Sport in Drugs

It seems that in the past weeks it has been impossible to open a paper without some sport star being busted for drugs and i, like the rest of the sporting public, but unlike the sports governing bodies, am not surprised.

It started with the race and the sport most often assosciated with drug scandals - Le Tour de France. With the recent domination of this race by senor Armstrong and his seemingly impossible back to back victories the race has had drug clouds over it since his second win. To add to that the huge blood doping scandals that resulted in not only the highest ranked racers but entire teams banned from competition it is of no surprise that this years winner was under question. For those who are not aware Floyd Landis won the race after pulling a miracle out on the 17th stage that saw him go from almost 10 minutes behind and falling fast, to being 3rd and only 45 seconds behind the leader. All commentators thought that it was a super human effort and, as his pee showed later, it was. Never was the concept of having a clean race really addressed or expected but that it was the winner who got caught was the surprise. The only real question to be raised out of this recent scandal is of Le Tour itself - is it so ridiculously demanding that drugs are not only used but required to get your team to the finish line.

Then we move onto the next sporting arena in which the general public all agree is a drug smorgasbord but never proven to be so - track and field. The number of former sprint kings and queens who have come up the wrong side of the testing regime is as long as a long list of something long. In recent times the fastest man in the world - i say fastest even though he officially is equal fastest, but his running time was rounded up to meet the current mark - Justin Gatlin was busted and received an 8 year ban for drugs. To ensure that the women athletes do not let there male counterparts take all the limelight, 5 time olympic medalist Marion Jones has tested positive for EPO in June and it is only a matter of time before more come through. These test results hit the press and get thrown around not because of what was found but whom the test belonged to - i am sure hundreds of nameless athletes yearly pee in the cup with the realisation that their time is up and we hear nothing.

To bring the focus to this great southern land we have a drug problem in sports but thanks to the great Australian tradition of "getting loaded" it is not performance enhancing. Our sport stars do not shoot themselves up with EPO or other such things but instead have a tendency to get white line fever - easily identifiable by the constant sniffles and having only one nostril. While not a huge star of rugby league this past week saw North Queensland front rower Mitchell Sargent getting busted for powdering his nose after a win. While it was recreational use and not performance enhancing his team decided to remove his contract and kicked him out - something that while harsh is in line with the NRL drug policy. Then if we want to talk about the legal drug of alcohol then the problem is dramatic - Boonie for example (still a god for what he did at the crease and in the air). Yet again it is of no surprise that these young blokes with cash in hand and hours to kill do not dabble in the chemical arts to pass the time. Australians would be surprised if they were found to be on the juice, not if they were found rocking up to the games, with pupils the size of golf balls and a tendency to hug people or inanimate objects, glow stick in hand.

Whilst the general public knows that sports and drugs go hand in hand, like a good Chinese feed and a messy tablecloth, why do governing bodies assume that the sports are clean? Why, when their half assed testing methods actually catch someone, do they proclaim they are winning the war on drugs, when society is losing the same war? It would be refreshing for a sport to acknowledge that they will never win the drug race but they are doing everything they can to narrow the gap. Or just give the players freedom to take what they want and see who kill themselves first...my mistake they already do that - its called WWE.

TimeWastin:
Winners say no - Jordan top 10 dunks.
This winner said yes - Maradona tribute video
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