Back in 2006, when Floyd Landis was accused of using illegal substances to improve his performance in the Tour De France, the chorus of condemnation from the Dutch-speakers of the world was startlingly venomous. It was suggested at the time that of course he was a fake, as were all Americans, he couldn't help it - Americans were ethically crippled and morally bankrupt. All of them. No exceptions.
And it was well-known that Americans 'never played fair, were entirely unsportsmanlike, and had an insufferable level of arrogance. Of course they all cheated! Americans were incapable of winning otherwise! In any sport! Lazy fat thieving bastards! Hmmph!'
I made mention of those remarks at the time:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2006/07/floyd-landis-and-effects-of-venereal.html
2007
The year after that, the Europeans proved what adept students they were of so-called ""American"" methods.
Several of them got kicked out of the Tour De France for doping.
And I made mention of that at the time:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2007/07/tour-de-france-revisited-2007-is.html
You can probably already see where this essay is heading, can't you?
Yes.
2009
Dutch Cyclist Thomas Dekker has tested positive for banned substances.
Algemeen Dagblad article (in Dutch):
http://www.sportwereld.nl/wielrennen/3334371/Dekker_niet_naar_Tour_wegens_epo.html
AP: Dutch cyclist Dekker out of Tour de France
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=cycling&id=4299677
And:
http://www.cleveland.com/sportsflash/index.ssf?/base/sports-51/124646722031260.xml&storylist=sports
Quote:
BRUSSELS -- Dutch cyclist Thomas Dekker will not take part in the Tour de France after testing positive for the illegal blood-booster EPO.
His Silence-Lotto team says Wednesday that the cyclist recently learned a retested urine sample taken in December 2007 contained the banned hormone. Dekker was riding for the Dutch racing team Rabobank when the sample was taken.
HIGHER EXPECTATIONS?
After the disastrous doping scandals of 2007 and 2008, one would naturally think that athletes would be much more careful than in the carefree days of the past. Caution, and common sense, both suggested that a return to genuine sportsmanlike behaviour was advisable, even if one was ethically crippled and morally bankrupt.
Alas, it seems like that lesson was lost on the Dutch.
One wonders how the America-haters among the Netherlandish rabble will excuse this behaviour?
Will they cleverly find some way to never-the-less blame the Yanks?
One suspects that they will.
They'll invent it otherwise.
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AFTERWORD
I suppose I should apologize for the extraordinarily high neener neener neener quotient of this blogpost. It is very un-Dutch of me.
If I had assimilated better in the Netherlands, I would just give a wry smile and resolve to forget about any Dutch athletes whose behaviour and unsportsmanlike attitude reflected badly on the Netherlands, after all, one cannot take the action of one rotten apple as representative, and in any case no one is entirely blameless. Surely reasonable people realize that the Dutch, more than any other nation, have adhered to certain standards?
Het spijt me, maar nee. Ik heb eigenlijk absoluut geen zin om mij voor bovenstaand schrijven te verontschuldigen. Ik heb daarvoor gewoonweg teveel schadenfreude, teveel leedvermaak, en echt gewoon te veel eerlijk plezier in Kaasje-pesten voor.
Die Dekker, tsjonge-jonge-jonge. Wat een ranzige wan-voorbeeld!
En hoe onsportief toch!
Please feel free to leave comments telling me how most remarkably un-Dutch it is of me to have so much fun at your expense. I shall be sure to read them all.
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2 comments:
Doping and bicycle racing go hand-in-hand through history. It has always been a contest to find dope that isn't spotted by the authorities. The sport demands so much effort from a racer that the resort to dope is the only way of improving, or of even keeping one's place because everyone else (who has a chance of winning) is doping.
The Dutch have always been jealous of anyone who has good dope or who hasn't gotten caught. The Dutch are good flat-land racers but traditionally suffer in the hills (in that there are none where they come from). On the flats, though, a Dutchman is pretty darned good to have in front of you when there's a wind (they're used to that) and you need somebody to draft behind.
Bob
why not send a few days in a chamber with a low amount of oxygen. that is what mountain-climbers do. should do the trick.
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