Wouldn't it be nice if nobody cheated? never took a banned substance, never corrected a student's test results, never did something that harmed another contestant's equipment.
I say such behavior is the nature of competition.
When a teacher receives a bonus if her students do well on a standardized test, when a baseball player can see better and hit harder and run faster, when a trader can get acclaim and a bigger bonus for a product that might eventually hurt others (think mortgages), we shudder.
But competition, high stakes competition, results in just these misdeeds.
Some years ago I read a book by Alfie Kohn, called No Contest, that made me rethink the value of certain kinds of competition--the kind that has a great payoff for one person or group and a diminished payoff for others. Kohn was all for achievement, but just not cut-throat competition. He recommended cooperation--invent activities where all could succeed, not the false "everyone gets a ribbon" stuff, but games/activities that rewarded cooperation.
The Tour de France will never be cooperative, one team tries to defeat other teams.
Someone and his team will win, will share the spoils; the other competitors get very little.
It would be hard to see another competitor doing something "illegal" and doing well and not feel jealous--and if that's your life, to try a little of the banned substance, or do something to the books that make you look better.
I feel really bad for Lance Armstrong; I suspect he did do something with banned substances, but I also have heard and see no reason not to believe, that those substances are pretty common with the racers. He was clearly better at hiding his use, that's for sure. I believe that he was targeted as a lesson to others....but I suspect that those who use banned substances will continue to use them, but with more inventive ways to hide them from the testers.
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