A professional cyclist was caught with a tattoo suggesting he received free anabolic steroids and erythropoietin (EPO) at the 2008 Tour de France. Damiano Cunego rides for the Italian UCI ProTeam Lampre. The tattoo on Cunego’s left arm stated “I’m Doping Free” with a large smiley face.
Does this mean that the Italian-based organization “Doping Free” donates free steroids and other performance enhancing drugs to sponsored riders?
Obviously not, but BikeRadar.com also found the double meaning humorous (“Riccò’s tests and other Tour funny business,” July 14)!
[I]t occurred to me last night that there’s scope for an unfortunate double entendre in the “I’m Doping Free” tattoo which Cunego has occasionally sported on this Tour. Tell me this: does it mean that he’s riding clean or that he’s not paying for his drugs? And is that why the campaign logo is a smiley face?
Actually, “Doping Free” is an anti-doping organization inviting cyclists (and other athletes) to pledge abstinence from the use of performance enhancing drugs.
Originated from the awareness of practising sport legally and that nothing is done to alter ones performance, originated from the consciousness that if all of us get together and shout to the world “I’M DOPING FREE” we’ll weave a net where hardness who cheats and win the war.
Sorry, no free anabolic steroids or EPO for cyclists!
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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