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Volume VII by Zach Bigalke

The doomsday scenario swept in as soon even as the elation of one of the most exciting finishes in years was just commencing. Were the bells pealing ominously for last year’s winner, the aptly-named Dire Tune? It was Patriot Day 2009 in Boston, and the women were crossing the finish line at the 113th edition of the world’s longest-running annual marathon. Kenya’s Salina Kosgei had just pipped Tune, her closest foe, by a mere second to take the women’s title. She would share the victory podium with Tune’s Ethiopian compatriot, Deriga Merga, who dominated the men’s race. Just behind Kosgei, though, Tune had no time to rue her missed opportunity at the repeat. Crumpling to the ground, the runner-up was at risk of becoming the most recent Pheidippides after her 26.2-mile odyssey through Boston. She was quickly placed on a stretcher and rushed to the hospital, where she could recover from the same strains which killed the original marathoner 2500 years prior.

It’s really an amazing story, how the convoluted and contradictory legend of a messenger’s frantic final march to broadcast battlefield victory has evolved into the gold standard display of athletic endurance. The trail from the battlefield at Marathon to the heart of ancient Athens covers a stretch of forty-two kilometers across the width of the Attica Peninsula. The assembled Greek forces had successfully fought off the armies of the Achaemenid Persians under King Darius I. Pheidippides, the man who would serve as the key herald during this turning-point battle in the Greco-Persian wars, simultaneously became both historian and history as he returned to his home city-state. He is said to have run the entire distance without rest or any slowing of his pace, over the mountainous peninsula, finally bursting forth into the Athenian assembly. With the message of victory on his lips, Pheidippides collapsed to his death, the world’s first recorded marathon claiming its first victim. With its resurrection as a footrace for the fit, many an athlete has died in the process of recreating this Pheidippidean journey.

Thankfully, though, the 2009 Boston Marathon has not claimed the second-best female in the field. Some will inevitably collapse under the strains, but it is most striking when it is the best of the best who cannot endure the physical challenge. Death, or even the momentary appearance of its possibility, is always a painful thing to witness, whether in sports or in our daily lives. Sports can demonstrate the best and the worst that our world offers, a true microcosm within delineated boundaries. Some emerge stronger for the struggle; others crumple. We can learn as much from defeat, if not more, as from victory...

For the Americans, their nation’s oldest functioning marathon has proven little more than a trek of attrition, where hopes of glorious victory go to die. Not since Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach conquered the 1985 edition of the race has an American tasted victory. The men must look back two years earlier, when Greg Meyer broke the finish-line tape ahead of the rest of the field in triumph. Two dozen years of futility have passed, with a steady stream of African runners crossing the Atlantic to commandeer the spoils.

Two new Americans on the scene, though, could reverse this trend in the coming years. This year marked the best result for any American since Larsen-Weidenbach’s win in 1985, with both Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher claiming third in their respective genders’ races. On one hand, Hall showed that there is still plenty of room for improvement, finishing nearly a minute behind men’s winner Merga. This is a fatalistic way of looking at the result, however, considering that he finished only eight seconds behind second-placed Daniel Rono of Kenya. Hall is a mere twenty-six years old, and has only been running marathons for two years. He is already a regular challenger in any elite marathon -- added to his third place in Boston is a win at last year’s Olympic Trials marathon in New York and a best of fifth in the London Marathon. As he gains a few more years experience, Hall will regularly challenge the world’s best runners... and eventually he will nab a title of his own.

Kara Goucher is a prodigy in her own right. After competing for years in the five- and ten-kilometer events on an Olympic level, Goucher came out last year and announced her intention to race her first marathon in New York last November. Becoming the first American woman to podium in the prestigious race since Anne Marie Letko in 1994, Goucher finished in third. She went on to win the half-marathon in Lisbon earlier this year, and came into Boston as one of the favorites. She did not disappoint, staying right with the leaders as mile after mile churned along. It was she who ratcheted the pace up notorious Heartbreak Hill, blowing up the lead pack of seven and forming the final selection of three with Kosgei and Tune. Only the tactical and experiential superiority of Kosgei and the physique-wilting effort of former winner Tune could prevent Goucher from ending the American drought. But for both these Americans, there is the promise of a bright future and even a potential victory in subsequent marathons to be gleaned from Monday’s result...

After all, it is the improvement of an athlete on their path to the top which best inspires us fans. It is the manner in which an athlete obtains this improvement, though, which truly determines how the fan relates to his or her success. Take the tragic tale of Tyler Hamilton. Once the golden boy who was supposed to take the throne vacated by Greg LeMond as the next dominant American in professional cycling, Hamilton is now a twice-disgraced retiree of a sport which has brought more than its fair share of both thrill and agony.

There is the Hamilton who astounded the world with his ability to tolerate pain which would wither lesser men. After he fractured his shoulder in the 2002 Giro d’Italia, he soldiered on through the race to finish second -- the second-best American result ever in the race, behind only Andy Hampsten’s unparalleled 1988 victory. He would suffer the same fate at the 2003 Tour de France, when he broke his collarbone in a first-stage crash. With resolute determination, he continued on again. But Hamilton didn’t merely continue, he thrived... taking the victory in stage sixteen after nearly a hundred kilometers alone off the front through the inclines of the Pyrenees and finishing fourth overall in Paris. He won cycling’s monument classic Liege-Bastogne-Liege along with the Dauphine Libere and two editions of the Tour de Romandie, becoming along the way one of the greatest professional pedal-pushers in American history.

Then there is the Tyler Hamilton who started sending red flags up in droves. First it was a high hematocrit level in April 2004, only one-tenth of a point below the maximum allowance of 133 which amounts to fifty percent more young red blood cells than the mean average of clean athletes. This was coupled with inconclusive but suspicious evidence of homologous blood transfusion -- right around the time Hamilton was defending his Liege-Bastogne-Liege title and taking his second Tour de Romandie. Then, more conclusively still, it was the positive A-sample in Athens which revealed a clear case of homologous blood doping. Hamilton, though, kept the gold medal after botched laboratory work rendered the B-sample inadequate for confirmation before it could even be tested. But once the second week of the Vuelta rolled around, Hamilton had to test once again after his stage win. This time, both samples revealed the same truths that Athens had illuminated, further tarnishing the medal he refused to relinquish.

This is the Tyler Hamilton who we were asked to “Believe” as he waged a costly and ultimately futile war with the UCI and World Anti-Doping Agency against his two-year suspension. He spouted off absurd excuses all the while, including his ill-fated attempt at passing off a congenital unborn twin as the source of the second set of blood in his sample. Then his name came up along with two-hundred other athletes in the Spanish investigation into Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, in what has nefariously become known as Operacion Puerto. Without hope of vindication, Hamilton bided his time, training to keep fit and racing in what few unsanctioned races he could find. We media and fans, by and large, gave him the benefit of the doubt and a legitimate second chance when he returned to the sport after serving his time.

But second chances mean little to an unrepentant personality. Hamilton’s comeback was marred throughout with suspicion and speculation. He would never again get the opportunity to compete on the stages of his greatest glories. Joining new Russian team Tinkoff Credit Systems on his return, he was dropped from the team immediately before the 2007 Giro d’Italia when further evidence of his links to Fuentes and Puerto were brought to light by Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport. He would race a small-time schedule with Rock Racing starting in 2008, never again to see the great races of Europe which he was contesting only four years prior. Time had passed him by... and apparently so had any pretense of compliance that he once might’ve exhibited regarding the doping regulations.

The worst part of his second positive test, though, is how he has tried to cast himself once again as the martyr. DHEA -- dehydroepiandrostenedione, a derivative of the andro which fueled Mark McGwire’s home-run glut of 1998 and the banned substance which landed Hamilton his second suspension -- was transparently listed both on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned substance list and the packaging containing the herbal remedy which Hamilton was taking for depression. He has admitted that he was taking an illicit chemical, but that he did so as a last resort to deal with his malady. But Tyler has been in this sport far too long to think that this defense will hold water.

Any athlete competing in internationally-sanctioned sports such as cycling, under the provisions of WADA, can apply for a therapeutic use exemption when there is a legitimate medical reason to take a prescribed substance on the banned list. By doing so, the athlete is protected from sanction when the substance comes up in a drug test. But this does not exempt the athlete from responsible usage within the confines of the prescription. The therapeutic use exemption sets the applicable levels at which the medicines can be found within the athlete’s system. Drug testers, armed with this knowledge, can then assess the legitimacy of the use by measuring for spikes above the acceptable level. If the athlete is adjudged to have substance levels in excess of the therapeutic use exemption, then and only then can the authorities press for penalties.

Take the case of Alessandro Petacchi, one of Hamilton’s fellow cyclists. Petacchi has an exemption to use salbutamol, a steroidal derivative found in four out of every five bronchodilator inhalers and a multitude of other asthma medications. In appropriate dosages, salbutamol helps open the bronchial passages so that an asthmatic might draw in the necessary air to sustain life. But used in excess, salbutamol works like the bodybuilding steroid Clenbuterol to help burn fat and aid in muscle recovery. Thus, when Petacchi tested above the levels established by his therapeutic use exemption two years ago, he received a one-year suspension. Due to his exemption, his positive test result was deemed to be accidental -- but punishable -- by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

So this non-traditional sports fan in America wishes the best of luck to Hamilton as he seeks out a new life for himself outside the realm of the athlete. I also sincerely hope that he may find, whether through the unproven capabilities of DHEA or any other cure which biomedical advances might conjure, a means of bringing under control his serious clinical depression. But we as fans cannot take pity on him, for all the avenues were available for Hamilton to legitimize his usage of his herbal remedy if it could be adjudged to have tangible results. A veteran knows what he can and cannot do, and Hamilton admittedly flouted these boundaries without remorse or regret. So adieu, Tyler... the peloton is now one American lighter for your indiscretions...

But that peloton rides on regardless. It is a sport which purges more of its ranks in the doping hunt than any other worldwide, yet continues on well into its second century of existence still relevant and widely followed. Yet many American fans continue to vilify its very being as an excuse to condemn every rider which might line up at its races. As Tour de France podium finisher Cadel Evans said last year during the Tour de France, “... [cycling] is being cleaned up in a serious, fair and transparent way. Our sport is being crucified for doing the right thing.”

There is much to celebrate in the sport, from the recently finished cobblestone season where Tom Boonen took another classic to the ongoing Ardennes week which will culminate this Sunday on the away-and-back journey that is Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Last Sunday was the running of the only Dutch classic, the Amstel Gold Race, in the eastern Ardennes. My prognosticative abilities failed me, as unlikely winner Sergei Ivanov bettered his seventh place of last year in what he calls his “favorite race”. In victory, Ivanov prevented both Karsten Kroon of Team Saxo Bank and Robert Gesink of Rabobank from ending the Dutch drought in their home race -- none have won since Erik Dekker held off Lance Armstrong in the 2001 edition.

But both of the big names who I figured would factor prominently in Holland appeared in full force when the racing shifted westward into Belgium for the 73rd running of La Fleche Wallone. With three ascents of the leg-breaking Mur de Huy, including a summit finish of the race, the Fleche is often taken by an assertive climber who can hold his own on the pitches which ratchet as steep as 26 percent grade in sections. Davide Rebellin is a man perfectly suited for this climb. The first ever winner of all three Ardennes races in a single season back in 2004, Rebellin repeated his Fleche success in 2007. Battling up the Mur de Huy in the finale this year, he was able to solo in the finale to a two-second victory ahead of top challengers Andy Schleck and Damiano Cunego (my failed pick to defend his title at Amstel).

Which leads us to the crown jewel of this week through the Ardennes, the 95th running of Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The peloton should look similar to the past two races; you won’t see a cameo by guys like Boonen or other cobblestone specialists. Defending champion Alejandro Valverde will be lining up along with Oscar Pereiro and the rest of his Caisse d’Epargne team in search of a third Liege title. Podium finisher Frank Schleck will line up with Amstel podium finisher Karsten Kroon and his brother Andy (second at the Fleche) to challenge with Team Saxo Bank. Damiano Cunego will once again attempt to add his first Liege crown to an already bright young career. Amstel winner Sergei Ivanov will be in the mix for Katusha, along with Kim Kirchen of Team Columbia and Cadel Evans of Silence-Lotto. One gets the feeling, though, that Davide Rebellin is a man on a mission who will be difficult to derail. He proved on the Mur de Huy that he is hungry to resume his winning ways, and a second Liege win -- not to mention his second Fleche-Liege double to go with his 2004 treble -- would seal Rebellin’s position as the dominant late-spring classics rider of his generation, much as Boonen is sealing his fate as the preeminent cobblestone specialist of this decade.

One man who is indisputably rewriting the record books on clay is Rafael Nadal. Once again, he has dominated strong opposition to take his fifth consecutive Monte Carlo Masters. Defeating first Andy Murray in the semifinals and then Novak Djokovic in the final, Nadal is gearing up into top form in advance of next month’s French Open. He next turns his eye, though, to Barcelona. His surrogate home tournament as a Spaniard, Nadal will seek his fifth straight title here as well. If all goes according to plan, he should be on path to complete his fifth straight Roland Garros title and keep alive the possibility of the first calendar Grand Slam in tennis since Steffi Graf did it on the women’s side of the draw two decades ago in 1988.

But while the men gear up for the heart of the clay-court season, the women turn to national-team play as the Fed (Federation) Cup gears up for semifinal play this weekend. The women’s equivalent of the Davis Cup, the Fed Cup is nearing a half-century of competition. The Russians, champions in four out of the past five years, will be led by former U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova as they travel to Bari to compete against the Italian squad which broke up its streak with an upset win in the 2006 finals. Flavia Pennetta will lead the Italians as they defend their home turf with a shot at another finals appearance.

In the other semifinal, the Americans will face off in Brno against the Czech Republic after the Czech women went through in convincing fashion against the Spanish squad. The Americans, led in the absence of both Williams sisters by Bethanie Mattek-Sands, will head to Starobrno Rondo Arena with a long shot at becoming the country’s first Fed Cup winners since 2000. The speed of the indoor hard-court surface should suit the American style of play, but look for a surprise Italy-Czech Republic final as the home-court advantage serves both sides well in their semifinal draws.

Next week will surely bring more spectacle. The Champions League will begin its own semifinal ties as three English squads battle in the final four with Barcelona for the right to hoist the European Cup. Arsenal will duel with defending champs Manchester United; Barcelona will confront Chelsea in the other draw. All four sides have shown incredible diligence throughout the season in reaching this point. Truly the cream of the crop, we will certainly have much to discuss as the elite men of soccer vie for the sport’s ultimate club prize.

And in just a couple weeks, the decadent and depraved masses will descend on Churchill Downs for the 135th running of the Race for the Roses. Stay tuned next week for a rundown of the favorites for the Kentucky Derby as we ponder whether any of this year’s stock might have a shot at becoming the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed took the Kentucky, Preakness and Belmont way back in 1978. Will horse racing climb its way back into prominence after one disaster after another has led it to the brink of obsolescence? Only time will tell...

But until then, we will continue coming at you here at Informative Sports every week with more news from the wider world of athletic achievement you might’ve missed throughout an otherwise glutted sports calendar. Whatever your fancy, don’t hesitate to take a gander into the non-traditional side from time to time...

Submitted 4/22/2009

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