I have a very hard time remembering how much of sport nowadays is driven by the financial ingredient. Most sport, in the purest form, is a beautiful thing, no matter what the sport is. But when the professional aspects of it start to pollute the beauty of it, then it starts to make you wonder if the mass recognition the sport receives is worth the destructive nature the money, that follows, brings.
I’m not saying that all the cheating and drugs used in sports is because of money, but I think that really gives a huge incentive to not abide by the rules.
Cycling has only become a money driven sport quite recently. If you look back just one generation, that wasn’t the situation. Look at Davis Phinney and his son Taylor (who just made the Olympic Team in both the TT and road race, congratulations!). I remember Davis saying that Taylor’s contract with BMC was more than all the money that Davis made the whole time he raced. And Davis had a pretty long and successful career. That is a pretty cool thing when an athlete can make enough money during his career to allow him to live the rest of his life. It really is.
But the addition of huge amounts of money into most sports tends to bring out the worst in human nature. It kind of makes you wonder if the original Olympics games, only allowing amateurs to compete, might of been alright. I remember when they first started letting professionals race bicycles in the Olympic games. I was all for it. But, when you look back upon it, with Pascal Richardson and Jan Ulrich, etc. winning the road race, maybe it wasn’t such a great idea. Only recently have the professionals given the Olympics the respect the event deserves. It seems like before it was more of an after thought than a focus.
It is so strange to the extent that bicycle riders will go to ride their bikes fast. When Richard Virenque finally spilled his guts, two years after the Festina doping affair, he said that he did over 1000 injections that year. I can’t imagine risking my health so for only fame and money. And that is the same for the lots of other riders that don’t get the fame, only some of the money. It seems so silly.
The weird thing is that cycling really doesn’t have any money in it compared to lots and lots of other sports. Sometimes it is nice to just put the bad thoughts out of my mind and just try to concentrate on the beauty of sport. It is getting harder and harder.
You think bike racing draws in money, check out the hotel prices in Austin in November for the Formula One race. Hotels.com had only one listing with 211 hotels not available.
This Country Inn and Suites is a great deal, but only 1 room left.
How do you explain all the Masters racers they race for $650/8?
It’s Pascal Richard, not Richardson.
I think that their are some dark days a head from the fall out of the Armstrong allegations. Now this morning hearing who has turned down a spot in the Olympics,, all ex teammates that were linked to the doping allegations of landis . Had to explain to my 8 year old what the people on the news meant about lance,,, Enough all ready. Black Eye
It’s all very strange. The favorites for the TdF are not racing the month before. Four riders opt out of the Olympics. That all makes Andy Schleck’s injury a little suspect doesn’t it? What’s next?
I have been thinking about this for some time and all i can come up with is money drives everything. I am not sure if it is better to get on board or be left behind.
I feel like it’s the beauty, tradition and people that draw me not only to the sport but bicycling in general. I once said about my local club, that while I may not love everyone and them me I would trust any of them with my wallet and/or grandchildren. I still feel that way and when I travel and ride elsewhere am amazed how it is the same. Blogs like yours only reinforces this feeling(s).
It’s dismaying to see so many cyclists jump on the bogus jingoistic Olympic bandwagon. It’s really just a hyper version of the Miss Universe competition. Since spots are allocated to countries, there is no guarantee that the best athletes in the world actually meet in competition. The bakshish involved, especially to the selection committee, is a scandal that makes doping in cycling really minor league. The security in London is going to be so oppressive that nobody, including the athletes themselves, is going to enjoy the experience. At the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, no spectators were even allowed to watch the cycling races from near the barriers. The Olympics, created from the start as a money-making endeavor, have somehow attained an institutional status that’s undeserved, similar to the glorified amusement park that is Disneyland.
The original Olympians weren’t amateurs. They were paid to appear by the town/city’s rich guy and utilized much like animals. I know it is romantic to think of the early Olympics as pure but they were hardly that.