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The credibility of the Olympic Games and World Championships were dealt with a heavy blow with recent alarming revelations, allegations and accusations against top American athletes, by the US Anti-Doping Commission and the interview given by the founder of the illegal drugs pharmacy Victor Conte. The owner of Bay-Area Laboratories Co-Opereative (Balco) will go on trial on March 2005, to face a 42-count federal indictment which includes serious charges of steroid distribution and money laundering. Nevertheless Conte shocked everyone with a television interview when he declared that “the Olympic Games are a fraud!” Immediately one’s mind concentrates on the super, record breakers, their muscular bodies and phenomenal speed. Doubts creep in and questions follow. Were the gold medallists who became icons and millionaires clean when they took the podium, with tears down their cheeks as national anthem was played and the country’s colours hoisted? Did they con us to believe that they were super humans or just high speed moving objects all pumped up with illegal drugs? “The Olympic Games are full of corruption, cover-up and performance-enhancing drug use,” continued Conte who started listing several big names who made their country proud with their achievements. Immediately, my mind focussed on what the US President said during the State of the Union speech last January. “Athletics play an important role in our society, but unfortunately some athletes in professional sport are not setting an example. For some performance is more important than character. Get rid of steroids now!” It seems that George W Bush’s message went unheeded.
Victor Conte also referred to Marion Jones who he coached for thirteen months. He said that he started supplying Jones with doping substances in the weeks prior to the Sydney 2000 Olympics and watched as she injected herself with human growth hormone! Jones who won three gold and two bronze medals, in Australia denies the allegations. In fact she is suing Conte for 20 million euros, but the IOC is investigating the doping claims against her. Conte declared that he also supplied performance-enhancing drugs to Marion Jones’ current partner Jim Montgomery who is reported to have told Conte “I am ready to die for that 100m record!” He established a world record in Paris on September 14, 2002 when he clocked 9.78 seconds, but faces a lifetime ban after being charged by the US Anti-Doping Agency.
Conte claims he developed chemical treatments that for a long time were undetectable by outdated testing.
So far a total of thirteen athletes have been sanctioned for violations involving drugs associated with the Balco doping scandal.
Former world indoor 200m champion Michelle Collins,33, has received an eight-year ban for violations involving drugs, world 400m champion Jerome Young,28 has been banned for life after a second positive test, Kelli White,27 who had failed a drug test after winning the 100m and 200m titles in the 2003 world athletics championships and eventually received a two-year ban last May believes that doping is so common in sport that she felt compelled to cheat herself if she was to have any chance of winning!
Dick Pound and his Anti Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee through its medical commission headed by Arne Ljungqvist should do a lot more. Stricter measures are necessary to serve as a deterrent to this malaise which is ruining sport and its appeal. Professional sport is big business, a source of entertainment replete with heroes and icons who strive to hit the limelight at all costs in order to win medals and earn millions. The shame of it all is that there are many who are ready to sacrifice their health and life to reach their aim. Despite random tests, in and out of competition, doping is rampant and not always detected. That’s because the experts who are raving in a multi-million dollar business managed to find ways and means to cover the intake.
Shocking
2004 was a shocking year for some. Many organisations and clubs have been caught out meddling with their books and unpaid taxes! A few violent clashes were recorded, several peasants calling themselves professional football players were spotted spitting at opponents, a few administrators were caught bunking secretaries, a high ranking official from the Olympic movement was caught on film negotiating and promising to sell votes for big fees in connexion with the London bid for the 2012 Olympics, and the year also saw untimely deaths on the field of play.
One must mention the number of positive doping cases of footballers like the Rumanian Adrian Mutu of Chelsea and Jonathan Bachini of Brescia, besides the verdict in the Juventus doping case when judge Giuseppe Casalbore sitting in Turin Court found the club’s chief medical officer Riccardo Agricola guilty of administering illegal substances and was sentenced to 22 months imprisonment. The Juve medic has appealed against the sentence. The case centred on the period 1994-98 when Juventus won three championships and the Champions League.
The public prosecutor in the case, Raffaele Guarinello has a more serious enquiry on his hands. Since 1999 he has conducted an enquiry on the premature deaths of footballers due to Gehrig desease, the type which killed Jimmy Johnstone of Celtic. So far he has reviewed 6,000 case histories of players from all divisions who were active as far back as the early sixties. His conclusions so far read 70 suspected cases, but 365 confirmed.
Should athletes risk death or die by taking or being forced to take illegal substances, in order to improve performances and possibly win a title, an honour or big monetary rewards? It is a sad reflection of the world we live in.
The Season’s Greetings to my readers.
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