Tom Meeusen, Telenet-Fidea, along with Bart Wellens, and U23 Worlds favorite, Laurens Sweeck, have been Deemed ineligible to ride the World Cyclocross Championships in Tabor Czech Republic, at the end of the month. The Belgian Federation did this.
It all goes back to an investigation of a Belgian doctor, Chris Merlens, in which these guys are accused of manipulating their blood by withdrawing it and using ozone to treat it. One rider has already been suspended for 2 years from the investigation.
Anyway, Cyclingnews has an article today titled “Meeusen to take legal action after Worlds exclusion.” I read the article and I’ll bet you just about anything he doesn’t. I suppose that he team could sue someone over the exclusion, but Tom Meeusen isn’t going to be suing anyone personally.
I don’t don’t personally know Tom Meeusen. So, I have no personal knowledge, at all, about the situation. I say this because of the answers the guy gave for the Cyclingnews story.
Not once did he say that he didn’t do it. Not once did he seem outraged or like an injustice had been carried out against him. It takes a guy like Lance, someone with a ton of arrogance, to file legal against someone else when they know they are guilty. I don’t think that is Meeusen.
Like I said above, he never states his innocence. Tries to but actually sort of admits guilt. He says, “I’ve been there for injections, that’s the only thing I might have done wrong.”
This is the 2nd time that he has been withdrawn from the Belgian World’s Team. He didn’t get to compete in Louisville two years ago. And he didn’t sue anyone then, even though he missed that race.
I think it is better not to threaten to do things that you have no intention of following through on. I don’t think that posturing is going to help him in this situation. It only seems to get these guys into more trouble.
Making threats is a slippery slope and is never a smart thing to do. The problem is that sooner or later, the person making the threats will be forced to either act on the threat or they will look like an ass. It’s not a good position to put oneself in by shooting your mouth off.
The same can be said about bragging. As an example, let’s say that a person brags about being a pro athlete when he or she is not a pro and tells loads of fantastic stories. Sooner or later, that person will be in a position of needing to prove their claims to make others believe. If they can’t or won’t they’ll look like an ass. It’s an age old problem with humans.
Basically, the easiest way to deal with matters is to be truthful from the beginning and to not make threats that you will be forced to act upon. By being truthful and acting honestly, you don’t have to worry about anything. You simply tell the truth. Yes, I know telling the truth is an alien concept to many, but it does work and it makes life just a little easier for all concerned.
“I’ve been there for injections, that’s the only thing I might have done wrong.”
So that’s where we are now? “I’m doing what is expected of me and what all of the others are doing; no way am I part of pushing the P.E.D. envelope with new and non-detectable methods….no that isn’t what I believe in….I believe in fair sport where everyone dopes but all at the same level.”
Wow things are really starting to get cleaned-up!
The way I see it, they are either clear to race or they are not. Why let them ride all season and then pull them only from Worlds? Investigate, indict, suspend, trial, convict/acquit, punish/set free. Is it really that hard? This on/off punishment is BS; doing this twice to Meeusen smells funny.
I have seen an interview with Tom about this on Belgian TV, and there he answers clearly that he didn`t do anything wrong, that he visited this doctor for synus problems. Now I know that this all sounds very stupid but keep in mind that he is not prohibited to race any other race it is not a sanction by the UCI or WADA or whomever it is just the BWB that chooses not to select these 3 riders because they where/are clients of this doctor who has been found guilty of providing and encouraging athletes (not only cyclists) to use ozon-therapy and other stuff. So its like “Touriste-Routier” says above, sanction them or let them ride.
And the reason he didn`t sue the 1º time was because he wanted to respect the rules and wait for a ruling. But now it is 2 years later and still nothing has happened, so why did they allow these riders to ride all the WB races up until now? Nothing new has come to light. This just stinks. I´m all for clean sport but it is time that there is 1 agency in charge of this so everybody knows clearly how, what, when, etc…
It is outrages to stop L. Sweeck from competing he would have been World Champion (90% sure). And also Meeusen was at least a medal candidate.
From cyclingquotes.com:
Tom Meeusen makes it clear that he “has nothing to do with ozone therapy”. “I have not used it,” he says.
and “I have done nothing wrong.”
http://www.cyclingquotes.com/news/meeusen_i_dont_know_what_to_do_now/
So at a different source, he does state his innocence. In this case, he’s guilty by association until proven innocent, having never failed a test or passport or witness testimony.
Not outraged?
He said “if you give me a baseball bat I wouldn’t know who to swing at”
This came from left field.
Ozone is really dangerous, it’s a very strong oxidant, forms peroxides, and causes cell damage. It sounds like quackery in the context of blood doping: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3312702/
like all world class cyclists, he’s doping in one way or another..
Same sport same outcome all dirty to the gills. Think senior van der poel passed on any of his positives to his all of a sudden fantastic son. Course they all need to keep up so on it goes.
Well Steve justice has been done, all 3 of them are cleared (for the moment) and eligible to ride the Worlds.
There was no other possibility for the court then to dismiss the BWB on this case.
Now hopefully we don`t here from it ever again.