Bradley Wiggins at centre of row over David Millar Olympic ban comments

I can't condone taking illegal drugs however lifetime bans serve no useful purpose. If David Millar was facing a lifetime ban for what he did I doubt he would have come clean about it. If the penalty for taking illegal drugs is the end of your career plenty of people would be prepared to take that risk and lie about it too.

In a similar vein as our most successful track and field athlete Linford Christie should carry the Olympic torch into the stadium. However, because of a failed drugs test after retirement that's not going to happen...

've just read David Millar's book and couldn't put it down. I've never sympathised with cheats but now realise it's not as simple as that. He's served his time and is doing as much as he can to change the situation. We all make mistakes and he wont make the same mistake again. He gets my vote.

They (wiggo+millar) do appear to put a pump in each others wheel from time to time... there must be some issues !!

BUT millar should be allowed to race in the olympics ... it's his last chance and that chain and ball bobbling along behind his rear wheel has been there long enough

I re4gard the BOA as a bunch of hypocrites. The original games were for amateurs not for professionals. They have ruined sport for the average man in the street, and as an unelected group don't have tehr ight to adjudicate.

Am I correct in thinking that if Millar rode for another country he could be eligible to ride in the Olympics? If so, he should be eligible for GB.

Regardless of the work he has put in to right his wrongs, if he was to go to the Olympics, he would have every drop of Piss he produced tested to buggery, so there would be no risk or worry that he would start doping again.

Why should professional athletes even be competing in the olympics
....if it's a case of 'be damned' (for life) then let it be for everything...not just the olympics...
....or is it forgive (but not forget)???

Millar has been 'accepted' back in the ranks of cycling by many and is 'trying' to make amends for his wrong doing....he is clean...so in my opinion he should be allowed to represent his country. If not for financial reward - but just for national pride...he is quite handy on a bike after all....

I am dead set against ANY dopers participating in the Olympics. It seems some guilty foreigners are being allowed in and this to my mind is abhorrent. Let the Olympics be the ultimate sanction, life ban for ANYONE guilty of doping!

Brad is entitled to say what he said its his opinion.

We should not forget that the drug culture that has been in cycling has cheated a lot of hard working cyclists.

Perhaps, David Miller should say something on the matter. I think David is alright and has shown a lot of courage to do what he is doing but the reality is he cheated.

Like it or not cheating/doping don't sit well with everyone and quite rightly so.

I think Wiggo has put his foot in it here, but deliberatly so.
Despite what he says, reading between the lines he'd rather have a team built around him being a GC contender and leader rather than a team split between being a workhorse for flat stage sprints/supporting the GC contender.
Maybe he also thinks that despite all the celebration around Cav, that he in fact is the best cyclist in the land?
Cyclists eh.
I have faith in the management at Sky though and Wiggins is nothing if not professional on the road.
In terms of Millar, I think he's clever enough to know that saying nothing is best. I'll enjoy watching him ride for Garmin even if not for GB.

Irrespective of the argument about whether or not Millar should be allowed to take part, what really infuriates me about this whole affair is the irresponsible, simply terrible and biased journalism on display in the BBC article.

It's so typical of British journalism to try and find a story where there isn't one, or to try and cause controversy to make a 'good' story. The BBC don't even have the excuse of 'selling copies'. As a publicly funded corporation their duty is to be unbiased, but the article stinks of the kind of manipulative use of quotes and sources found in the tabloids.

Why is it that our media does this, rather than getting behind the sportsmen/women it should be supporting? Money-making is absolutely no excuse for the printed press, let alone the state funded BBC.

Being a former olympic weightlifter in my stupid misguided youth,
I can confirm the following regarding banned substances.

#1 they provide an unfair advantage, either from decreased
recovery times and or direct aerobic or anerobic performance
benefits.
#2 to get the benefits you need to do the following:-
- work harder than before
- eat better
- hydrate more
- be very very aware of the risks (i.e. permanent injury or death)
#3. have the cash to pay for them (or somebody of who can - a team possibly)
#4. have talent
#5. they don't guarantee succes at all, thats still in the top three
inches.
#6. the training environment and peer pressure play an enormous part -
a clean team(camp) doesn't have drug cheats - its not tolerated. Being clean
is more expensive (and harder in every respect) as it requires extensive research and
more effort. Drugs are cheap and nasty shortcut.

Sto conclude, during millars cheating days - "getting a little
help" wasn't unheard of. The rewards, risks and pressures were
high, so he was either misguided, badly advised or both. Should he
ride in the olympics, yes. Why because he's a living example of harm
that drugs can and still do - this is his last chance, the sad thing is
he should have had many more.

At a guess that thought is burned into his bones.

one final thought, if darts were an olympic sport would
beer and fags be banned substances?

You just cant say anything nowadays without it getting twisted and turned around so it resembles nothing like what you originally said.

This great country of ours loves to try and stuff it up people who try and do their best for themselves and the country.

Despite what Millar did (which i believe is totally wrong and basically cheating) he has served his ban and works tirelessly to try and right that wrong with a team which also works tirelessly to promote a clean sport.

You just have to look at the New Year Honours list ! a convicted drug dealer and gang member gets an obe or some other similar gong because he now works tirelessly to promote charities against drugs. We cant have it all ways now can we ???????????

The legal system works on the basis of commit the crime, do the time, over. There are maybe a couple of crimes where "the time" may mean the rest of your life, or where there are some conditions imposed on your eventual release (e.g. sex offenders register). But this is way serious stuff, not trivia. In principle these people are let back out into society and have the opportunity to resume their life.

Move to the cycling scene, do you really ban someone for life because of this? I mean, come on, in the grand scheme of things just how important is this? The guy served his 2 years, leave him be. The direct loss of income, coupled with the time taken out of their time-limited careers, seems plenty to pay. Don't forget in Millar's case he was not only hit financially but forfeited a world title as a result of this, you might argue that he has been penalised more than most in any case.

If this non-story serves any purpose it is probably to remind Brad about keeping his mouth shut when reporters are sniffing around.

There was a thread on here at the time of SPOTY when it was claimed Cavendish gave boring interviews. Ever wondered why? While all this is going on he's tweeting about nursery furniture and steering well clear of this crap.

A fine example of mis-representation of the facts. All journos are at it (yes, even you lot Road.cc) but then, to be fair we're all probably guilty of similar exaggeration and judicious editing.

Difference is, most of us don't have millions of readers/listeners/viewers picking up on what we've said and making judgements. About time the press started honest reporting and thought long and hard about how their 'facts' are presented before publishing/broadcasting.

"Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.".

We all make mistakes. I've been reading David's book and have found it quite upsetting at times. I never realised that that sort of thing was happening in cycling. As someone on the outside I can take the attitude of "just say no" but if I try and imagine myself walking in David's shoes, who knows how I would've handled things. And that is the reason for the quote above.

We have to have level playing field, not two sets of rules. A lifetime ban is too much.

For the record, I think Millar has earned his right to compete in the Olympics - he stuffed up, but he's spent a long time fighting for the right side now and, because of that, I think he deserves a chance to compete for a place in the Olympic squad.

But the real issue here is Wiggins not being able to stay off the topic - he says 'I dont have an opinion on it' but he then gives one! If he really doesn't care either way, he should have said that and nothing else - he must know by now that a journalist is going to make a story out of what he says, and that if he doesnt want to be quoted, he shouldn't say it...

Millar put this up on Twitter yesterday:

Is the ceasefire broken between me & @bradwiggins ? Does the Copenhagen Treaty mean nothing? On my birthday of all days. Poo to you sir!

It's just the BBC misquoting and trying to get a story out of essentially nothing.
Doesn't help that one set of rules is different to the others. 2 year ban for everything except the Olympics so he's still free to ride Grand Tours and World Champs.

Difficult case though cos some people (like Millar) are fully redeemed and (IMO) should be welcomed back whereas others (list of names too long to recall here!) continue to deny and lie and claim they've done nothing wrong.

It's nice to see in this Olympic year the "olympic Broadcaster" doing so much to stir up disharmony and conflict within the team. Well done BBC!
Especially when the team members are more than able to fall out between themselves with no added assistance.

I too agree with the BOA lifetime ban and to be fair Millar himself has kept his own counsel on this issue, further to his credit. Ideally as seabass89 says other countries could learn from us but after the recent overturning of the lifetime ban for LaShawn Merritt and the BOA ban being ruled as in conflict with WADAs code maybe we should just all keep shtum until CAS have finally ruled?

I don't think he should be able to compete..

I don't see why "how he did in the WC" makes any difference..

I like zero-tolerance for doping like the BOA does. I think many countries should learn from it *coughs-Russia-coughs* an not only in cycling, but in all sports.