FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Olympic athletes often don't get paid to do anything other than look good. In that vein, Attractive Olympians handicaps which athletes may rake in endorsement deals after the Olympics.

Dutch cyclist Theo Bos is one of the best in the world at what he does. But you won't see him at the Tour de France or in the Olympic road race -- his excellence is on the track.

Bos took silver in the sprint event at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and since then he's accomplished the rare "triple" -- world championships in the sprint, kilometer, and keirin. He also broke the 11-year-old record for the 200-meter sprint with a time of 9.772 seconds, which helped him earn the honor of Dutch Sportsman of the Year.

Even more importantly, he is one good-looking slice of beefcake, am I right ladies? After the jump, get a closer look at Theo and take part in our poll to determine just how hot he is. Please, this participatory democracy needs your vote.

A verdict was reached Friday in the first trial related to the BALCO investigation, and Olympic cyclist Tammy Thomas has been convicted of three counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice for lying to a grand jury about her steroid use.

Testimony in Thomas's trial drew attention for the changes that steroids had on Thomas's body, including facial hair, chest hair, a beard and male pattern baldness.

The feds' investigation of BALCO cast a wide net, with eight of the accused already pleading guilty. Thomas was the first to fight the charges at trial, and her conviction is bad news for Barry Bonds, whose case closely resembles Thomas's.

Among those who have taken guilty pleas are BALCO founder Victor Conte, former Olympic sprinter Marion Jones, Bonds' trainer Greg Anderson and chemist Patrick Arnold.

Female Olympic cyclist Tammy Thomas is the first athlete to face a criminal trial on charges related to the BALCO investigation, and testimony in her perjury trial reveals odd side effects of her alleged steroid use. Lance Williams of the San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Thomas seemed to be in the midst of shaving her face when an Olympic drug tester paid her an unannounced visit. ...

Prosecutors have called Thomas a "hard-core" steroid user who underwent a physical transformation while using banned drugs. On Monday, a Colorado endocrinologist who examined Thomas in 2000 said the cyclist's use of the steroid depo-testosterone had caused "severe virilization."

Thomas had a deep voice, full beard, chest hair and even signs of male pattern baldness, Dr. Margaret Weirman testified.

Thomas told the grand jury that investigated BALCO that she never used banned drugs. She is now charged with perjury and obstruction of justice for those statements. Seven people have pleaded guilty to crimes arising from the BALCO case. Barry Bonds is expected to face trial on charges similar to Thomas's late this year or early next year.

This is Belgian cyclist Kevin van Impe. His wife gave birth prematurely this year, and their son died hours after he was born.

Last week van Impe was at a crematorium, making arrangements for his son's funeral, when a drug tester representing cycling's governing body showed up. Van Impe asked whether the tester would be kind enough to give him some space during his grieving process, but the tester would have none of it, telling him it was provide a urine sample immediately or be banned from the sport for two years:

"He wouldn't even come back later in the day. It was either do it right on the spot or it would be taken as if I had refused," van Impe said.

Van Impe's fellow cyclists have protested, delaying the start of races over the weekend and reading a statement saying, "We'll say yes a thousand times to a determined and responsible fight against doping, but today and even in an even stronger manner in the future, we say no a thousand times against the violation of our rights, the rights of every human being."

Much has been said about how the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports has gotten out of hand. More should be said about the way the war on performance-enhancing drugs in sports has gotten out of hand.

In a bizarre incident at cycling's Tour Down Under, Italian cyclist Elia Rigotto head butted Australian cyclist Mathew Hayman during the race, causing a crash and giving Hayman a shoulder fracture that will require surgery. You can see the crash at the 3:00 mark of this video:



The Tour chief had this to say:

"They were riding at approximately 60 kilometres per hour, Hayman was at the front, looked over his right shoulder to see if (Graeme) Brown was on his wheel.

"He didn't deviate from his line and rider number 41 (Rigotto) came past on his left-hand side and as he came level with him he very viciously struck him on his upper arm and shoulder with his head -- a headbutt -- very, very vicious -- and of course Hayman came down," Robb said.

"It was as vicious a headbutt as I've seen in a long, long time."

Rigotto has been disqualified and fined $180.

The Melbourne Cup on Wheels is a track cycling event, and the only time we Americans ever pay any attention to foreign track cycling is when there's a crash. So here you go:

The Melbourne Herald Sun sums it up nicely:

The big prang, which saw young riders flying through the air, was a bonus for the spectators, if that's not putting it too unsympathetically.

Luckily, they all walked away without so much as a broken bone between them. Therefore, a positive observation is in order -- this was proof, again, of what a tough sport cycling is.

Well said.

Congratulations, I guess, to Oscar Pereiro, who today became the winner of the 2006 Tour de France. Pereiro finished the 2006 Tour in second place, 57 seconds behind Floyd Landis, who today was stripped of his title when he lost an appeal of his positive drug test.

"You never want to win a competition like that but after a year and a half I'm just glad it's over," said Pereiro.

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said: "According to the rules, the second-placed rider will be promoted to first place.

Pereiro was also at the center of a doping controversy revolving around the 2006 Tour, but it was ultimately ruled that the banned substance he used was for a legitimate medical condition (asthma). Pereiro becomes the first Spaniard to win since Miguel Indurain, who won every year from 1991 to 1995.

It's official: Floyd Landis is no longer the 2006 Tour de France champion.

Landis lost the appeal of his positive drug test, as two of the three arbitrators who heard his case upheld the results, which found that Landis used synthetic testosterone.

The decision, handed down nearly four months after a bizarre and bitterly fought hearing, leaves Landis with only one more outlet to possibly salvage his title -- an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

According to documents obtained by AP, and to be made public later Thursday, the vote was 2-1 to uphold the results, with lead arbitrator Patrice Brunet and Richard McLaren in the majority and Christopher Campbell dissenting.

The decision means Landis, who repeatedly has denied using performance-enhancing drugs, must forfeit his Tour de France title and is subject to a two-year ban, retroactive to January 30, 2007.

Landis, who has always maintained that he never used performance-enhancing drugs, becomes the first Tour de France winner ever stripped of his championship.

USA Today is celebrating its 25th anniversary by doing a bunch of Top 25 lists, and I realize that it's foolish to get worked up by these things, because no one really takes them seriously and everyone knows they're just a way to start conversations and get people to buy papers.

But still: The list of the 25 most influential people of the last 25 years ranks Lance Armstrong eighth. That means, in the eyes of USA Today's editors, Armstrong is more influential than, to name a few, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev and Nelson Mandela. Here's USA Today's explanation of Armstrong's importance:

He won a record-breaking seven consecutive Tour de France races, cycling's most prestigious event, after battling testicular cancer. Sales of his iconic "Livestrong" wristbands have raised millions of dollars to help fight cancer.

Yeah, that's all well and good. But does it really make him more influential than the man who started the war in Iraq or the man who brought down Apartheid?

I suppose USA Today's editors wanted a diverse list, and thought having a couple of sports stars (Michael Jordan was the other) was necessary. But this just makes them look silly.

Check out the lede in the Des Moines Register:

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards squeezed into a pair of Spandex bike shorts today and pedaled on the RAGBRAI route with champion cyclist Lance Armstrong.

I wouldn't want to see any of the current crop of presidential contenders in spandex (well, maybe Kucinich), so I declare whatever member of Edwards' staff convinced him to wear another pair of shorts over the spandex as America's wisest political adviser.

Armstrong said he invited all of the presidential candidates to ride with him, but Edwards was the only one so far to take him up on his offer.

Hat tip: Lion in Oil.