2008 Woodie Awards
Olympic athletes can't be trusted
Daniel Abraham
Sports | 8/27/08
Trust is a funny thing. Once it's broken, it's hard to regain. The world of professional sports has lost mine and I don't know when, if ever, I'll be able to trust it again.
After watching these past Olympiad it's become clear that athletes today are more dominant than they've ever been. World records were being set left and right and these freakish athletes were coming from all corners of the earth. And while most sports fans and writers prefer to sit back and enjoy it, I'm struggling with this little pessimistic voice in the back of my head that keeps whispering, "How are they doing it? This isn't really possible."
Maybe I'm crazy, like most people who hear voices in their heads, but if I am, I blame the sports world for making me that way. It's cheated on me too many times in the past, so now I'm suspicious of it. I wish I could take every record-breaking athlete on the show "Cheaters" and catch them in the act.
I hope the voices are wrong but I'm bracing myself just in case they're not. I won't be caught off guard and shocked if five years from now we find out Michael Phelps was taking something illegal. Eight gold medals in one Olympics? Rushing off the podium to win another race literally 10 minutes later? How did he do it?
Or what about Usain Bolt? He effortlessly broke multiple world records, while looking back at his opponents, pounding his chest, and pointing his finger to the sky mid-sprint without even missing a stride. He's either a super alien from another planet sent to take over track and field, or he's on something. Right?
And even in the world of basketball where the "Redeem Team" dominated the competition all the way to clinching a gold medal, some form of cheating could still exist. Look at a guy like Lebron James who has bulked up even more since entering the NBA. This guy is 6'8 and weighs 260 pounds. He's Karl Malone's size with the agility and quickness of most point guards. You mean to tell me that is all natural? And don't you find it strange that football, baseball, and hockey players are being caught using performance-enhancing drugs while the sport of basketball is squeaky clean?
I hear you sane people out their telling me that they test all these Olympic athletes so there's no way they could being using steroids. But didn't they test Marion Jones and Maurice Green? Weren't Lance Armstrong and Barry Bonds tested over and over again?
Could it be possible that Phelps, Bolt, James, and other Olympic athletes have just found some new drug that they haven't been able to test for yet?
I'm probably just being paranoid. The world of professional sports has screwed me over several times already, but they said they'd never do it again. They didn't mean to do it,
I swear they didn't mean it.
I wish I could shake this feeling though. I wish I could just enjoy these supremely talented athletes who are dominating their sports. But for some reason, I just can't. In the words of our well-spoken president, "Fool me once…shame on you…fool me…I can't get fooled again."
After watching these past Olympiad it's become clear that athletes today are more dominant than they've ever been. World records were being set left and right and these freakish athletes were coming from all corners of the earth. And while most sports fans and writers prefer to sit back and enjoy it, I'm struggling with this little pessimistic voice in the back of my head that keeps whispering, "How are they doing it? This isn't really possible."
Maybe I'm crazy, like most people who hear voices in their heads, but if I am, I blame the sports world for making me that way. It's cheated on me too many times in the past, so now I'm suspicious of it. I wish I could take every record-breaking athlete on the show "Cheaters" and catch them in the act.
I hope the voices are wrong but I'm bracing myself just in case they're not. I won't be caught off guard and shocked if five years from now we find out Michael Phelps was taking something illegal. Eight gold medals in one Olympics? Rushing off the podium to win another race literally 10 minutes later? How did he do it?
Or what about Usain Bolt? He effortlessly broke multiple world records, while looking back at his opponents, pounding his chest, and pointing his finger to the sky mid-sprint without even missing a stride. He's either a super alien from another planet sent to take over track and field, or he's on something. Right?
And even in the world of basketball where the "Redeem Team" dominated the competition all the way to clinching a gold medal, some form of cheating could still exist. Look at a guy like Lebron James who has bulked up even more since entering the NBA. This guy is 6'8 and weighs 260 pounds. He's Karl Malone's size with the agility and quickness of most point guards. You mean to tell me that is all natural? And don't you find it strange that football, baseball, and hockey players are being caught using performance-enhancing drugs while the sport of basketball is squeaky clean?
I hear you sane people out their telling me that they test all these Olympic athletes so there's no way they could being using steroids. But didn't they test Marion Jones and Maurice Green? Weren't Lance Armstrong and Barry Bonds tested over and over again?
Could it be possible that Phelps, Bolt, James, and other Olympic athletes have just found some new drug that they haven't been able to test for yet?
I'm probably just being paranoid. The world of professional sports has screwed me over several times already, but they said they'd never do it again. They didn't mean to do it,
I swear they didn't mean it.
I wish I could shake this feeling though. I wish I could just enjoy these supremely talented athletes who are dominating their sports. But for some reason, I just can't. In the words of our well-spoken president, "Fool me once…shame on you…fool me…I can't get fooled again."
Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 5
Bob
posted 8/28/08 @ 1:17 AM EST
I agree with your article, I have been thinking aloud what you have writtent. There is drug that they can't test for and it is called HGH. It makes the athletes super human. (Continued…)
michael
posted 8/28/08 @ 4:49 PM EST
Jamaica doesn't have an out-of-competition drugs testing programme. So Jamaican athletes know exactly when they will be at risk of being tested. So they can just stop taking their drugs a couple of weeks beforehand, and by the time they are at the athletics meet they can be tested as much as you like and nothing whatsoever will be found. (Continued…)
Demetrius
posted 8/28/08 @ 6:38 PM EST
Daniel, Great article man.
I find my self saying the same thing. Being a former college athlete and having underwent intense training in hopes to becoming a "professional athlete" myself, I know that even at some point now matter how hard one trains, you can only expect marginal gains in performance at best. (Continued…)
Tim
posted 9/05/08 @ 9:02 PM EST
You guys are ridiculous. I know that there are dirty athletes out there, but people break records all the time. There were probably people just like Michael Phelps and LeBron James 100 years ago but they didn't have the opportunities of these guys. (Continued…)
Brad
posted 9/08/08 @ 3:18 AM EST
This is America, you are innocent until proven guilty. If they passed all of thier tests, then in my book, none of them are cheaters until they are either caught in the act or they admit that they have done something wrong. (Continued…)
Post a Comment