The Curse of the Asterix

Unfortunately it has become far too common in modern sport, it occurs in all sports and it is never a good sign.

Examples of the asterix range from Marseille in the European Champions League, to England v South Africa and England v Pakistan cricket games.

In case the title didn't give it away, it's the curse of the asterix. The little sign -*- that denotes a disclaimer around what is seemingly a fact or statistic.

Cycling*

In light of the Contador case my focus is on cycling.

To be honest since the Tour de France was invented their could be an asterix over many of the tours. As early as the second tour in 1904 there is an asterix next to the name of Henri Cornet, who finished 5th but became defacto winner by virtue of the other 4 having at some point taken the train during the race!

Then the race became blighted by drugs, except it was an unwritten rule, Henri Pelissier the winner in 1923, claimed that he took cocaine and chloroform for his eyes and gums.

The list goes on of Champions and the tainted varnish drugs smeers over their trophies, even the great Eddy Merckx, 5 times Tour de France and Giro D'italia winner tested positive three times (although never in the Tour).

Landis and Contador
The 2006 tour with the Landis affair seemed like the ultimate, his performance that day defied belief, and subsequently proved that belief to be correct.

The 2010 tour will now forever be tainted by the bain of sport the asterix, though it will now say Andy Schleck won, the truth is there is no winner just an asterix that says the winner cheated.

What makes the whole episode so farcical is that Contador was able to continue to compete and continue to win. The fact that ban of two years is partially retrospective, meaning he only has 6 months left to serve, means all the wins since the positive test are now subject to the asterix.

The link here shows how long that list will now be http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/new-winners-emerge-from-contadors-suspension it is incredible how it has taken so long for this all to be played out, the truth is there is now some closure, but the record books will never be truly closed.

*if you wish to read an interesting synopsis of the Contador verdict click here.