« We are not cycling. (…) We have no lesson to be taught by any other sport. » Two days before the kick off of World Championships in Athletics, former IAAF president Lamine Diack has protected his sport by attacking ours. MPCC would remind the recorded figures in 2014: our sport-by-sport doping case statistics highlighted Athletics as the sport with the biggest figure (95 cases for professional athletes). Cycling’s was six times lower (16 released cases).
Once again this year Athletics remains the most affected sport with 29 cases as at 26 August – 4 more than baseball or weightlifting, 14 more than cycling which totals 15 cases with only 4 in the World Tour.
Identifying cases of doping is not an easy task and is subject to discretion if required by their respective international federations, some do not advertise doping cases in their discipline. Cycling, in contrast, reveals each positive test. Our numbers are therefore based on proven cases in 2014, according to official communications federations and anti-doping agencies, etc…
As a reminder, in 2013 cycling was the sport with the highest number of blood tests conducted. All tests taken into account, athletics figure reached 24 942, cycling 22 252. By comparison, 1 800 athletes are taking part into Beijing 2015 World Championships, 198 riders competed in the Tour de France.
All sports have to face the antidoping challenge – that is highlighted by these infographics. International sport association presidents have to admit that the fight must be universal.
