I'm a dope, you're a dope, we're all a dope at the Olympics...
I'm listening to NPR on the way home from work yesterday (Tuesday) , when they do their daily Olympics recap. Bob Siegel announces with his usual aplomb about the latest doping scandal to hit Athens in as many days. It turns out that some Hungarian guy had to give up his gold medal in discus because he apparently gave a tainted urine sample to officials testing him after his win. Just the previous day (Monday) a Russian woman - the first to win the gold medal in shot put - was forced to give up her medal because she took performance enhancing drugs. Both athletes have not issued a statement and have pretty much left the Games in disgrace. (More on those athletes here: http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer04/gen/news/story?id=1866371)
Meantime today (Wednesday), American track goddess Marion Jones supposedly easily qualified for the finals of the long jump. (I'm trying to maintain my suspension of disbelief and actually wait for NBC's broadcast, which is another rant entirely). Anyone who's anyone knows that Jones has been shrouded in accusations of doping... which she has repeatedly denied. Whether she took the drugs or not is a moot point... because her rep is pretty much gone at this point.
Anyway, I'm listening to the radio about the discus guy and getting pretty peeved... it seems there hasn't been one day of the Olympic Games that hasn't been marked with some steroid scandal. Is it really that hard to stay clean? Or more accurately... why the fuck does a discus thrower have to take illegal drugs? To get that extra edge... on the other discus throwers? I mean... how many fucking discus throwers do you see on a Wheaties box or a Campbell's soup can (or the Hungarian equivalent thereof). And quite frankly, if you need a urine test to figure out that a Russian woman with a neck the size of a small oak tree is taking drugs, you have bigger problems. But I digress.
I mean I can understand the Marion Jones thing... not that I think she did it, or condone her cheating if she did... but at least I can understand it. I mean, Track & Field is big business... product endorsements, fame, fortune, interviews with Bob Costas... those are all real good reasons to cheat. And let's face it, Marion Jones is no longer an athlete... she's a business. Her name, her face, her feet, probably grace products from here to Nike plants in Taiwan. So if you're MJ and you've got to pop some pills or take an injection to give you that extra edge on the track, not to mention on the NYSE, then hell yeah... I can see it. There by the grace of God go I.
But discus... come on. Discus throwing is really only this close to frisbee throwing... and anything you can do with the family pet on a Saturday afternoon really cannot be an Olympic sport. But whatever. It's apparently so important to be first, to be the best, to be right, that staying clean and doing it the fair way is a secondary concern.
I can't wait for Beijing in 2008.
Meantime today (Wednesday), American track goddess Marion Jones supposedly easily qualified for the finals of the long jump. (I'm trying to maintain my suspension of disbelief and actually wait for NBC's broadcast, which is another rant entirely). Anyone who's anyone knows that Jones has been shrouded in accusations of doping... which she has repeatedly denied. Whether she took the drugs or not is a moot point... because her rep is pretty much gone at this point.
Anyway, I'm listening to the radio about the discus guy and getting pretty peeved... it seems there hasn't been one day of the Olympic Games that hasn't been marked with some steroid scandal. Is it really that hard to stay clean? Or more accurately... why the fuck does a discus thrower have to take illegal drugs? To get that extra edge... on the other discus throwers? I mean... how many fucking discus throwers do you see on a Wheaties box or a Campbell's soup can (or the Hungarian equivalent thereof). And quite frankly, if you need a urine test to figure out that a Russian woman with a neck the size of a small oak tree is taking drugs, you have bigger problems. But I digress.
I mean I can understand the Marion Jones thing... not that I think she did it, or condone her cheating if she did... but at least I can understand it. I mean, Track & Field is big business... product endorsements, fame, fortune, interviews with Bob Costas... those are all real good reasons to cheat. And let's face it, Marion Jones is no longer an athlete... she's a business. Her name, her face, her feet, probably grace products from here to Nike plants in Taiwan. So if you're MJ and you've got to pop some pills or take an injection to give you that extra edge on the track, not to mention on the NYSE, then hell yeah... I can see it. There by the grace of God go I.
But discus... come on. Discus throwing is really only this close to frisbee throwing... and anything you can do with the family pet on a Saturday afternoon really cannot be an Olympic sport. But whatever. It's apparently so important to be first, to be the best, to be right, that staying clean and doing it the fair way is a secondary concern.
I can't wait for Beijing in 2008.
posted by TinaDiva at 8/25/2004 06:22:00 PM
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