Athlete drug use in Sydney

[Toadman]

Every 4 years, it never ceases to amaze me the extreme measures people will take to win at all costs. American shot-put C.J. Hunter tests positive for steroid use, and the Romanian gymnast may lose a gold as well. Is it really worth it to try and get away with using performance enhancers? The coaches look the other way or help cover it up,etc. Doesn't anyone compete honestly and cleanly anymore, and experience victory on their own merits without a drug crutch? Users should be given a ticket home effective immediately never to be seen again. They know the risks, and they still choose to cheat. These are not heroes to be admired by any means. Just my 2 pesos....

[MadMatt]

That poor Romanian girl was prescribed the wrong cold medicine by her doctor! It contained ephedra, the primary ingeredient in amphetamines. DOH!

[barry glisson]

Hunter is not a competitor he is a coach for his wife. barry

[MadMatt]

He's not a competitor because he pulled out a few weeks ago because of a knee injury. Looks legit too - he had arthroscopic sugery!

Are you innocent until proven guilty in International thletic competition?

[brandon184]

They must have the IQ of lab rats.

Every one there gets tested, and they know very well that they can and will be tested for drugs.

[Mntsnow]

They are also finding that some are testing positive due to HERBAL dietary pills. When certain herbs are combined with other substances they are getting the chemical reactions and thus testing positive in the PRELIMANARY tests. The tests that they take prior to a suspsension is much more accurate from what I understand.

[bdunn]

It is really sad that a Romanian gymnast lost her medal because a Doctor didn't know enough to check what substances are on the IOCs banned list. I understand that he is sanctioned and is not welcome back at this or next olympics but I think she deserves her medal.

[hhh8785]

I heard on the radio that in a survey of Olympic athletes that if they could take a drug that guarenteed them a gold medal, but they would die five years later, the majority of athletes said they would take the drug. That is how seriously most of the athletes want to win the Olympics.

But personally, I say that people are gonna cheat, take drugs, etc. and get away with it, they just gotta find new ways to do it. I'm sure that there are a few athletes out there in the Olympics who are competing on something. So that gives them an unfair edge against the competition. So I say, let 'em use the drugs. Legalize steroids and whatever else these athletes want to use, but just for the Olympics. That way nobody will have an unfair advantage against anyone else. It wouldn't be that bad would it? But it would be funny if it ended up like that SNL skit about the "ALL DRUG OLYMPICS" where all athletes were required to take drugs, and Phil Hartman was a weightlifter who was using like three forms of anabolic steroids, cocaine, HGH, and some form of horse tranquelizer. It was funny.

[Fingers]

Remember, some of these competitors are barely teenagers and have been training since they were in pre-school. Do we really want 6 year olds taking steroids for years on end while in training for the Olympics?


On one hand; I feel very bad for this girl. She has worked her whole life for this, and now her Gold Medal has been taken away due to something that probably didn't enhance her performance one little bit.

On the other hand; she and her coaches should have been more careful about any drug that she was taking. These athletes and coaches are very aware that they are under intense scrutiny for drug use. She's not the first athlete to catch a cold, so how do the other Olympic competitors deal with colds?

[sns]

Ok the athletes are losing medals and going home disgraced for alleged cheating but a coach who was caught bringing in a bag of roids was let off with a $15000 fine. He said it wasn't for Olympic comp use - and if it wasn't for his personal use couldn't a person assume he was planning to sell it for his own gain? At any other time of the year a person would be arrested as a drug dealer with no option to cough up $15k to walk away. Its a sh*t message. I thought the idea of drug testing was to protect the athletes so they should never be pressured into doing something idiotic (yeah I know - in a perfect world) and then maybe to catch the cheats. It appears they want to crucify the athlete (its easy to do right) but slap the 'dealers' (read coaches) on the wrist as long as they can put a few dollars into the Olympic coffers.
It is a shame about the girl and the 2 headache tablets, Something similar happened with an aussie girl a few years back and some codeine type headache tablets. But really, if the dickhead team coaches & doctors cant remember or work out what is allowable in the 4 years previous this is going to happen to athletes at all games. In defense of the doctor, shouldn't the athlete who knows about strict testing/rules at all other meets as well as the games also question their team doctor regarding the 2 pills just handed to them, just in case? Its pretty easy to blame the team doctor (who really should know better than your local doctor) and I am a bit suspicious when the "doc made me do it" argument comes out.
Any way I feel much better now, that's a load off.