Doping at the Olympic Games

Feb. 20, 2010

So, the Olympic Games are on in Vancouver. While they're fun to watch, I think I've become jaded over the years. I know that at this level, almost every one of the athletes is doping with performance enhancing steroids. There's no way records can keep getting beat as they are.

I also see the side effects of them. For example, there was a Chinese woman who won gold in short track speed skating. As soon as she stepped up to the line, I said, "Steroids." She had bad acne; a tell-tale sign. These are not adolescents, they are grown men and women, but they are obviously doping.

Sometimes you see the results a few years later, when seemingly healthy athletes drop dead. That's the steroids that have caused damage to the heart muscle. Just ask Arnold Schwarzenegger.

They don't seem to be sorry about winning by cheating; they're only sorry about getting caught. So it's not about who's the better athlete, but who has the better Doctor who can make sure you get the effects of the drugs but have them out of your system in time for the drug tests. I think they should be able to come to any athlete who competes at that level, at any point in their training and test them. Of course they wouldn't, because of the legalities involved in the various countries, but they would weed out the cheaters pretty quick.

They announced that there had been a large group of athletes (at least 30) who had been expelled just before the games began. They wouldn't announce what countries they were from. I think they should have. Sad to say, I have a feeling some were from Finland. They are very poorly represented in many sports, like biathlon and cross-country skiing, but that's just a guess. They were hosting some big event a few years back and most were disqualified due to doping. It was a huge embarrassment for them. I felt ashamed for them, too.

The world celebrates the Games as the height of human achievement in sport, but I think it's a failed experiment. It only confirms that man is fallen and full of pride.