05.16.08
winners and losers
One nice thing about being “elite athletes with full time jobs” (our identity, Marc?) is that no one will feel pressured to cheat. Your future livelihood does not depend on how fast you run. Although it’s natural to wonder just how good you could be with EPO blood or HGH muscles, thank goodness everyone in CAC has a bright, successful, CLEAN future awaiting them after sport. All those maggots that are going to be revealed when they finally turn over the Balco and Trevor Graham rocks will forever be losers. Their resumes will be stamped “cheater” forever and even if they do manage to find jobs or careers, they will never be fully trusted. In the same way we clean athletes wonder, “How fast could I have been if I’d tried drugs?” do you think dirty athletes wonder how good their lives could have been if they hadn’t?
For those going to prison (or worse, dying of cancer or heart failure in 10 years), performance-enhancing drugs are no laughing matter … but this movie looks hilarious:
http://www.biggerstrongerfastermovie.com/
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JOCKO said,
May 16, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I cannot wait to see this. I hope they interview at least one person in the Track & Field world.
After watching the trailer, it looks like they have one of the interviews with a track in the background.
Obviously, this is a major issue in our sport (among others…), so I am interested to see how it is tackled in this film.
George said,
May 17, 2008 at 9:40 am
I whole heartily agree with Coach Mabe. Athletes on drugs are cheaters and they need to be thrown out of their sport. But isn’t the average sports fan also at fault in some small part? We love to see the brilliant plays, superb performances and worse of all calling athletes “heroes”.
I’m am purist when it comes to athletics so when one of theses “maggots” gets their face in newspapers across the nation for a doping infraction don’t ask me to feel sorry for them. In today’s paper Tim Montgomery has just been sentenced to 48 months in jail. Idiot!
As adult athletes, elite or not, please stress to younger athletes that doping is not the way to achieve personal excellence and recognition.
Marc said,
May 18, 2008 at 1:45 pm
It’s really sad that scarcely a day goes by now without more news of doping in the sports world, and track and field is more than well represented in this ongoing saga. I guess it’s the price we pay for making sports such a professional, lucrative endeavor, for those who really “succeed”. I would much rather remain outside that world and just continue running because I love it than engage in this deceit.
As interesting as this film looks, I wonder if the way it is presented will really have the intended effect. None of this should shock anyone anymore. In fact, people “on the fence” about steroid use may come away from this thinking it likely they can and will continue to get away with this.
What’s needed is a zero-tolerance policy that punishes cheaters much more harshly than simple one to two-year bans…the problem is it’s not always easy to prove anything. Tim Montgomery’s jail punishment, stricter than most, is still not sufficient in my view, and in fact my understanding is that it’s for other crimes rather than his own doping, he was dealing heroin.
George said,
May 19, 2008 at 2:42 pm
True, the prison term was for money laundering but he “retired” in 2005 after being banned from my sport for using human steroids. The laundering charges and several others were in connection with a scheme connected with BALCO. Going form the fastest human to a convict because of doping and things associated with doping. He is still an idiot but now with a federal conviction record. Do you think a fast food chain would even hire him?
Joan said,
May 21, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Here’s a fantastic, and hopeful!, article about making a clean choice:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/athletics/article3964514.ece
Read the part about Gay choosing to be tested repeatedly out-of-competition to prove his innocence.
Ewen said,
May 23, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Good story Joan. Gay is fortunate to have a mum like that.
ASADA is doing well down here with out-of-competition unannounced testing - following some athletes to their overseas training camps. They could do more with better funding - you can never throw enough money in the direction of stopping cheats.