The Kazakhstan Cycling Federation is Committed to Integrity

The Kazakhstan Cycling Federation is committed to integrity on all levels. The Kazakhstan Cycling Federation does not tolerate inappropriate behavior on its athlete’s part even if that inappropriate behavior means a win for Kazakhstan.

A win that is ill gotten means nothing in the long term and recently the Kazakhstan Cycling Federation proved this commitment to integrity and good sportsmanship with it’s handling of a doping scandal. The scandal meant that Kazakhstan had to pull out of the Tour de France after it was found that one of its team members failed a dope test.

Fairness

Alexandre Vinokourov a member of the Kazakhstan Astana cycling team was found guilty of an illegal blood transfusion. Although blood transfusions are technically not illegal, in the cycling world certain blood transfusions that are unnecessary for an athlete’s health are deemed illegal.

Vinokourov had undergone such a blood transfusion that would have improved his performance and given him an edge over other cyclists. When news of the scandal first broke the Kazakhstan Cycling Federation was hopeful that it would be cleared up and asked for a hold on speculation until the test results were positive that the blood transfusion had taken place.

Minor Setback

Unfortunately for the Kazakhstan Cycling Federation Vinokourov was guilty of the illegal blood transfusion. This meant that the whole Astana team had to pull out of the Tour de France. Vinokourov was banned for a year by the Kazakhstan Cycling Federation for the offence. It was a regrettable incident but it proved that Kazakhstan was not ready to sacrifice integrity in favor of victory.

However, not all was well, the rulling given by the Federation was deemed too lenient by some quarters. Pat McQuaid, the International Cycling Union president believed that the ban should have been for two years and not one. There was talk of appealing the decision to extend the ban.

One player’s mistake has set Kazakhstan back in what was potentially an advance in the sport for the country. Hopefully the future of cycling in Kazakhstan will continue to improve. Doping scandals happen to every country and Kazakhstan handled it with as much fairness and grace as can be expected.

A future showing at the Tour de France by Kazakhstan would be an interesting race to watch to see how the team tries to reclaim its place in the cycling world. As for Vinokourov, time will only tell what is in store for him.