Floyd Landis tour champion???

so unlike certain events involving a lacrosse team in the south i shall withhold judgement of guilt or innocence until a later date, but does anyone have an idea on how accurate these tests are?

One other thing that has always bothered me about these tests is if tests can accurately tell the difference between naturally occuring levels of any drug and/or its effects from what what the natural state could be in an elite athelete. I will admit however that when the Chinese women's swimming team is involved i don't really ever question a "positive" test.

Any takers??

-Will

You have to understand how odd it is for the French to encounter a man with actual testosterone.

He was most likely tested in the days before and after that day b/c he had the yellow jersey. Why would it only be positive on that one day? He probably just had elevated testoserone b/c he went nuts on that stage.

When I was listening to NPR this morning, they made an interesting point that the test only measures the ratio of testosterone to epi-testosterone, which could mean elevated levels of testosterone OR depleted levels of epi-testosterone. Apparently, the former case could be gotten from injecting artificial testosterone or using certain drugs...not sure if those same drugs could give you the latter case.

That, and they had a sound bite from Landis saying that he'd taken a shot or two of Jack Daniels the night before. "It was a way to get through the day" that had included, I guess, a simply awful stage.

Don't they have other blood/drug samples or test results to compare Landis's lastest test result too? If he normally does have an altered ratio of testosterone/epitestosterone would not that have been seen in a previous test?

Also, I dislike the fact that they announced the results of the tests (Landis's and others) without repeating it. A positive test for doping substances is very damaging both to the person and the sport. Before announcing results to the public they should be repeated, preferably by an independent lab.

Here is a link to NPR and a Q/A on Landis's test result and the implications.
[www.npr.org]

Here is an article providing a voice of reason before any definitive statements can be made. It also provides some good information.

[sports.espn.go.com]

Rita
Also, I dislike the fact that they announced the results of the tests (Landis's and others) without repeating it. A positive test for doping substances is very damaging both to the person and the sport. Before announcing results to the public they should be repeated, preferably by an independent lab.

I think they had to because Landis had pulled out of 2 upcoming races and was MIA and those race organizers were very much not pleased that he gave no reason and couldn't be reached.

And anyways, you gotta remember, it's the French. They need to have another American cyclist to throw doping accusations at.

The NY Times reports that some of the testosterone found in Landis's urine sample had come from an external source, not produced from his own body. Results of the B sample will be disclosed in a few days, but chances are that the B sample will also come back positive.
[www.nytimes.com]

Like everyone who's following the story, my reaction to the doping news was: Say it ain't so, Floyd...

For some reason I feel really bad for Landis's parents. They were genuinely proud of their son in that ESPN interview.

Not sure if that NYT article was the same one I read a while ago, but in the one I read, the NYT reported that a French newspaper reported that some of the testosterone was synthetic - not at all the same thing as "NY Times reports that some of the testosterone found in Landis's urine sample had come from an external source."