Are National Sport Federations Inept?

A BBC reporter caught up with Pat McQuaid at a velodrome and he offers an explanation for the seemingly circuitous and protracted process the UCI took to appeal the surprise Alberto Contador Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) exoneration to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS). Pat McQuaid assures everyone that the UCI considers the Alberto Contador excuse of "tainted meat" as unbelievable nonsense worthy of an appeal. Therefore, McQuaid assures us that the UCI felt compelled to appeal the Spanish decision to the CAS.

Of course, no one is going to argue the merits of an appeal of an exoneration that most cycling fanatics deem a unbelievable, unwarranted gift. The deed is done, the works are in process, it is only a question of how long will the appeal process take? Will we have a decision before the Giro d' Italia, before the Tour de France, or before the next Classic begins? Pat McQuaid was asked the very pertinent question, if Alberto Contador is allowed to continue racing until the CAS makes a decision, if Contador wins the 2011 Tour de France or the 2011 Giro d' Italia, or more Classics, will the UCI be forced to disqualify everything, in addition to the 2010 Tour de France victory? That could prove to be a sticky wicket of a legal problem for the UCI, the legal experts could argue until doomsday over the legal jurisdictional issues in the case, because as Pat McQuaid assures us, the CAS is an "independent body" of the UCI and the RFEC would have been avoided if the AFLD would have forced Alberto Contador to sign an illegal separate agreement not to race in France as long as the case was active, since they had a historical precedence for such an action.

Botheration, we are not talking of chump change here, but of thousands of Euros of prize money and an infinetly contestable circus. The whole issue cou resigned protesting French government inaction, interest, and funding of anti-doping programs, the AFLD has been reduced to the status of toothless tiger, weak and inept. Of course, Amuary Sport Organization could employ the Marco Pantani rule: all former champions who are under suspicion of doping, and their teams, will never be allowed to compete in a Tour de France, since the race is privately owned, and the teams are allowed to compete by invitation only. This would prove ASO "independence" from both the UCI and the CAS. If only they would act.

The RFEC decision will forever be regarded as a huge blunder and that is a shame, because it destroys the notion that national federations can act in an unbiased, independent fashion. Clearly, most national sport federations (Spain and Kazakhstan excepted) are very competent in zealous prosecution of performance enhancing drug abuse and they insist upon letter perfect suspensions allowed by statute. If all national federations were consistent, there would be no need for the UCI, WADA, or other alphabet soup. Imagine the savings to riders and teams who have to make mandatory monetary contributions to these organizations.

Just saying.