Tour de France under doping cloud again as leader Rasmussen is ejected
July 8, 2008
Drug scandal mars Tour de France once more; fired Rasmussen leaves the race and others sit out in protest.
The Tour de France has been fighting the spectre of doping rumors and scandals for years. Just when it seemed to be quieting down, Michael Rasmussen, the Dane who was leading the Tour de France in the yellow jersey, was fired by his team. Rasmussen won Wednesday’s stage and had looked set to win the race, which ends Sunday. He was taken out of the Tour de France by the Rabobank team after questions arose about his whereabouts when he was unavailable for doping exams earlier this year. Rasmussen missed random drug tests May 8 and June 28, and stories of his whereabouts at the time did not match up. According to the rules of the Tour de France, evading these tests too many times is equated with failing them. There are other rumors circulating around Rasmussen, whose dismissive attitude has not helped him win the confidence of the Tour de France authorities. One concerned an American mountain biker who had reportedly transported bags of blood for Rasmussen. Blood products are sometimes used illegally by cyclists for performance enhancement.
Cyclists from eight French and German teams sat out the start of stage 16. They said they delayed their start to protest the drug abuse in their sport.
Rasmussen’s thin alibis and arrogance have won him few defenders; his guilt seems almost a given among most observers. Still, since the alleged infractions for which the Danish cyclist was disqualified occurred several months ago, some Tour officials questioned why he was allowed to take the start on July 7 in London in the first place. Now the leader of the Tour who had appeared to be a shoo-in for victory is out of the race, dampening enthusiasm for the Tour de France around the world, and cheating the eventual winner of a good deal of his glory.
In a commercial backlash, sports giant Adidas said it might stop sponsoring bicycling teams, including T-Mobile. The car maker Audi might also withdraw its support for the sport, a German newspaper reported. A spokesman for Volkswagen’s Czech unit Skoda, one of the main sponsors of the Tour de France, said the company would evaluate its four years of sponsorship and then decide whether to continue. It’s becoming clear to more and more companies that cycling is no longer a sport that can be counted on to reflect well on businesses associated with it.
With Rasmussen out of the Tour de France, Spanish rider Alberto Contador of the Discovery Channel team would move into the race lead.
France tops 2008 list in Europe of most obnoxious tourists
July 7, 2008
French tourists are the worst in Europe; Japanese are the best in the world overall, new survey says
Americans have long been considered the default worst tourists in the world by many, especially the French, but apparently the impression is not only false, but the reverse. According to a recent international survey, the French are now considered the most obnoxious European tourists. Only Indians and the last-place Chinese rank lower among all countries worldwide, with the French finishing 19th among 21 countries. The US tied with the Thais in the middle of the pack at number 11. Japanese tourists were seen as the best, most generous and politest.
The survey, which polled 4,000 hotel employees in the US, the UK, Canada, Germany, Italy and France, was conducted by the French arm of Expedia.com. The survey based its findings on criteria ranking each nationality by the willingness to spend money, how much complaining they did, attempting to speak local languages, interact with local cultures and sample local cuisine, generosity, general cleanliness and politeness. The French did poorly in many of these areas. The French are notoriously bad tippers; in France, the tip is customarily included in the total bill at restaurants so it may be an oversight in some cases. French tourists are also unlikely to speak the local language or even to try. As for the most universal language, English, French people on average speak English less well than almost any other non-English-speaking nationality, even though English is compulsory in French schools. French tourists were also seen as whiners, complaining loudly about the quality of food and lodging abroad and about not being allowed to smoke. Beyond miserliness with tips, French travellers are also seen as penny-pinching; however, some point out that with the large amount of vacation time in France, the French have to budget accordingly and have less money to spend on any one trip.
Surprisingly, French tourists ranked low even in France. They came in next to last among nations ranking the popularity of their own tourists who vacation at home.
The news of the unpopularity of French tourists may be galling to the Gauls, but it isn’t new. A survey conducted among 15,000 European hoteliers last year also saw France as the worst nation of tourists overall, followed by India, China, Russia and Britain. The same survey said Americans were the worst-dressed, followed closely by the British (oh, those sandals with socks!) This survey also voted the Japanese the world’s best tourists, followed by the Americans and the Swiss.
France rejoices as French Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt is rescued
July 6, 2008
FARC hostages Ingrid Betancourt and 17 others freed in daring rescue operation.
After more than six years in captivity in Colombia, failing health and near death, Frenchwoman Ingrid Betancourt, 46, is finally a free woman. She was received in France to jubilant cheers and welcomed home warmly to French soil by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni. Freeing Betancourt was a pledge Sarkozy had made during his presidential campaign, and many credit his tireless diplomacy for helping to bring about this latest triumphant result. He had been working constantly with officials from Colombia, Venezuela and other nearby countries as well as the US to help secure Betancourt’s release, as well as to get her medical attention several months ago when her condition was reported to be at its gravest during her detention.
The rescue operation for Betancourt, who has dual French-Colombian citizenship, and the other freed hostages was an undercover mission worthy of a Hollywood film. (Three US and 11 Colombian soldiers were also freed.) The prisoners, hands bound, were led into a helicopter under the impression that they were being transported to another internment camp in Colombia. Their captors were likewise fooled. Colombian soldiers posing as members of a fictitious non-governmental organisation convinced the rebels that they would bring the hostages to meet FARC leader Alfonso Cano at a rebel camp. The non-governmental organisation ostensibly sent helicopters to transport the captives. However the helicopters were from the army and flew them to Bogotá’s military airport. It wasn’t until the hostages were in the air that they realized that they were finally free. Among the military intelligence agents making up the helicopter crew — presented to the FARC rebels as members of an unnamed international humanitarian group — were a nurse, a doctor and agents posing as an Italian, an Australian, an Arab and a Caribbean. Microphones also were aboard the Russian-made Mi-17 chopper, allowing those overseeing the rescue to monitor its progress.
Ingrid Betancourt’s six-year ordeal began in 2002. While campaigning for the Columbian presidential elections that year, dual French-Columbian citizen Ingrid Betancourt attempted to enter the demilitarized zone bordering on the territory of Columbian leftist militant group FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). She traveled through the jungle without escort, and was kidnapped at a FARC roadblock. A captive ever since, Betancourt has often been referred to in the French press as the Colombian Joan of Arc. She was feared dead for a time, but then, video of a gaunt and dispirited Betancourt surfaced last November, the first proof in many months that the French activist was still alive. Her years of captivity have been a roller-coaster ride for Betancourt’s family, and for France. Indeed, Ingrid Betancourt has captured the imagination of people all over the world. The story of a girl from a privileged background who was raised in the ritzy salons of Paris, entered politics and held captive in the Colombian jungle has even been the subject of docu-dramas in the US. Betancourt has always re-emerged in headlines in France whenever rumors surfaced that FARC might release its prisoners.
Ingrid Betancourt was born in Colombia on Christmas Day, 196. Her mother was a former Miss Colombia, her father a French diplomat. Ingrid grew up in Paris’ swanky 6th arrondissement and attended the prestigious Institut d’études politiques de Paris (known as Sciences Po), one of the Grandes Ecoles that has spawned much of the political elite in France.
Betancourt married another French diplomat, receiving French citizenship, and bore him two children. (The couple later divorced.) She returned to her native Colombia in 1989, motivated by the assassination of Luis Carlos Galan, a presidential candidate running on an anti-drug trafficking platform. She was elected to the Chamber of Representatives in 1994 then formed her own party, the Green Oxygen Party, and became a senator in 1998. She wrote book criticizing then-Colombian president Ernesto Samper, published in France as Le rage au coeur (An Angry Heart) and later in Columbia. She has been known for years as a fire-brand in Columbian politics.
FARC began as a peasant army for socialism in the 1960’s. They still hold hundreds of hostages. FARC has been called a terrorist organization by the European Union, Colombia and its ally the US, and is accused of drug trafficking and other criminal activities to fund their cause. The group says it only wants to give the poor of Colombia a voice and representation among the wealthy elite classes.
Betancourt will receive medical attention in France. Up next for the freed hostage: a meeting with Pope Benedict, who has expressed a wish to give her an audience.