Floyd’s Fight Against System Takes Major Step Forward
Yesterday, as the news was breaking on the Floyd Landis decision, every headline included something about Floyd losing the arbitration. It is true, Floyd did lose the arbitration, and he must give up his Tour de France championship. However, throughout this whole process, Floyd has been selling his defense as more than just his personal defense. He has been selling it as a fight against the anti-doping system that treats athletes unfairly. To this end, Landis made significant headway in his fight to prove that the system is broken.
The two arbitrators that voted against Landis often point out sloppy work by the lab that tested the samples. At one point, the arbitrators even warn that future sloppiness in work practices could lead to a case being dismissed in the future.
Page 77 of Majority Opinion States:
…the forensic corrections of the Lab reflect sloppy practise on its part. If such practises continue it may well be that in the future an error like this could result in the dismissal of an AAF finding by the Lab.
Floyd struck a blow on that one. The lab has been warned, and this gives athletes tested in the future documented ammunition against the lab if the sloppy work continues.
Christopher Campbell, the arbitrator that dissented in favor of Landis, points out numerous errors in the drug testing and in the way that the system is stacked against the athlete. Most significantly he points to WADA’s code of ethics, which preclude an expert with a WADA relationship to testify in favor of an athlete.
Page 8-9 of Mr. Campbell’s Dissenting Opinion:
It was disclosed during the hearing that the Laboratory Directors are bound by an Ethics Code of Conduct that has been interpreted to preclude them from disclosing the errors of one of their fellow laboratories on behalf of an athlete. In other words, if a Laboratory Director knew that another laboratory had made an error and that error was causing an innocent athlete to be convicted of a doping offense, they could not testify on behalf of the athlete and disclose the error. …WADA’s purported “Code of Ethics” [unnecessarily] operates as an obstacle to the search for truth.
Mr. Campbell’s conclusion is a blow to WADA’s testing and adjudication protocol.
Page 26 of Mr. Campbell’s Opinion:
WADA should be writing rules that mandate the highest scientific standards rather than writing rules for a race to the bottom of scientific reliability so convictions can be easily obtained.
I hope that Floyd has been sincere in his quest to change the system to better serve athletes. If he is truly sincere in this mission, and I believe he is, he scored a victory in the arbitrators opinions made public yesterday. Both the Majority and the Dissenting opinion’s had strong language against the Lab and WADA. Floyd now has 1 year and 4 months to use these strong opinions to continue his fight against a doping system that is broken. The Floyd Fairness Fund should live on to finish the job of making the system fair. Then, maybe a few years from now, another rider can avoid the stress, heartache, and financial ruin that has been unfairly heaped on the Landis family.
Leave a Reply