Doping a big issue in triathlon too? (Page 2)

It's interesting, when I first posted this topic, I pretty much assumed that AGers were for the most part clean, but that there was more chance that pros were doping. Yet, the discussion has centered much more on the AGers.

My thinking on the pros, is that while they don't earn massive amounts of money (yet), I'm sure that the sponsorship $$$ for the people who win high profile events is multiples of what the pros that finish in the middle of the pro pack make. While I don't get the impression that even the top pros make huge money, I am of the impression that the $$$ difference between the "top pros" and those that don't contend for the podium with some regularity, is pretty significant. Also, while the middle-of-the-pack pros get a lot of free gear, I don't sense that they get a whole lot of cash flow to pay the bills. Consequently, I would think that some of the pros who aren't regularly on the podium might have a lot of incentive to dope, to improve their standard of living as well as simply to ensure that they can keep being professional triathletes instead of getting a "real job". This would be in addition to the competitive drive that is a motivator for both pros and AGers alike.

Like some of the posters above, I suspect that the number of dopers (in MOST professional sports) is a significant multiple of the number of dopers who get caught. How many more dopers are there compared to people who get caught? 3x? 5x? 10x? I think it depends on the sport. I think the majority of professional football players have taken steroids at some point in their past while very few seem to get caught. I think cycling is finally starting to catch a higher percentage of its dopers, which is clearly good. I SUSPECT that a smaller percentage of pro triathletes dope compared to pro cyclists, yet I also wouldn't be surprised if the sport of triathlon catches a smaller percentage of its dopers due to less sophisticated and/or less frequent testing regiments (again, my largely uneducated opinion).

-Matt