Do you think Floyd Landis is guilty or for doping?

Question

He tested positive from the backup sample. Yes, I know that there were some outside stuff in the sample. But do you think Floyd Landis was actually really guilty?

A Rebuttal: But aren't you supposed to take that drug at least more than once?
I'm kinda confused.

Answer 1

Yes he's guilty the tests are fool proof he's just going to drag this
out to the end rather than do the right thing and admit it but the
result will be the same.

Answer 2

Yes, because of the presence of synthetic testosterone which is a sign that it was foreign to his body and somehow introduced. Regardless of whether or not his testosterone level was normal or his epitesterone level was high, that is enough. This issue has been made more complicated by all kinds of hidden biases held by people. Many US cycling experts are leery of the European community because of lack of respect in the past. This includes people like Bob Roll...(The Tour day France guy on OLN), many European commentators are leery of US excuses....especially after Tyler Hamilton's episode. Additionally, the atmosphere in cycling and throughout the sporting world is sullied by drug scandals like Operacion Puerto in Spain, Balco in the United States and the recent positive testing of Justin Gatlin. Landis has not helped his cause....atleast three different reasons for the positive sample have come up in the last week....first cortisone, then whisky, then fatigue. Some Landis defender's have also gotten caught up in the testosterone-epitestosterone debate...that was relevant until the disclosure of synthetic testosterone. Others by Landis' Mennonite background. Floyd is no longer a practicing Mennonite. He left that life to become a cyclist. I have great respect for Floyd Landis. He was a good support rider first for US Postal and then for Phonak and his season was off to a great start. However, unless the presence of synthetic testosterone can somehow be explained away...I think he's guilty.

Answer 3

No, I find it hard to believe a Mennonite would be guilty of using performance enhancing drugs. This guys' family doesn't even believe in driving a car, how in the heck is he then about to do drugs? Landis' performance in the last stage is not unheard of. The power he put out (in Watts) was not unheard of, Landis' had recorded such wattage in many practices before the Tour de France.

The guy is such a goody goody that conspirators thought he was a prime target to steal his first place and give it to Oscar Parrera. If there were indeed people like this ready to steal and replace the urine sample with some friend of theirs who they knew for a fact had testosterone in their system, no doubt they would fabricate both A and B samples. What I would like to see done is DNA testing on the urine sample tested and test it against Landis' blood sample and see if the identity matches up. Then and ONLY then would it be fail-proof to say he did or did not do it.

To answer the other people who gave wrong answers, no, urine testing is not foolproof especially if the sample gets swapped. And to the other person, no, the urine sample did have true testosterone in the sample and yes it was synthetic testosterone, the news reports are true.

How can someone be negative for all tests, except for one day of positive testosterone? This is really hard to believe, how could I ever conclude for a fact he did it? I just can't because it is all too often know that life is filled with corruption. And for that, I can't ever conclude he didn't do it, but signs are at least pointing in favor of Landis' by looking at the clues for corruption.

Answer 4

He's definitely guilty for 2 reasons:

1) He made a huge comeback – he was dying in one stage and lost a huge amount of time, and then the next stage, he's kicking serious *** and beating everyone. It's possible to comeback yes, but not that way. The chemicals were giving him the edge that day.

2) When allegations first started and was asked by the press if he was guilty or not, he responded: "I'm going to say no." – It's either yes or no. NOT "I'm going to say..." Imagine saying that in court? No one would accept that as a legitimate answer.

And as a final observation: he looked very uncomfortable on the podium when he won. An honest athlete having gone through the Tour de France (a dream for many cyclists) would've been ecstatic. He looked nervous and guilty – almost like he knew he was gonna get busted. At the time I couldn't put it all together – he just seemed to act strange. But it all makes sense now.

Oh well, at least after he's dethroned he won't have any more competition amoung his Mennonite peers Jebediah and Ezekiel.

Answer 5

There is no doubt in my mind that Floyd is telling the truth. He did NOT cheat to win the race. It is very sad to me that Americans can be so easily led about.. rather like sheep. Why is it so easy for people to point the finger, call him a liar and cheat, than to stand up and say.."I believe you Floyd...something fishy went on and it had nothing to do with you."
If you watched him..truly watched him during his interview with Matt Lauer and Jay Leno you'd see that he was not lying. Liars tend to have shifty eyes, fidget in their seats, pause before answering, fiddle with their personal belongings... none of which Floyd did. Unless he were a pathological liar he'd exhibit some/one of these signs. He spent 15 years of hard work and dedication to even race in the Tour de France, why would he risk losing the title and more importantly his reputation by cheating? and in such a way that could easily be proven.. There is NO WAY Floyd Landis would cheat... ABSOLUTELY no way..

Answer 6

The situation with Landis has been reported incorrectly in the media over and over. He did not test high for testosterone. His ratio of testosterone to epitesterone was tested abnormally high, and that was because the epitestosterone level was low, not because he had an elevated level of testosterone. This is significant because it indicates he did not take testosterone. Do some digging in the news reports and you will see that this is the situation. There is something very strange about the whole scenario, and Landis is being crucified by people who have very little understanding of performance enhancing drugs, the drug testing process, and the sport of cycling.

Answer 7

I don't know whether he is guilty or not. But let me tell you this: I think that the French officials have it in for American athletes, because it is a coincidence that they first accuse Lance Armstrong of doping, then another American athlete (I don't remember his name at the moment), and now Landis.

I think that if someone should be investigated, the officials should be the ones, as they're obviously trying to frame American athletes.

Answer 8

I really want to believe Floyd, and I'm going to hang in there until all of the facts are out. It's a bit disturbing that the tests showed the presence of synthetic testosterone. That's the most damaging evidence so far. It's pretty unlikely that the tests are wrong, so how did the stuff get into his body? Was he "drugged"? Did he accidentaly consume something that contained synthetic testosterone? It seems far fetched, but who knows? Is there testosterone in steak? I have no idea. Bottom line is, I'm not ready to proclaim his guilt, but as Ricky used to say "He's got some 'splainin to do".

Answer 9

While natural testosterone and HGH is often taken in sports in general, it would be extraordinarily unusual for an athlete in the lead to take inferior synthetic drugs.

So, it is my believe that he is guilty--because somebody switched his usual "vitamins" for some that were inferior, OR, that the inferior drugs were "slipped" into his food or drink without his knowledge.

This is because betting on the TDF is legal in France and then anyone unexpected in the lead can generate thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of instant potential enemies because of their suddenly increased risk of financial loss.

Even if he is guilty through misfortune as outlined above, avoiding this is a required part of the sport, even though it is not usually discussed. This is not different from similar hazards faced by almost all other sports.

Answer 10

Guilty.