Drug Tsar for Sports
It may be time to declare the war over and surrender. There is just no hope of people coming to their senses and acting reasonably and morally. In the face of such determined self-destructive badness, I say let’s talk about ending the war on drugs now!
Barry Bonds is chasing Hank Aaron’s homerun record and is suspected of having inflated his body and his numbers with steroids. He actually admits to steroid use, but claims it was unintentional. (And Lindsey Lohan was carry cocaine for a friend.) It is also the case that steroids were not against the rules for much of his career. So why the fuss?
The war on drugs in bicycling has turned the Tour de France into the Tour de Farce. This is a shame. I actually care about the Tour, and having lived in France and biked over many of those roads (aided only by the irrational denial of my age), I have watched each year with real interest. Now I watch with nausea.
Everyone who rides is suspected of doping. Despite testing on the course and out of season, the glory and money of winning still induce riders to cheat. The Yellow Jersey leader was shown the door yesterday. The winner of two stages this year was evicted the day before and at the start of yesterday’s stage a rider was led off by the police. Floyd Landis tested positive and disputes the test. Lance Armstrong was always held under suspicion by the French. There is a presumption that if you are good enough to win, you must be cheating. Riders are now disqualified retroactively for admitted sins of a half-decade in the past. It is just a mess.
Gold medals are taken back from Olympic winners who are shown to have been drug aided. Too much hemoglobin and there is presumption of blood doping. Too much testosterone and another presumption of guilt. Too much coffee is also grounds for disqualification. Cold medicines, decongestants and asthma inhalers could also take you out of competition.
Most of the cheaters know they are cheating. Many take masking agents to cover their drugs. Some have tried to hire designated pee-ers and substitute another person’s urine.
If we re-visit the past almost every medal in Women’s Track and Field that went to the Soviets would re rescinded based on drugs and gender. The East German swimmers would also be a problem. Hell, they cheated legally. No, not an oxymoron. In addition to drugs the swimmers had air shot up their butts. Whether this was to make them more buoyant or if passing wind had a jet effect, I really can’t say. But they did it. And I’m not making this up.
We need to make up our minds and either say this is the business of the athlete and however they train and whatever they take is up to them, or have zero tolerance and competitive death penalty for one infraction. The present system is just not working.
Maybe a Sports Drug Tsar. Any Ideas?
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