Tom Boonen's name is familiar to any cycling fan. But the rider from Belgium is now in a world of drug trouble, and not because of steroids.Boonen, who always has passed every test for performance enhancing drugs, came up positive for cocaine in an out-of-competition test performed last spring. Though cocaine is considered a recreational drug, any drug taint at all these days will doom an athlete, but most especially a cyclist. The 28-year-old rider may even be facing jail time.
Boonen is a former world champion, winner of the Tour of Flanders and other stage races. He will be told on January 6 whether he will be charged and tried over the drug test, and if so, faces between several months and five years in jail, plus a fine of thousands of Euros. His coke escapade comes at a particularly unfortunate time. Officials all over Europe are looking to make an example of anyone in the sport of cycling, because it's been so tainted by drug use. Ambitious prosecutors could be looking at the Boonen case as a career maker. Boonen's own lawyer claims he is not being treated fairly, and that if he were any other citizen of Belgium, the issue would have never even been a court case.Meanwhile, Boonen's career has tanked. Organizers of the Tour de France banned him from riding in the Tour, and Boonen's team, Quick Step, was forced to replace him. No other team will sign him because of his drug problems; it doesn't matter how good he is.
He tried to gloss it over by admitting that he used cocaine and issuing a heartfelt apology, but cycling officials and fans have not been forgiving, and there are at least two reasons behind the rejection. Boonen is alleged to have also been using the drug ecstasy; plus hair samples tested by prosecutors showed that his cocaine use was not a one-time thing, but that he had been a heavy user over a period of months.
