Nicole Cooke doping comments upset Lizzie Armitstead

By Emily CroydonBBC Sport

Last updated on .From the section Cyclingcomments118

Nicole Cooke and Lizzie Armitstead

Olympic silver medallist Lizzie Armitstead says Nicole Cooke was wrong to take a parting shot at cycling's drug cheats when she retired on Monday.

Cooke said she felt "robbed" by dopers and had come under pressure to take performance-enhancing drugs.

"To me it's old news and should be left there," Armitstead told BBC Sport.

She later clarified her position on Twitter, writing:external-link "I have no issue with NC statement and believe in everyone's right to an opinion."

Armstrong 'robbed' cyclists of dreams

The 24-year-old added: "Probably shouldn't give the bullies the time of day but my opinion in my own words. What LA [Armstrong] has done to the sport of cycling is unforgivable.

"I am happy the truth has come out for the good of cycling. I am not naive, cycling is not 100% clean but which sport is?

"I am a part of a new generation of cyclists who compete honestly and quite rightly feel upset and disappointed that it is suddenly an expectation of me to be a politician.

"Cycling is a beautiful sport which I love. But I have a job which takes up enough of my energy without being abused on Twitter."

Armitstead and Cooke, team-mates at the London Olympics, were involved in a fall-outexternal-link at the 2011 World Championship as Cooke rode on when Armitstead crashed.

Cooke retired on Monday after a career which saw her win Olympic road race gold in Beijing in 2008 and the World Championship road race in the same year.

In her retirement statement she said: "I do despair that the sport will never clean itself up when rewards of stealing are greater than riding clean."

But, although Armitstead understands why Cooke spoke out, she said on Tuesday that she did "not understand the benefit of bringing it up".

She added: "I just find it upsetting because the sport that I love, cycling, is clean now. My sport now is not that sport anymore.

"We shouldn't be adding fuel to the fire because for me, if I was a general member of the public and I saw someone in Nicole's position, at the top elite level of sport saying something like that, you're going to believe it."

When asked if she had ever been offered any drugs, Armitstead answered: "That's never happened to me, no."

Armitstead may not have enjoyed a smooth relationship with Cooke during her career, as the two also battled to be lead rider for Team GB in the Olympic road race, but the Yorkshire rider praised Cooke's "fantastic career".

"She has been so dominant for so many years but in the last season I could see she was not perhaps the person she was," concluded Armistead.

"I think it's good for her to retire and move on to something new."

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118 comments

  • Armitstead is being ridiculously naïve if she thinks cycling is now 100% clean. And to be upset at Cooke's comments because it might make her boyfriend look bad is weird and selfish. Doping needs to be talked about and condemned and the dopers need to be shamed until there is no question the sport is clean. We're not there yet.

  • How can it be "old news" with the Lance Armstrong interview due to be televised later this week?

    Cycling as a sport cannot hide its head in the sand and pretend doping never happened.

    Nicole is absolutely right about the damage that was done in her era, and that frank disclosure does help maintain the interests of cyclists like Armitstead who are racing clean today.

  • Unnecessary comments by Armistead - she needs to grow up. Cooke's comments are about her career and I think she has merited in her illustrious racing life to give her views on the doping that has affected cycling. Armistead should have congratulated Cooke and just said that things have improved dramatically now -thanks mostly to the French authorities who made doping in cycling a criminal offence.

  • Sorry Lizzie. A fine cyclist, but you're wrong here. Cooke's career coincided with huge drug taking in the sport.

    If she was clean, then this cheating will have cost her victories, and she is right to speak up about it.

    Also, as one of the more successful cyclists, she is in the best position to raise this. How many less successful riders have had their careers ruined and have no public voice?

  • Cooke didn't criticise Armitstead.

    But Armitstead has criticised Cooke.

    Cooke has a right to voice her very experienced opinion on her sport.

    They don't have to be bext buddies, but Armitstead should wake up and learn from her more experienced former colleague.

  • Armistead is naive or disingenuous. Anyone who goes to a gym regularly becomes aware of drugs. I am old (50s) and go 3-4 times a week for fitness only - and I have heard 'juicing' conversations several times in the changing rooms. The spotlight needs to be turned up, not turned off.

  • A rather nieve comment from Lizzy. considering the recent bans of riders and Armstrong's upcoming interview.

    "She has been so dominant for so many years but in the last season I could see she was not perhaps the person she was,"

    Probably says more about their rivalry than anything else. A parting shot that didn't need saying.

    Change cycling Now.

    http://tinyurl.com/b5wq9n9

  • Lizzie states the "sport is clean now" .... Somewhat delusional me thinks..
    Will be a long time before this sport finally gets its testing act together and gets clean. Just more sour grapes in an ongoing feud she had with Nicole... Did she take your limelight Lizzie?... Awwwwwww

  • Stop being deliberately argumentative Armistead. Let Cooke, a former Olympic champion and trailblazer for British women's cycling, have her moment.

    Your ugly side is not very nice.

  • pretty standard for armitstead to take issue with something cooke said. been waiting for this article ever since cooke's comments were made. she just can't help herself.

  • "Well that's not true because I train with my boyfriend every single day. I know that he's 100% clean and he wins men's bike races."

    Ah of course Lizzie. If you're boyfriend is clean and wins races then the whole sport is clean! Argument over.

  • I think the kind of dedication to a sport that Nicole Cooke has displayed for so long gives her the right to make her views on that sport, and the cheating within it, known. I think a personal attack on such a successful retiring participant, such as Lizzie Armitstead's, displays a lack of class. I also believe that Armitstead will never be the cyclist that Cooke has been.

  • Armitstead seems unable to comment on Nicole Cooke without making some kind of catty comment. Cooke has retired and Armitstead's comments are completely unnecessary, showing a total lack of grace and class. I think this petty, bitchy behaviour does little for the image of cycling in general, women's cycling and women in sport, and Armitstead needs to grow up.

  • @spurs_surfer I'm not criticising Armisteads knowledge of the sport, just the naivety that she believes her sport is clean. She can't possibly know what is going on in the background of over teams, cyclists or personnels habits and the fact these people are being caught is just added proof that there are still drug cheats within the sport. Anti doping Agencies place in the sport is much needed

  • Armistead is very naive to believe that there is not a form of cheating, going on somewhere in the background of cycling. But it's not just cycling, all sports try to take advantage. The day WADA is not needed, is a day sport should celebrate, but until then, these cheats should be found, prosecuted under the governing laws, and banned for life from ever participating or promoting their event.

  • Watch the closing laps of the 2008 Womens World Road Race Champs in Varese, even though you know who wins it is still some of the most exciting cycling footage ever. If Armitstead can emulate that, great, until then let it lie Lizzie. I don't see queues of repentent ex-dopers rushing to return prize monies and sponors £, $ and €, so I expect Nicole has a point.

  • Nicole Cooke wasn't wrong. Attacking drugs cheats is paramount for cycling. They have come close to making the sport a joke.

    And saying things like 'men's cycling doesn't have a drugs problem cos my boyfriend is clean' isn't exactly the sort of weighty scientific research that will convert followers to your cause.

  • If Lizzie thinks the sport is clean and we should all move on, I suggest she does not look at any media in the next couple of days when the Armstrong interview gets reported.

    On a personal level, she should show some respect to Cooke, who was Olympic Champion and World Champion in the same year.

  • I love the sport. Why is Armitstead upset? Does she really believe the sport is 100 % clean.? It is improving yes, but only because the testing is improving and maybe winning the battle. But there is a long way to go. Nicole is right, Lizzie A should put a sock in it

  • Yes Lizzie, of course cycling is clean. It's just an unfortunate coincidence that the blokes on the top two steps of the 2012 Vuelta are convicted doping cheats, as is the Olympic road race champion. Get your head out of the sand, and if you can't say anything sensible leave it to the people who can ie Nicole Cook.

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