By
Nick Zeckets
Bigger, faster, stronger and meaner. Winning in the Olympics is not just a dream to thousands of athletes - it is an expression of self-worth. After the 1992 games in Barcelona, during which Chinese swimmers swam to an unprecedented number of victories and records, elite Chinese athletes were asked a very serious question: if taking a pill would guarantee you a gold medal at the Olympics, but you would die one year later, would you take it? Fifty percent of those polled said yes. Steroids are a reality in sport, and Olympic viewers should wake up.
Not many athletes are banned from sport because of testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. According to the International Olympic Committee, over 6,000 tests were administered last year by governing sport bodies. Of the rare positive analyses, however, most are thrown out.
Sports Illustrated commented that during the games every four years, a plethora of athletes are found with steroids, stimulants, MAO inhibitors and masking agents in their systems but go away with medals anyway. Already in Sydney, an Iranian weight lifter has appealed his drug case to keep his silver medal.
Following the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games, several anonymous pharmacists from around the world were asked how many medalists they believed to be on drugs. The answer: 95%. Elite sport pharmacists have an old joke: the medal podium should be twice as large so the respective athletes' doctors can get up there with them.
Most everyone, at one point and time in their lives, has tried to be an athlete; training everyday, lifting hard and putting extreme pressures on the body. Nearly as many fail as start. Why? The body has limits.
During those tough workouts at the Rec, sweat and fatigue keep the majority of people from hitting that extra set or running that extra mile. Steroids take an athlete beyond, pushing the limits of human capabilities and strength. To be the best in the world, there are no costs too great. The Olympic games are the pinnacle of athletic excellence.
Although only a handful of athletes have been ushered from the Olympic Village for positive tests, more sit by and gamble they either won't be tested or won't be vilified if so. Sitting in a cold room having given a urine sample and hair follicle, the world's best pray their cycle of drugs is cleared through their system.
Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how a person looks at it, testing methods are steps behind and loop holes exist. A test that is correct 9,999 times out of 10,000 is insubmissable. Atlanta boasted a test that could catch users of a very advanced steroid, but it was a mere 99.5% accurate so several dozen medal winning athletes who tested positive kept their hardware.
Human Growth Hormone and erythropoietin (EPO) are among the most powerful performance enhancers, and neither can be tested for accurately.
Some steroids take as long as eight months to be undetectable after use is discontinued. Others take only a couple of days. Coaches, athletes and pharmacists know this.
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University released a report this month, "Winning at Any Cost," documenting the drug culture within athletics, warning that athletes are role models and having so many users would influence children to abuse steroids.
In the report, the president of the Norwegian Confederacy of Sport, Hans Skaset, said, "You can produce statistics showing that we have tested 35,000 persons in one year, as the IOC did in 1987, and only some eight or 10 were caught. But that is, of course, because everybody knows the game." Steroid use benefits the athlete competing for drug-minded national sports commissions.
Condemning the world's best for pushing the envelope beyond real human ability is hypocritical. No one wants to see weaker lifters and shorter jumps, nor does anyone want studly swimmers to get scrawnier and slower. Drugs are an integral part of athletics today and to criticize winners is unfair.
Tomorrow, women's gymnastics all-around Gold medalist Andreea Raducan of Romania will find out her own fate. Her positive drug test indicates that she was doping, but do you really care? Her tireless years of effort came down to one night in Sydney. The 16 year-old was the best. Her peers were probably using the same drugs. The world doesn't remember who gets second. If the world wants winners, don't question how they got there. Gold medals are for winners, regardless.
