Sports Betting Articles
Beijing Olympics May Reinvigorate Atheltics Old Glory
By Bob Turton
One cannot follow Olympic Athletics and avoid the onslaught of doping controversy. At this point it is no longer an 800lb gorilla hiding in the back corner of the room. More accurately, it's a giant pink elephant standing right in front of the camera. The effect of steroids on Olympic and World Championship Athletics PR has been quite devastating. While Athletics were once the crown jewel, flag ship, and King of the Olympic Games, fans and spectators now seem to be more focused on when more bad news is going to break. Are they in the right? Is the doping issue a cancer that cannot be killed, or are we all merely picking at a scar that is trying to heal itself?
Pessimistic Olympic alumni and former doper Ben Johnson was recently quoted as saying, "Virtually all the big names, the winners, the stars all the fans come out to see... they're on drugs. Nothing has changed as a result of all the controversies because without steroids it's not humanly possible to keep producing the performances." This statement has proven to be true with Athletes Dwain Chambers, Marion Jones, and Justin Gatlin. But what of Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Johnson? Johnson has publicly sworn off doping, urging offending teammates to quit the sport. He even renounced his 4X400m Gold Medal after news broke that his teammates were on the juice. Is Johnson the only honest, pure, and clean top performing athlete in the sport?
The scar of skepticism and false performance left by steroids has become painfully obvious in recent days. With Jamaican Usain Bolt shattering the 100m dash world record last Saturday, becoming the fastest man in the world, you would think people would chomp at the bit to see this guy in Beijing. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The majority of responses and articles in the blogosphere show an attitude of questioning. It doesn't even seem to be a matter of IF he is doping, but rather WHEN the news will break that he is. All of this despite the fact that Bolt has tested negative 5 times and apparently won't even take vitamin pills.
Just today news broke that American sprinter Jusin Gatlin has lost an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. As a result, he will be banned from Athletics competition until July 25th, 2010. Gatlin was initially banned for eight years because of repeated positive tests for unapproved substances both in 2001 and 2006. Similar news out of the UK today where Dwain Chambers, at the end of a 2-year ban from professional competition (for testing positive for the steroid THC) it appealing his life-long ban on Olympic competition. (A British anti-doping law) Chambers doesn't have much support on his side, as both his former manager John Regis and London 2012 chief Lord Coe both support this life long sentence.
What does the future hold for Olympic Athletics? Will the 2008 Beijing Olympics reinvigorate the world and make the dark days a distant memory? Or have steroids left a scar on the face of Athletics that will never fully heal?
If Athletics do continue to fall, it is my hope that Handball will fill the void and FINALLY get the respect it deserves.
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