Doping is the dark side of sports. With advancing technology, it is becoming easier to detect doping cases as well as new doping techniques. To me, it is a great craze for any athlete to undergo doping under these circumstances. When it comes to darkness and cunning side, Lance Armstrong will be the first name that comes to mind in history.

One of the film's 15 episodes that we had left behind in the week was ''The Program, The Last Legend'', which was adapted from the book "Seven Great Sins" by famous journalist David Walsh, which shed light on Lance Armstrong's doping scandal. I watched with dozens of people who filled the room at 11 am, Sunday morning. Parallel to the book, the movie argues that Armstrong used doping. Also in the same week, Micheal Ferrari, famous sports doctor who allegedly helped in doping tried to block screening that movie in Italy. The movie has described the sentimentality in the story as realistically as possible; I was forced to write a few words about Armstrong and the biggest organized doping scandal in history. Of course, my words will remain fairly simple alongside hundreds of books and articles written in this case, but I would like to share my own opinion regarding this and that will be discussed for many years.

First, if we need to pass a brief summary of the story; Lance Armstrong was shown at the beginning of his career as a rider who was not good enough to win a major tour. After learning about testicular cancer during the ascending periods, the American cyclist succeeded in overcoming the disease and returned to the cycling after a long and difficult treatment period. Armstrong succeeded in evolving into a climber's physique by succeeding in turning the lost weight into an advantage and leaving the first 7 Tour de France with his yellow jersey and broke a record.

While the whole world was impressed by what Armstrong was doing, journalist David Walsh and a small group believed that Armstrong was using a banned substance to boost performance and his success was too good to be achieved by a person. We say that he ''believed'' because there was no evidence. Because no test results showed that Armstrong was using prohibited substances. This is Walsh's theory, which is also considered to be the current situation, an application called blood doping. Namely; Armstrong and his teammates, who are allegedly forced to do doping, take their blood and keep it in the ice in the team bus when there is no performance-enhancing substance in their blood; they were able to conceal their doping by injecting blood into their bodies again before testing. Another method used in blood doping theory is to dilute the blood. Before testing, the athletes injecting water into their veins were able to hide the doping by reducing the density of their blood. They are all accepted theories, but there is no evidence at all. Armstrong confessed that he used doping years later, so all his Tour de France championships were taken back from him.

It would be wrong to consider Lance Armstrong as a big athlete after doping confession. Because he made the most contrarian thing to the sport: he used doping. Yes, he built what he did on a lie, but it turned out to be as positive as anybody could ever imagine. After this point, everyone on Armstrong's side is left to their own inner conscience.

Source: Translated (Turkish) from gazetebilkent.com