Sporting career and secondary socialisation in road cycling: the case of Belgium, France and Switzerland

Abstract
This international study, financed by the World Anti‐Doping Agency, was designed to examine and comprehend the impact of forms of socialization and organization of cycling on the representation and practices of doping. To that end, we collected observations in the field and, especially, conducted numerous interviews with young amateur and new professional cyclists, former cyclists, doctors and sports directors in Switzerland, France and Belgium. The main goal is to understand the effects of cycling modes of organization and the support of cyclists on any correlation with doping and pharmacology. In particular, interactions amongst different actors in cycling were observed to better understand the construction of knowledge, as well as the values and standards of the cyclist culture.

By the end of these three years of research, we observed an evolution in the effect of modes of organization and support on doping practices. The “Festina Affair” was revealing of the era of widespread organized doping, considered legitimate in the milieu itself. On the other hand, today, in terms of the young cyclists in our sample, doping seems to be encouraged by a lack of support. It takes root in new more transversal and sophisticated organizational modes, with networks from outside of the cyclist microcosm, and with a more complex and expensive use of substances. Thus, while doping in the 1990s was the fruit of a collective socialization, it seems at present to be a more individual process—dictated by the demanding conditions of the profession, insecurity or the lure of financial gain—but also more informal and, therefore, more clandestine. Furthermore, we note an evolution in how cyclists perceive doping behaviour, in the sense of a return to a definition of doping as a transgression of the norms of the cyclists’ subculture.

Nonetheless, high level sports remain driven by the need to obtain the best possible performance. Cyclists, faced with overtraining, turn to all sorts of authorized medical treatment, especially through dietary supplements. This bears witness to the persistence of a culture of consumption of legal substances that is part of a process of pharmacological socialization begun very early in a sporting career, especially in contact with the medical profession. What changes, at least in the discourse, is greater concern with the role of ethics in the definition of performance.

Differences in organizational modes and financing in cycling in the three countries studied largely determine the approach to medical preparation and doping. In summary, we may say that today, the more those determined to fight against doping take charge of cyclists in an organized fashion, the greater the probability that the appearance of doping practices diminishes. Depending on the country, this results in varying degrees of changes in the discourse and practices of actors and managers, as they are now obliged to review their actions in the light of numerous scandals and the subsequent intensification of the anti‐doping struggle.

We have distinguished three “ideal types” of cycling teams according to the intensity of the support and the pressure of internal control. Despite standardized and generally common training methods, this model takes account of the diversity of attitudes and beliefs with respect to doping, according to the type of team. Along a continuum ranging from a very relativistic approach to a purist and idealistic conception of the sport, the key finding is that the greater the support, the less hesitant the discourse. According to this hypothesis, the combined weight of the tests and the increase of sanctions are thus welcomed by young athletes. The model of strong support is more prevalent in Belgium and even more in France than in Switzerland.

In addition, the research has also shed light on these structural differences of high level cycling in the three countries, through analysing the diversity of modes of access and training of elites, the circulation of individuals in this market and the structuring of sports careers, the material and human investment in cycling, the symbolical and popular stakes of cycling, the legal framework and the relationship between the public and private organizational spheres.

In a context of identity crisis and cyclists’ feeling of injustice about the tarnished image of their profession, doping practices were described to us as basically diminished compared to the past, even compared to a few years ago, but of course this does not guarantee an elimination of the phenomenon.

For more information: http://www.wada-ama.org/Documents/Education_Awareness/SocialScienceResearch/Research_Projects/2005/WADA_Synthesis_research%20report-road_cycling_Belgium_France_Switzerland.pdf

Contacts:
fabien.ohl@unil.ch
christophe.brissonneau@wanadoo.fr