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Callum Skinner clebrates gold in Rio (copyright Alex Whitehead SWpix.com via Britishcycling.org_.uk).jpgTUEs a distraction from bigger anti-doping challenges, says Callum Skinner
Callum Skinner says the ongoing controversy over therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) is a distraction from the fight against doping. The Olympic gold medallist – who released his medical records last year after being among those affected by the Fancy Bears leaks – says sport has bigger anti-doping challenges.
Skinner was granted TUEs for prednisolone in 2014 and for salbutamol in January 2016. When the details emerged, he responded by releasing his NHS medical records.
These showed he had suffered from asthma since the age of five and had been admitted to hospital due to attacks on four occasions.
"TUEs have started to gain a bit of a bad name for something that is really about athlete welfare," said Skinner during a recent appearance on BBC Radio 5 Live.
"We're generally getting a bit distracted by TUEs. We have far bigger challenges in terms of anti-doping with out-of-competition testing."
It is widely believed that Fancy Bears’ aim was to shift attention with US Anti-Doping Agency head, Travis Tygart, describing the hack as, "just another desperate attempt to distract from the real issue of state-sponsored doping."
Tygart said that Fancy Bears were trying to "smear the reputations of athletes and organisations from around the world who choose to operate with integrity and abide by the rules".
Skinner also commented on Chris Froome’s claim that during his 2015 Tour de France win he rejected a TUE to treat a medical condition on moral grounds.
"Chris is a really experienced athlete. He obviously knows his body really well so I wouldn't be surprised if he and others have inadvertently turned down TUEs – not because of the stigma attached to them, but because it's just not a method that works for them."
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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7 comments
If you get a chance have a listen to the full programme (Friday Sports Panel) Callum is a very able and eloquent young man.
"Chris is a really experienced athlete. He obviously knows his body really well so I wouldn't be surprised if he and others have inadvertently turned down TUEs – not because of the stigma attached to them, but because it's just not a method that works for them."
Nope, CF clearly stated he didn't think it would look good in retrospect taking a TUE in the middle of the Tour, even at the risk of loosing it. Skinner is still right that TUEs are a side issue and the Russians have been very effective at this fuzzy warfare or whatever it is called. TUEs are still there and could be abused, but they are there for a reason. But if in doubt, don't use them for your own credibility. But there are some people here who desperately want this issue to be the tip of the iceberg on some scandalous story. They seem a little sad.
All we've heard the last 6 months is dirt and accusations thrown at cyclists that followed the rules and which were 100% approved by the UCI.
The real dopers? The state sponsored ones? Very, very little.
Russia wins yet another gold medal. That's 3 last year at least.
Absolutely bang on, well said.
Perhaps that was the whole point of the hacking of the UCI records?
Grab some dirt on anyone to divert attention away from the real dopers
Strange the hack happened after the ban was imposed on the USSR
Open discussion on "legal" TUE doping distracts from doping. "OK".
But it seems to working, wouldn't you say?
Use/abuse of TUEs are an issue, of course, but they are certainly not the only issue in this dirty sport. Run enough stories about petty theft and benefit fraud and everyone can forget about cross-border money laundering, drug cartels, corruption and so on.