Lance Armstrong was abusing outlawed drugs to gain an unfair advantage to win. And he bullied other athletes and even his masseur to enable him to keep cheating.
The three Pakistani spotfixers did not seek to gain any advantage over teammates or opponents. They did not bully or intimidate anyone else. They committed a fairly banal but criminal act which had no impact upon the games in question, and they were (rightly) heavily punished in terms of prison and long suspensions.
Their action was not comparable to Armstrong's. Their action was more comparable to a sportsman wearing unauthorised clothing because they have been paid to do so.
I exceeded the speed limit in my car today. That does not mean that I should be treated like a murderer. If I was caught I might have been rightly punished, but not to the same punishment tarif as a murderer.
They didn't seek to gain advantage?
What was the reason for spot fixing then? They were doing charity work?
They spot fixed to gain personal advantage.
Only difference is Lance Armstrong, cheated to gain bicycling advantage and Tour De France records.
Marion Jones took performance enhancing drugs knowingly to win athletic medals.
The trio of Asif, Amir and Butt fixed because they :
They were naive, and didn't know what spot fixing means.
They were doing charity.
They thought everyone does it, so why not us?
But maybe the most logical reason is, all 3 knew they were doing wrong, but were getting easy money out of it.
They were doing it for personal advantage.
Just Like Armstrong did for his personal records, and Jones did for medals. Carl Lewis did for medals.
Everyone does it because they want to get some benefit.
That Lance overused his ability to bully others is irrelavant. Had he been caught doing EPO and not bullying, the life sentence would have stuck.
Just like Jones.
You commit the crime, you do the time.
They have done the time, and I agree they should be free.
But professional bodies have to draw the line between allowing such people to come back.
PCB will, some won't.
That's all there is to it.
And btw Lance Armstrong did not over speed or commit murder. Those are exceptional cases and neither athletes be it the Pakistani trio or Lance committed anything analogous to murder.
