Rob, Rambling - A lot of things interest me...

The Daily Mail amuses me sometimes. Usually it irritates me beyond belief, but sometimes it’s so incredulous that I can’t help but find it funny.

Take this story, for example, which details some made-up anger about the BBC hiring ex-tennis player Martina Hingis as one of their celebs on the new series of Strictly Come Dancing (the forerunner of Dancing With The Stars in the US).

The Daily Mail and their handily available angry commentators Mediawatch UK are up in arms because Hingis was forced to quit tennis for a second time last year after a positive test for cocaine. She denies it, obviously, but the ITF still banned her for two years.

My issue isn’t with that.

It’s the way that another celeb in this year’s line-up is being given a free pass, and has been for the last few years by the media.

Scroll down to the bottom of the article and look at the group photo. See the guy on the left?

That’s ex-cricketer Phil Tufnell. He has a criminal conviction for assaulting his then wife. Not just an accusation or a rumour. A full on, court of law guilty judgment against him.

How the fuck is maybe using cocaine worse than assaulting someone?!?! The Daily Mail’s morals (as ever) are sorely misguided on this one.

The UK government is going to make a number of “party drugs” illegal by the end of this year, ostensibly in a bit of a knee-jerk reactions to a couple of deaths after the consumption of these drugs. The drugs are currently sold openly in the UK, and over the internet, but from next year possession with intent to supply will carry a maximum jail sentence of 14 years, with mere possession punishable by up to five years in prison.

Already, I’ve seen accusations of nanny state-ism, and as usual references are made to the existing legal death aids of alcohol and cigarettes.

My issue, however, is with the reasoning that making something illegal will reduce the number of deaths from it. I say that, because today it was announced that deaths from illegal drugs rose 8% year-on-year, including a 20% rise in cocaine-related deaths.

Now cocaine has been illegal since forever. So that policy is working, then…

As an afterthought to that photo concerning the Tour de France, I’m delighted to say that this year’s Tour was the cleanest for many, many years. I wrote last year a few times about the tainting of the sport through drug use, and it’s great to see that the sport has cleaned up its act.

This truly was a great Tour de France, and I especially liked having the penultimate stage finishing with a massive climb, to really test the mettle of the leading bunch. The route this year was pretty solid, taking in a good few mountain stages, but also giving the sprinters stages to aim at too. And starting with a time trial that involved a hefty climb was a fantastic idea. That really sorted the men from the boys, straight from the off.

Hopefully they’ll be back to London for the prologue in a few years time; the 2010 Tour starts in Rotterdam next July, and I’m already looking forward to it.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but I’m going to hark back to the Tour de France and drugs again. Yet another couple of riders have now tested positive and had their results removed from this year’s race.

Unfortunately, they were both stage winners, bringing the total number of stages won by drug cheats in this year’s Tour to five. Riccardo Ricco was banned during the race while still in possession of the King of the Mountains jersey and after having won a couple of stages.

As I said of Ricco at the time, “he has denied the glory of a stage win to a legitimate competitor.”

Winning a stage of the greatest cycling road race is pretty much the highlight of any competitive cyclist’s career, save for winning the whole Tour itself. And these drug cheats have not only cheated their way to victory, but have prevented legitimate competitors from experiencing that high. It’s all well and good being awarded a stage victory 3 months later, but it’s not the same as standing on that podium.

Drug cheats should be banned from all sport, for life. It’s the only way.

I’ve posted a fair bit in the last month or so about drug use in sport (1, 2, 3, 4), and it got me thinking about why I am so vehemently anti-drugs in this sense, even to the point of being ashamed of a gold medal winner from my own country.

It’s because I invest so much in watching sport. Not financially, but emotionally. I get so involved with watching every sport (especially when it’s my team or country competing) that to know it could be tainted would crush me.

The sheer enjoyment factor of watching sport is knowing that anything could happen. Yes, the better team will win 9 times out of 10, but that single occasion when the underdogs win makes it unpredictable and gloriously enthralling.

Having a level playing field is one of the most important aspects of sport. If someone is cheating, and that’s what drug use is, then it is patently unfair, and removes any notion of a sporting contest. And it’s the contest we pay to see. Yes, it’s great when your team is involved, as you feel an even deeper emotional connection, but just to watch a match between two teams, or individuals competing against each other, is to appreciate sport for what it is: a contest.

It’s for the same reason that I detest any rigging of matches, like Hansie Cronje did in cricket at the end of the 90s. That also removes the element of fairness from the game, which in turn takes away the lustre of the contest.

What I’m trying to say is that I love sport, and probably always will. The only thing which would turn me off is persistent cheating, especially if the authorities turn a blind eye to it. Thankfully, most sports bodies seem to be getting their houses in order on the drugs front, which is the most obvious form of cheating.

Next year, I hope to watch events like the Tour de France and the athletics World Championships, and not have that nagging question in my head: “Are they clean?”

So we got our first gold medal in the Athletics today, Christine Ohuruogu in the women’s 400m. Hurrah, you would think.

But I’m genuinely disappointed that she’s even there, competing, let alone won the raced and will now be feted as a hero of British athletics.

For those that don’t know, Ohuruogu skipped three out-of-competition drugs tests in 2006, and was banned from all competition for 12 months. She came back in 2007, won the World Championships, and has today added the Olympic title.

I’ve made my feelings on drug use in sport known already on this blog, and it bears repeating here:

My reasoning is that the use of steroids is not like using nitrous in a car. It’s not an instant boost with no long-lasting effects. Steroid use (over many years) actually changes your physiology. It makes your bones stronger, your muscles denser, can increase blood flow and generally make you harder, better, faster, stronger.

And these things don’t instantly go away when you stop using drugs, unlike the effects of nitrous. You remain stronger, with your insides irrevocably altered. So even if you’re clean five years later, you still have the benefits of having used drugs previously.

Ohuruogu did not fail a drugs test, I acknowledge that. She is not in the same position as Dwain Chambers. But skipping drugs tests, especially three is for me as bad as actually failing one. If you miss one through bad luck, forgetfulness or so on, fair enough.

But three?! Sorry, but that’s unacceptable. She fully deserved her ban, and should’ve been treated the same way as any other drug cheat by the British Olympic Association: a lifetime ban on competing in the Olympics.

Through all manner of legal protests, she had her Olympic ban overturned, although she had to serve out her one-year ban from all competitions. Thus she was free to compete today.

This whole Ohuruogu saga has truly tainted the success of the British team in these Olympics for me. We’ve done so well, a lot better than anyone had expected, but now we have a drug cheat as part of our gold-winners.

I’m ashamed, truly ashamed that Christine Ohuruogu was allowed to represent my country in these Olympic Games.

But, I have to say a fantastic well done to the whole cycling team, who picked up another pair of gold medals today, as well as a silver. Tremendous work.