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An 80-year-old cycling granny set a world record. Then she was accused of doping


JerrySTL

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12 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

Most 80 year olds are doping.

Which was (sort of) her excuse! 

It's sort of tough as she had an opportunity for the TUE, and no one has to compete in UCI & Masters events to enjoy cycling, but by 70 or 80, marginal gains are probably a good bit less important than in the 18-40 hyper-competitive fields.

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1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

Which was (sort of) her excuse! 

It's sort of tough as she had an opportunity for the TUE, and no one has to compete in UCI & Masters events to enjoy cycling, but by 70 or 80, marginal gains are probably a good bit less important than in the 18-40 hyper-competitive fields.

It may be really important for older people to be recognized for physical accomplishments.

When I was in my 60's I began piano lessons from scratch, and a few years later auditioned and was selected for the Adult Program's ACE Recital of the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, I was thrilled.  At a later ACE Recital, when I was approached and complimented by a Grand Opera Diva for my interpretation of Schumann's "First Sorrow" - putting a lot of "sorrow" in it, it was one of the highlights of my later life.

There used to be a saying in the Jaycees: "15% of the world goes to bed each night starving for lack of nutrition. 85% of the world goes to bed each night starving for lack of recognition.

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15 hours ago, MickinMD said:

It may be really important for older people to be recognized for physical accomplishments.

When I was in my 60's I began piano lessons from scratch, and a few years later auditioned and was selected for the Adult Program's ACE Recital of the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, I was thrilled.  At a later ACE Recital, when I was approached and complimented by a Grand Opera Diva for my interpretation of Schumann's "First Sorrow" - putting a lot of "sorrow" in it, it was one of the highlights of my later life.

There used to be a saying in the Jaycees: "15% of the world goes to bed each night starving for lack of nutrition. 85% of the world goes to bed each night starving for lack of recognition.

But the real shame - as with all doping - is that she was competing against OTHER 60, 70, and 80 year olds.. Each of those competitors likely faced similar health issues in their lives, and either opted for the TUE route or the "clean" route (or cheated as well).

It's the "it's okay if I do it because I have a reason I approve of" rationale that folks use which is so egregious.  I hate when folks get screwed on a technicality, but not when they get caught ignoring a rule - on purpose or for some rationalization.

I don't have a full picture of her situation, so can't really say if the "doping" really mattered or not, but she did know the risk of getting caught was there.

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