Drug War Goes Crazy, Cyclist Forced to Provide Sample at Son's Cremation
Posted Mar 18th 2008 2:01PM by Michael David Smith
Filed under: Cycling, PEDs

This is the story of Belgian cyclist Kevin van Impe. His wife gave birth prematurely this year, and their son died hours after he was born.

Last week van Impe was at a crematorium, making arrangements for his son's funeral, when a drug tester representing cycling's governing body showed up. Van Impe asked whether the tester would be kind enough to give him some space during his grieving process, but the tester would have none of it, telling him it was provide a urine sample immediately or be banned from the sport for two years:

"He wouldn't even come back later in the day. It was either do it right on the spot or it would be taken as if I had refused," van Impe said.
Van Impe's fellow cyclists have protested, delaying the start of races over the weekend and reading a statement saying, "We'll say yes a thousand times to a determined and responsible fight against doping, but today and even in an even stronger manner in the future, we say no a thousand times against the violation of our rights, the rights of every human being."

Much has been said about how the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports has gotten out of hand. More should be said about the way the war on performance-enhancing drugs in sports has gotten out of hand.