As the professional cycling community continues to come to grips with doping confessions that have rocked the sport, The University of Texas at Austin College of Communication’s Texas Program in Sports and Media (TPSM) will host its 2013 McGarr Symposium on Sports and Society, titled “The Real Price of Winning at All Costs: A Discussion about Elite Cycling.” This panel discussion will address the importance of fair play, the urgency of anti-doping measures and the rooting out of a culture of corruption in sport. The event will be from 7 to 9 p.m. on Monday, April 22, in the second-floor auditorium of the Belo Center for New Media, 300 W. Dean Keeton St. The event is free and open to the public.
The event will feature Greg LeMond, three-time Tour de France champion; Greg’s wife, Kathy; Betsy Andreu, wife of professional cyclist Frankie Andreu; Bill Bock, general counsel to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency; and Reed Albergotti, white-collar crimes reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Michael Cramer, TPSM director, will serve as moderator. The educational discussion will take a closer look at what happens when a culture of cheating and corruption takes over a sport. The panelists will discuss the physical, emotional and ethical costs that elite cyclists have faced in the recent history of the sport.
Greg LeMond LeMond is a two-time UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) world champion (1983, 1989) and a three-time winner of the Tour de France (1986, 1989, 1990). He also won a gold medal at the 1979 World Junior Championship Road Race at the age of 18. In each of these events, he was the first American rider to take first place. LeMond has long been a vocal opponent of performance-enhancing drug use since he first spoke on-record against doping in cycling after winning the 1989 Tour de France.
Kathy LeMond Kathy LeMond married Greg in 1980 and moved to France the next week to support him in his cycling career.
Betsy Andreu Andreu married professional cyclist Frankie Andreu in 1999 when he was captain of the U.S. Postal Service cycling team. The Andreus have been recognized for their role in helping to uncover the truth about the doping culture in cycling and continue to be advocates for cleaning up the sport.
Bill Bock Bock has handled cases for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) since 2001 and has served as general counsel to USADA since 2007. At USADA, he has contributed to the BALCO investigation and served as lead attorney for investigation into the sport of cycling.
Reed Albergotti Albergotti is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, covering white-collar crime. He has written and reported extensively on the investigations involving cycling and Lance Armstrong. The New York Press Club recognized his sports reporting with an award of excellence in 2011.
The McGarr Symposium on Sports and Society is TPSM’s capstone event, held in April every year, created to bring to life a robust and interactive conversation about the role of sports and media and their collective effects on American culture. The conference brings academics and working professionals to the campus of The University of Texas at Austin to discuss sports-related public policy issues, cultural challenges and societal imperatives of sport consumption behavior.
