no means would I say it is common, it does take place, and officials often do not address it.
I have never once been drug tested at the collegiate level, nor am I aware of any other member of the UW cycling team or any other university team being tested within our conference.
If one were to go to a collegiate cycling race, although as stated earlier it is not overtly common, one would not have to look far to find an athlete using such drugs.
None of this is to say this issue deserves the same amount of public attention as at the professional level, but it is an issue that needs to be addressed, even if it is just at the individual team level. There should at least be an agreement among the athletes that use of performance-enhancing drugs is not tolerated. This should be true for every level of any sport cycling or otherwise.
The purpose of honest athlete competition is to mentally and physically prepare oneself to compete individually or as a team using one’s own strength.
The issue of doping extends to not only the physical, but electrical doping. Cycling’s major governing body, the Union Cyclist International (UCI) even checked for “mechanical doping” leading up to the Tour. The UCI held random bicycle checks for small motors that can be hidden in a bike’s frame. While there has been no major cases of professional riders using an illegal motor, the speculation and examination of bicycles says the sport still has trust issues.
This fact that such a lack of trust has evolved as a result of doping is a failing of the athletes within the sport as a whole.
When an athlete uses performance enhancing drugs it is not their strength, but an unnatural strength achieved through drug or mechanical strength. This not only gives unfair advantages to the athlete, but it defeats the purpose of honest athletic competition. Therefore, both athletes and officials at the collegiate level should not tolerate doping.
