Moralspain wrote:do you live in Spain or you just say that because the media in your country says that? just curiosity. Because that statement is completely false, trust me, and please don't bring up the mafia drug theory AKA the reason for our good results in tennis, basketball, handball, football, cycling, F1, motorbikes etc. ( i bet the newspapers in my lovely France also say that as well), btw not saying we're not in drugs but i can guarantee that if spanish players are in drugs then the rest of countries are in drugs too.
But not having a political-economical discussion a tennis forum
Anyway i still think USA should get better results in tennis, such a big countries with so many players, i do believe they're doing something wrong, and they know about drugs more than Spain so….
Media of my country have nothing to do with my opinion, even if they - sometimes - publish interviews of guys accusing Spain athletes to be on drugs.
No, I say that because I used to work for 11 years for French Governement, 3 of them at sports ministry and 4 for Prime minister. During these 7 years, I worked on many european topics and have had many exchanges with Spanish concillors working at sports ministry as with concillors from sports ministries of other countries. Obviously, Spanish guys were very uncomfortable with every issues linked to drugs consumming. Among the reasons explaining that statement, some guys from your ministry explained to me that enforcement actions vs drugs was clearly not a priority in Spain since more than 20 years because everything started with Olympic Games attribution to Barcelona in the mid-80's. These games were such an opportunity for Spain to show the world it had deeply changed thanks to the Movida, the end of dictatorship, etc... that it was decided to make of Spanish Sports the most brightening showcase of new Spain. This is like this that an amazing generation of Spanish long and medium distance runners arrived from nowhere in a country where there was no tradition of running : Martin Fiz, Abel Anton, Fermin Cacho... All these guys made spectacular performance "jumps"... In cycling, after more than 15 years with nobody able to win a big race (since Luis Ocana retirement, in fact), Pedro Delgado and, above all, Indurain dominated Tour de France for years. BTW, Pedro Delgado was caught for drugs. It's funny to see that Spain made its first big progresses in sports where drugs use is clearly a big help to performance : running and cycling, both sports in which stamina is the most important factor (and what else than EPO for extra-stamina ?). Cyclists were so on drugs in Spanish teams that Laurent Jalabert, French rider for Once team, had refused to do races in France for more than 2 years as he was certain to be caught if he came and was controlled...
For the other sports, it came later in Spain while it was "the big party" in Italy, as you can see amazing Italian football club results in the 90's. Every football player that came to Italy changed radically : I know what I talk about, more than half of French football team players played in Italy => Look at Lilian Thuram, Didier Deschamps or Zinedine Zidane changes after a few years in Calcio (though, best example is not French : this is Juan-Sebastian Veron, who arrived as a human in Italy in 1996 and left to England 6 years later as a an American Football players who would have forgotten to leave his shoulder pads).
BTW, Zidane is a good guide in drugs world because he followed the drugs circuit in Europe : he was playing for Juve when club was convinced of drugs abuses in the 90's and he played for Real Madrid at time club was linked to doctor Fuentes. It's funny to know that Zidane was not controled for drugs abuse after he received red card in round robin game vs Saudi Arabia at world cup 1998, neither he was after his famous red card in 2006 world cup final, however it's an obligation to control a player that received red car in a world cup match. I take Zidane example because it's quite comparable to Nadal's case in tennis : the guy is so important for his sport's business that all the official organizations protect him, even if he's out of rules.
About the political weapon, Spain already used sport in that way 50 years ago with Franco that decided himself of football transfers between Real and Barca, for example. In the early 90's, with the first economical crisis touching Spain since end of Franco era, governement discovered that football could be a big weapon to keep populations quiet. Then it was the end of any control in Spanish sports, about drugs like about finances. Spanish clubs could lost hundred of millions, it was not a point as they still won. With such a policy, a club like Valence had more than 400 million euros debt last year (and for 3 years) but it could still play in the Liga. In France or Germany, club would have been dissolved for a long time.
Other thing : how can you believe that your football players are clean when you know - and it's official - that pre-season medical programs of Real AND Barca were prepared for several years by Eufeminao Fuentes... Seriously...
Last thing : I disagree with you. This is not because Spanish sportsmen are on drugs that it means that all other are also on. For sure, there are some cheaters in other countries. But for almost 10 years now (and the appearance of huge drugs enforcement policies in sport), there is no drug system in countries like Italy or France. People caught on drugs do that by themselve, not with a real official system closing its eyes. Unfortunately, I'm convinced such a system is still on in Spain...
by BrushedBigJJ » Wed, 05 Feb 2014 20:36 
