Taking the easy way out
The competitive nature of sport means that every athlete should strive to be the best in their field and there are those who constantly try to achieve this in the right way.
However, in light of the recent drug scandals in this year’s Tour De France; we have to ask are there more athletes who cheat to win then those who stay within the rules to cross the line first?
L’Equipe, the French sports newspaper, published a survey that stated that nearly 50% did not believe the Tour could be won without the use of drugs, while 33% stated they were losing interest in the event because of doping.
Floyd Landis’ positive test for testosterone, in 2006, had cast a shadow over the race but this year’s revelations have turned the tour from a sport into a farce. It is not the first time that drugs have featured in the this cycling event.
In 1978, Michel Pollentier was discovered at doping control with a clean urine sample hidden under his armpit, after the Alpe d’Huez stage.It is not just Cycling where drugs are prominent; Athletics has had a long association with performance enhancing drugs. The 1988 Olympics should have been remembered for, the Canadian sprinter,Ben Johnson’s record breaking 100m Gold medal victory in 9.79 seconds. It was later found that Johnson had been taking stanozolol (an anabolic steroid) and was stripped of his medal.
Carl Lewis was awarded Gold and he constantly plead innocence when allegations of his own possible drug taking arose. As if the events in Seoul had not drawn a big enough black cloud over the sport, the America athlete was found to have tested positive earlier that season and new information was brought to light in 2002.
Since then, Linford Christie, Michelle De Bruin, Marion Jones and many others have been accused of trying to get one up on their competitors.
So how can young people look up to these ‘stars’ and try to emulate them if all they are doing is taking performance enhancing drugs to mask their ability? Can the paying public, that views sporting events ,trust in athletes to work as hard as they can to achieve their goals instead of taking the easy way out?
As fans, we are guilty of being hypocritical as we all take something to help us through events in our lives; legal drugs for pain, and illegal drugs for recreation. At the same time, the reason that our sport’s ‘stars’ get paid so much for what they do is because we expect them to do things the right way and not to take shortcuts. They are role models for many people whether they want to be or not.
It is easy to take the plaudits when they come your way, it is more difficult to take the criticism when we do something wrong.
Monday, July 30th, 2007 and is filed under Views on News.
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