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Oh yeah, he's being a total bell-end
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On the face of it, he sounds like a dickhead, and he may well be. However I can see the frustration of trying to compete clean, sacrificing what pro-riders do and then finding out about a loophole potentially being exploited by your rivals. Not saying it makes him right, but I guess maybe they're comments born more out of frustration rather than some kind of discriminatory attitude. Could be wrong, though.
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I think something was misconstrued. He's released a press statement in German. I can't understand it though.
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Thoughts?
He's probably just ignorant rather than being a complete tool. I'm inclined to agree with the thrust of his argument that people on industrial strength drugs shouldn't be given in-competition TUEs, and that's broadly the MPCC position.
The science on performance enhancing side effects of therapeutic drugs is not settled, and I'd support a more prescriptive approach by WADA in cases where there is well founded doubt, rather than the current position which seems to give the benefit of the doubt to the proposition that there is no performance enhancement.
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Mickie_Cricket
Tonts
skinny
gbj_tester
@Oliver Schick
So, I find this attitude problematic:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/oct/14/marcel-kittel-cyclists-severe-asthma-paralympics
Yes, certain kinds of asthma can be considered a disability. However, if reasonable adjustments can be provided to offset the effects of a disability, then that should be done, and disabled people shouldn't be put into a separate box away from the mainstream. Think Sarah Storey and her adjustment to her handlebars--she can easily live with a pro peloton and should not 'only' be considered a Paralympian.
Obviously, the question with asthma medication is whether it may confer an additional performance advantage over and above a reasonable adjustment for disability, and there I get the impression (I'm not a doctor) that it's mainly the choice of medication that made Wiggins' TUE problematic, and I've read comments suggesting that other drugs would have been more appropriate. (I don't know anything about the drugs side, though.)
I'm not sure what the law in Germany says exactly about the kind of comments made by Kittel, but over here they are clearly discriminatory in the eyes of the law.
Thoughts?