Contador was accused of using clenbuterol in 2010 when he won the Tour de France. The Spaniard blamed the case on bad meat.
Fast forward a year and five Mexican players are separated from the Gold Cup for having large clenbuterol levels in their system. After a long investigation they were also cleared by their local federation. It is important to state these players had levels 100-times higher than those of Contador. One of the players had a level 1,000-times higher that of Contador and 100-times higher than that of his teammates. He must really like his meat.
Part of the case for the Mexican players was evidence that most of the players in the U-17 World Cup played that year in Mexico had also shown high clenbuterol levels, so it was not hard to prove that it was contaminated meat that was to blame.
The statement seems, in its own Eurocentric way (the court is based in Switzerland) to state that while third world countries may have contamination problems, Europe may have no similar problems.
There is no other reason for the CAS to follow up on this case, saying the cause had to have been a food supplement rather than contaminated meat, without looking into the case of the Gold Cup players.
If it is not racism, the court must simply be biased against the sport of cycling which like baseball has had its latest generations scarred by performance enhancing drugs.
The only fair response to this, both for Contador and for the legitimacy of the court, is for it to look more deeply into the case of the Gold Cup players and the high levels they tested positive for.
Alberto Contador has served much of his two year ban but he will still have to give back most of his titles, included the lauded Tour de France and may not participate in the London 2012 Olympics.
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