{"id":253313,"date":"2025-11-09T15:58:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T15:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/253313\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T15:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T15:58:12","slug":"if-i-won-knowing-i-cheated-i-wouldnt-feel-joy-marlen-reusser-stands-firm-against-legalizing-doping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/253313\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIf I won knowing I cheated, I wouldn\u2019t feel joy\u201d \u2013 Marlen Reusser stands firm against legalizing doping"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marlen Reusser<\/a> has recently spoken out forcefully against doping in cycling, emphasizing the importance of integrity for both the sport and her own sense of fulfillment and categorically rejecting having ever considered to resort to it.\u201cNot at all. Simply because I don\u2019t need it,\u201d Reusser said in an interview to SRF Kultur Sternstunden<\/a> when asked if she\u2019d ever been tempted to dope. \u201cI play the cycling game, I want to measure myself and enjoy everything in it. If I won knowing I cheated, I wouldn\u2019t feel joy. A huge part of what I love would fall away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her clear stance comes against the backdrop of the proposed \u201cEnhanced Games,\u201d set for 2026, where athletes could compete without any restrictions on performance-enhancing substances. Reusser doesn\u2019t shy away from her opposition.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m extremely glad doping is banned for us, and for good reasons. It\u2019s very unhealthy and risky; you can die or suffer serious damage. As an athlete I\u2019m glad I don\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Reusser, the pressure to perform is already immense, even within the boundaries of legality. \u201cWithout altitude training you can\u2019t compete at the top level. So we\u2019re constantly at altitude or in a tent at home,\u201d she explained, revealing that she too uses an oxygen tent at home. \u201cI have a tent at home and spend weeks in it. There\u2019s simply less oxygen – simulated altitude – and everyone does it. Sometimes I think if we all just agreed to put that aside, we could be at home normally. That would be wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crucially, Reusser\u2019s main objection to legalizing doping is the pressure it would place on every athlete. \u201cIf everyone doped, I\u2019d have to as well just to compete, and I\u2019d have to accept those harms. I don\u2019t want that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She acknowledges road cycling\u2019s inherent risks, but makes a clear moral distinction: \u201cI know I could die there [on descents]. I accept that. But if people, with clear information, choose to accept doping risks and are allowed to, who should forbid them?\u201d Still, she concludes the Enhanced Games are \u201ca very bold experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reusser has really had a season to remember. The 34-year old moved to Movistar Team<\/a> in 2025 after spending 3 years with Team SD Worx – Protime<\/a>, mostly carrying domestique duties for Demi Vollering<\/a> and Lotte Kopecky<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Movistar, she reached the best level of her career, finishing in second place in both the GC of the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a and the Giro d’Italia and winning 11 races in total, including Vuelta a Burgos, Tour de Suisse, World and European Championships time trial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marlen Reusser has recently spoken out forcefully against doping in cycling, emphasizing the importance of integrity for both…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-253313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}