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Christophe Rochus wants doping to be made legal

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#1 ·
A Belgian tennis player: "Doping is a reality. Why not legalize it? '
Reported by Imanol Corcostegui


It is rare to read as clearly expressed the doubts of a professional tennis player on the practice of doping in sport. Interviewed by Radio Twizz, Christophe Rochus, whose remarks were relayed by La Libre Belgique, is convinced that this is a reality:

"When I got in the top 100, I said in the media that it was boosted outrageous all these players and I received a threatening letter from the ATP Tour said:" This is the last time you mention that. You have no evidence, you have nothing. "Finally, all the players I mentioned have tested positive. They were all Argentines. '

Belgian wonders especially on sudden absences of some champions like Nadal or Soderling:

" Look Robin Söderling ... He won the tournament in Bastad in 2011 and since then it no longer plays tennis. It is supposedly seriously ill while I'm sure he was unbeatable at the time. We can not overlook the fact that it is very suspicious! It reached the highest level of his career and the day after, it says I can not play tennis ... Me, it seems incredible.

You say "Oh, that's weird." There is still a lot of suspicious things that happen and it seems that the best have nothing. Just like anywhere, there are always people you can buy! '




http://www.rue89.com/rue89-sport/20...-est-une-realite-pourquoi-ne-pas-le-legaliser
 
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#66 ·
Well, strange as it may seem, I agree with him. Dunno about his accusations regarding players taking breaks, but I'm pretty sure the controls are mostly a joke and a diversion, and that people very high up make sure no one gets caught. Just as it was (and maybe as it is, still) in cycling.

No one involved in sport has an interest in revealing doping cases. And call me a pessimist, but I'm pretty sure this will never change. So, everyone says that it's "obvious" that legalizing doping is unacceptable, but I really don't see how pretending to struggle against doping is any better. What happens is that from time to time, one or two scapegoats are thrown to the dogs, in order to make the public believe that anti-doping is really working, while actually it's only a way to make sure that the others can continue in peace.

I have always had the feeling that Argentine players had been made scapegoats, possibly because their country is not as powerful as most... but I may be wrong on that, it's all speculation (but then again... my long-established belief that Armstrong and his whole team were the kings of doping was also speculation - at the time).

Sport (or, primarily in North America, sports) is all forms of competitive physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and provide entertainment to participants

doping isnt one of them.
But who really believes this is a realistic definition of sport? Not of high level sport, it isn't. It's no secret that practising a sport at a high level is bad for your health, not good.
Sport is good for you when practised moderately. When it is practised intensively, it's not good, with or without doping.

People often act as if it's easy to decide when doping starts and when it stops. Sure, there are the rules, you can claim it starts when a practise is forbidden... But in more general terms, sportsmen all take stuff to improve their performances, vitamins, etc... When does it stop being "preparation" to start being "doping"? When they use special tents to create the confitions of high altitude, is that just a fair "preparation" practice, or is it already doping?

Of course, I know, it sounds outrageous to say that doping should be legalized. People are going to say that this amounts to saying athletes can damage their bodies as much as they want, etc...
But truly, we already know high level sport is bad. It's the same for anything that is taken to an extreme level. You could also claim that ballet should be forbidden, because ballet dancers often torture their bodies, the aesthetics of ballet encourage all sorts of eating disorders, and I've often heard doctors say that the body of a professional ballet dancer can be really traumatised and destroyed when he/she reaches the age of 30 or 40.
Marathon runners destroy their knees. Not even marathon runners only, I've read recently that Ferrer had stopped running and taken up cycling instead, because his knees were damaged by too much long-distance running. And I don't think I even need to mention Nadal's knees.

And the biggest problem with that counter-argument anyway (that it's irresponsible to advocate the legalization of doping because of the threat to the athlete's health), is that it assumes that doping is not already general. If you believe, as I do, that it is widespread anyway, in spite of the "controls"... then there would be no difference. If people are already doping, the only difference you make by making it legal is that you end the hypocrisy.

Now, if someone can come up with a system of controls that would actually work, sure, it would be better. But I don't see how this could be possible. "Independent bodies" are not really something I believe in. High level sports are a microcosm, and a "body" can remain "independent" only for so long when there's big business and a lot of power involved. :shrug:
Maybe a strong system of checks and balances can be built in the future. That would require a complete restructuring of everything, probably. For now... I just wish they would end the hypocrisy. But given what usually happens to people who do try, I can understand why most people prefer to stay silent and save their careers. Maybe they would need a kind of giant "truth commission" for doping?...
 
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#5 ·
Sport (or, primarily in North America, sports) is all forms of competitive physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and provide entertainment to participants

doping isnt one of them.
 
#7 ·
A few other players have said the same thing, but the ATP always slaps them down fast :) About a decade or so back they started to get strict on this, after lots of players had accused Agassi of doping.


Anyway, it's blindingly obvious doping will be rampant in tennis. You have it in all top level professional sports, it's even getting common in a lot of amateur stuff now. With tennis dopetesting almost non-existent, it's inevitable.
 
#148 ·
A few other players have said the same thing, but the ATP always slaps them down fast :) About a decade or so back they started to get strict on this, after lots of players had accused Agassi of doping.


Anyway, it's blindingly obvious doping will be rampant in tennis. You have it in all top level professional sports, it's even getting common in a lot of amateur stuff now. With tennis dopetesting almost non-existent, it's inevitable.
Will be?

I'd be shocked if less than 2 top ten players is already using PED.

And you know who I'm suggesting...
 
#8 ·
seems legit
 
#10 ·
You missed a trick by not using the title "Christophe Rochus accuses Nadal, Soderling and all Argentines of doping"
 
#11 ·
There are most certainly dopers in the top 100 but to point out Soderling who have been medically proven to have mononucleosis and is also practicing as hard as his body allows him for a possible return to the tour... :facepalm:

Christophe is a known asshole though, nothing new about that.
 
#12 · (Edited)
As far as I'm concerned, ATP now does a great job to avoid doping from tennis. Rafa Nadal said on an interview that as a tennis player you have to say each of the 365 days of the year where you will be (including when you're on holidays) and say a time where ATP can find you (in the indicated place). There are one or more doping controls each month (Nadal had at least two in December, in two consecutive days at 6:30 am, as it is a time that he knows that he'll be at home... good way to start the day but he offered a coffee to the ATP workers :D ). They take samples of urine, blood or both.

I think that this protocol is fine. But this is the teorical protocol, if we implement it on reality in the same way as it is described I think that there is no need to have doping problems. But if it is something that can make the ATP doping controls better, it is positive to use it. I think that we can't allow doping and that there have to be ways to fight against it.

EDIT: philosophicalarf gave me information about the average doping controls that are done each year, so I change my words, as I was only focused on the protocol (that I think that it is correct) but not in the times a year that doping controls are done (wich I thought that were more). So there is the philosophicalarf message: here and my answer: here
 
#19 ·
As far as I'm concerned, ATP does a great job to avoid doping from tennis.
*deep breath*

Nope.

Tennis does about 10 in-competition tests a year, on average. These are completely useless, since the players know they're coming, so make sure they have nothing in their systems.

It also does an average of ONE out of competition test a year. This is hilarious - top cyclists get 30+.

Players can also skip two in an 18 month period without any penalty. This means when they are doping, they simply lie about where they are so as not to get tested. Sports that actually try to catch dopers do enough tests that they rapidly get to that two point and can't skip tests any more. Tennis doesn't, so it doesn't.

All these details are published on the ITF site.
http://www.itftennis.com/antidoping/news/statistics.asp

For example, last year Nadal had "1-3" out of competition tests, and the same in 2010 (they do it in bands for privacy reasons). We know that most of those "1-3" mean 1, as they publish the total number of tests done.


Even sillier, almost all of the tests are urine. Blood tests are needed to detect a lot of substances.

There are numerous other mammoth loopholes, like slams only testing after a match. HGH/EPO in the right doses are only detectable for 10-12 hours, so players can dope themselves silly on off days.


The whole system is a complete joke.
 
#14 ·
Don't think doping should be legalized, at least not the substances that can cause damage to athletes. Sport is supposed to promote a healthy lifestyle. There may be some stuff that could be argued for, but not knowing enough I will refrain naming any :p.
 
#16 ·
Reading that activated my sarcasm detector. I don't think Christophe was being serious about allowing doping, in a round about way he's probably trying to say the ATP do so little to stop it, they might as well legalise it.

Hard to disagree with him there.
 
#24 ·
Ch. Rochus talks about doping, suspects Soderling, maybe Rafa+ ATP threatened him

Ok, so please sorry in advance for all the unforgivable english mistakes. :lol: I am french, and even though I wish I was bilingual, I am clearly not. Still, I tried to translate it for you guys and for my friends on Twitter. Translating it from french can be annoying :lol:

So... Enjoy. ;)


Source : Lalibre.be - Ch. Rochus "C'est sûr, le dopage dans le tennis est une réalité !"

Christophe Rochus : "Yes, doping in tennis is a reality !"



Is doping a reality in tennis ?
Of course it is a reality. I was already saying that more than ten years ago. It is a sport that is more and more physical, so there are inevitably more temptations to take enhanching performance drugs. Now, with the Armstrong issue, we are now admitting it’s not because someone has never been controlled positive that it means that person has never been doping. When one can afford good doctors, to make some personal researches on the subject, and to have some resources, it is possible to take undetectable drugs products. So in my opinion, anti-doping controls are useless and they really don’t prove anything. Regarding Nadal, those rumors are rumors even if everyone wonders the same question : how can you be so strong in Roland Garros and one month later, you are apparently unable to play ? That’s why it looks so suspicious, but we have no proof. Maybe he is really injured.

We have to admit all these breaks, such as Nadal and some others, are really intriguing…
That’s the purpose ! It should not be obvious ! Everyone makes sure it is not clear. The less you lie, the less you give explanations, better it is ! Let’s take Robin Soderling. He has won Bastad in 2011, and ever since that, he has not played tennis. Apparently he is really sick (officially he has mononucleosis) when I am certain he was unbeatable back then. We can’t deny how much it sounds dubious. He was at the peak of his career, and the day after, he suddenly says he can’t play tennis anymore… I really think it’s unbelievable.

What about the federations ? Are they implicated or not?
It is all part of the rumors. We think “Oh wait, it is weird.” There are plenty of strange things happening, and we have the feeling the best players have nothing. It’s like everywhere, there are always people you can buy ! I guess someone like Armstrong might have the resources and the knowledge to pay someone to know how to avoid getting caught. It’s a certain thing : with money, everything is affordable ! Now, there is always a way to slip through the net. That’s the way it works because everyone has a benefit to take from it : the federations, the athletes…

How did you deal, as a tennisplayer, with these issues to keep practising your sport and to make it your job ?
When I entered the top 100, I said in the medias that it was a scandal to see all these doped players, and I received a letter from the ATP threatening me “This is the last time you ever talk about this. You have no proof, you have nothing”. Finally, all players I’ve mentioned got controlled positive. All Argentineans. Rather than all this hypocrisy, I think it would be better to legalize the doping. When I say that, I hear I can’t say that because it’s not a good thing and it’s dangerous anyway. But after speaking with the doctors, we are not even sure these products are dangerous for our health. At that moment, each one, in all honesty, is ready to take the risk or is not. My brother and I have always been clean. We could have taken growth hormones, but we never did it. We thought it was not worthy. Maybe we should have…. Maybe we would have never been caught up… Maybe my brother would be 17 centimenters (6.69 inches) taller and he would have been in the top 10… Everyone has to make choices. Do we really want to be in the worldwide top at all cost or are we content to be just a very good athlete, it’s all personal?

That being said, how can we put an end to all this ? We have the feeling all these doping stories will never end…
It will never end for one reason : sports are entertainment and we always want more. If, after ten stages in the Tour de France, the cyclists are racing at 25km/h (15.53 mph) because they are exhausted, it won’t be alright. If after a five setter which lasted for five hours in the semi-finals, the player says he can’t even get up so he can’t take part in the final, then the entertainment is over. It will never end. Too much money, too much entertainment at stakes. But as a spectator, I don’t mind watching these athletes, even if I know they are doped. For me, Armstrong still remains a great champion… doped or not ! Same for the others. They fought, the efforts are still there…
 
#124 ·
Re: Ch. Rochus talks about doping, suspects Soderling, maybe Rafa+ ATP threatened him

We could have taken growth hormones, but we never did it. We thought it was not worthy. Maybe we should have…. Maybe we would have never been caught up… Maybe my brother would be 17 centimenters (6.69 inches) taller and he would have been in the top 10… Everyone has to make choices. Do we really want to be in the worldwide top at all cost or are we content to be just a very good athlete, it’s all personal?

This is actually very interesting/funny as well.

It's really hard to imagine Olivier Rochus 17 centimeters taller. ;)
 
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#26 · (Edited)
Re: Ch. Rochus talks about doping, suspects Soderling, maybe Rafa+ ATP threatened him

Interesting article.

His suspects are strange, but interesting.

I actually don't understand the argument between injury and suspects...

Can anyone explain that?
 
#28 ·
Re: Ch. Rochus talks about doping, suspects Soderling, maybe Rafa+ ATP threatened him

the best thing is not the rumours or opinions he has, but how ATP tries to shut up these who mention these things, while there should be a public debate and much stricter controls (maybe even combined with police actions, like in cycling, where UCI was involved in dirty business)
 
#29 ·
GOD i'm seriously worried ... so basically i'm striving to be a player in a very corrupt sport :eek: that's gross and is really bothering me ... !
 
#31 ·
Kinda weird logic that just because you play good before an injury/sickness it's doping. Sure Soderling won his last tournament, but considering he played with sickness in his body the last tournaments it's nothing strange that it got worse.


Del Potro injured his wrist following a peak season. Rafa in both 2009 and 2012 actually had very solid results up until the injuries. And the list goes on.


In Christophes world injuries/sickness would only strike when out of shape anyway or what? It doesn't work that way. It's much more common that it strikes when a player has actually pushed themselves after a busy part of the season playing many matches.



I think if someone should be suspected it's the guys that never get injured/tired or get back very quickly after injury. That's when something is really fishy


Just like Armstrong when something is "too good to be true" it's probably too good to be true. We're only human...
 
#33 ·
If you kept paying off corrupt doctors you set yourself up to be blackmailed for even more money and eventually the truth would leak out anyway. You'd have to pay big money and even then they could leak the information some years into the future.


What would you do then as a player? Kill them? This is the real world not a fantasy movie.
 
#37 ·
i agree, its only a matter of time

i wonder why the ATP doesnt stripping of all Andre Agassi titles? He admitted that he used drugs
what more he needs to say to make the ATP to Revoke his titles
 
#34 ·
Re: Ch. Rochus talks about doping, suspects Soderling, maybe Rafa+ ATP threatened him

It's a good thread, thanks for translating the article. I just don't know what to think any more. Armstrong got away with everything. They took away his titles but he is still rich. He was interviewed by Oprah and he finally admitted that he was doping.

Tennis requires skills plus you have to be fit/fast etc. well, I guess Rochus knows more than us, just don't know :unsure:
 
#151 ·
Re: Ch. Rochus talks about doping, suspects Soderling, maybe Rafa+ ATP threatened him

Tennis requires skills plus you have to be fit/fast etc.
It is true that tennis requires skill, but without stamina, even if you are the most talented tennis player ever, you'd be nothing.

Example: Where would Nadal be if he did not have the fitness and stamina to chase every single ball?
 
#36 ·
Some players might be doping but until I see proof most of this is hearsay. You might say I'm sticking my head in the sand but IMO there's a lot of jealousy in tennis, and explaining away your failures by saying more successful players dope is one of them.
 
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