The
IOC has barred Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou from the
Beijing Games, saying her role in a drug-testing cover-up
four years ago in Athens was “a scandalous saga”
that had brought the Olympic movement into disrepute.
Honestly,
it was not my idea to think of the name change. But I
will have to admit that when it was suggested to me by
a bright young doctor, it caused me to reflect on the
image which the use of drugs by athletes have taken the
true character of the Olympic games away from the event.
The extremely good marketing of the Beijing Olympics could
only have been equalled by the previous host countries.
Despite all the criticisms which spanned from pollution,
through to China’s disregard and disrespect for the
practice of proper human rights principles, none of them
could surpass the increase in the awareness of the use of
performance enhancing drugs.
This is no longer surprising, but the regularity with which
the drug issue has been reported all over the world, has
led one to understand that athletes no longer believe that
long training hours, good diet, scientific training methods,
will bring them the desired result of winning medals at
the Olympic games.
Funnily enough, the use of drugs in sport is nothing new.
The difference is simply that its more prevalent and there
are those who claim that the significant disparity between
the users and nonusers could hardly be deemed as a normal
improvement in the state of our athletes.
Certain experts have claimed that the use of steroids can
be visibly recognized by the extraordinary muscle growth
of those who engage in its use, plus other physiological
changes which take place.
Another opinion is that there is sometimes a very recognizable
voice change as a result.
I do recall the year 1976 when I was studying at the German
College of Physical culture in Leipzig, Germany. At that
time, the East Germans, as they were called in those days,
and the Russians, were accused of using steroids and creating
a new breed of human being. There was the case of two swimmers
Ronald Mathes and a female swimmer, both of whom dominated
the swimming pool in Montreal and won a number of medals.
The western world openly criticized the East Europeans and
added the accusation that they were actually professionals
and not amateurs.
Today, that accusation still stands, except that the entire
world had decided that amateurism should be deleted from
the Olympic games charter, and the use of drugs, if properly
concealed, could bring fame and fortune to the lucky ones.
The games of 1980, and 84 were affected by the tit for tat
political behaviour of the Russians and the Americans, taking
the spirit of competitiveness from many of the events, especially
those which were dominated by the two conglomerates.
It was in Seoul , Korea in 1988 that use of anabolic steroids
came forcibly to the games, with fingers pointing firmly
towards Ben Johnson of Canada, who won the Gold medal in
the 100 metres, and Florence Joyner Griffith, the female
counterpart who still holds the world and Olympic record
in the 100 metres.
The removal of the amateur status in the Olympic games could
truly be led to the belief that athletes became so conscious
of the wealth achieved in winning, were desperately in search
of anything which would give them an advantage.
I do recall the American Carl Lewis had to shrug off the
critics who were trying to brand him as a drug user when
he was actually casting blame at the footsteps of some of
his contemporaries for doing the same thing.
Carl also had the problem of signing a contract prior to
the Olympic games, as it would have broken the then rules
of the Olympic Charter.
Of course, the business sector and the legal team for Lewis
found a suitable way to do a layaway plan for the handing
over of funds on the American’s behalf.
This, to my mind, was the beginning of the destruction of
amateurism at the Olympic level and pressure from the various
stakeholders caused the authorities to make the change.
With the amount of money which is handed out today in the
various sporting disciplines, the entire image of the Olympics
has changed dramatically.
Together with the change in standard of performance, came
the ruthless use of steroids and other enhancing drugs,
a splurge of money from the companies who wished to have
their products on display on every athletic icon’s
shirt. These same folk then paid to have every major event
televised the world over, affording the youth of the world
to see who is wearing their goods before they rush to the
stores to make their purchases.
To many of the athletes, it was easier to use drugs to gain
better results than to spend long hours in the various gymnasia
to become better.
The International Olympic Committee fell for this ploy because
it brought
Funds into their pockets through television and other type
of advertising gimmicks.. They immediately made Soccer high
profile in order to attract names like Maradona, Ronaldo,
and many others.
Now that the cattle has left the barn, they are attempting
to close the door.
It is now on the basis of those policies that the countries
across the world are trying to get their athletes on the
medal rosters of the Olympics.
The proof of this process lies squarely before our very
eyes, whereby the government of the day were persuaded to
hand out millions of dollars to
“elite
Athletes” whom they believe are medal prospects, without
giving sufficient consideration to the potentially promising
ones whose development programs need a total revamping through
proper financing.
The sad thing is that these “financial handouts”
are hardly monitored carefully to ensure that its spent
in the right manner. The commitment to finance any athlete
to a specific sum of money for four years prior to the Olympics
is illogical. This is not to say that these athletes may
not be in need of financial assistance in order to keep
an adequate training program.
Who actually gives sufficient study to this investment and
could anyone prove that it has benefited the athletes.?
It is also quite possible that all these elite performers
are contracted to sponsors whose products are being used
more regularly than the national shirts.
We also have some athletes who shun the participation of
small meets such as the CAC games, the Commonwealth and
the PanAm games, if they run concurrently with the big money
making European and Asian circuit athletic meetings.
Conclusively, the sport lovers of supreme athletes, are
now confused as to whether these high profile performances
must be respected.
Cobertin must be rolling over in his grave in order to dodge
the damage which his predecessors have flirted with the
Amateurism in the Olympic games.
The definition of professionalism seems to have been misunderstood
by the athletes desire to run fast, jump high, or throw
far. Their belief is that the purse is the key to success,
regardless of what must be done with the human body. I’ll
settle for the good old days where success was achieved
by simple hard work and dedication.
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