olympic athletes and performance enhancing drugs

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so irish boy cathal lombard is currently a big talking point over here, having failed a drugs test in the run-up to the olympics (he's a long-distance runner). in a similar fashion to fellow irish olympian/drug user michelle smith he had been (in the last 2 years) slashing huge amounts of time off his personal best. unlike michelle smith he has completely owned up to the whole shebang - and said something along the lines of "you need to take drugs to compete at this level, there's no other way to succeed."

what % of athletes competing in track and field events, in your opinion, are taking performance enhancing drugs? would you like stricter testing? maybe just permit the use of drugs, stop the pretence, and have a level playing field?

well?

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 9 August 2004 20:57 (twenty-one years ago)

expect this subject to be the number one excuse as to why the ratings for the olympics are the worst evar.

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Monday, 9 August 2004 21:01 (twenty-one years ago)

although if they let people drink red bull before doing the high jump the rating's going to skyrocket

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 9 August 2004 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

hi! i've just pwned the olympics!
http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/photos/wings_of_desire.jpg

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 9 August 2004 21:07 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe just permit the use of drugs, stop the pretence, and have a level playing field?

i don't really know what goes on behind the scenes but i feel that not every athelete (not even most?) want to have to take drugs to be able to compete.

stricter testing - compulsory test for everyone, that's going to stop it.

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 9 August 2004 21:09 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.piass.org/files/2003/videos/snl_all_drug.mpg

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 9 August 2004 21:12 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe just permit the use of drugs, stop the pretence, and have a level playing field?

East Germany

― Mr. Tony Plow (Leee), Monday, 9 August 2004 21:28 (twenty-one years ago)

if you admit the drugs it becomes about who can afford the drugs. not really about sports anymore except in the most soulless way possible.

but also, if you are sufficiently vague in what you mean by "performance enhancing" drugs then i would say 100% of serious athletes use them, all the way from creatine to andro to illegal stuff. and im not sure what separates what's legal from illegal is anything less than abitrary.

― ryan (ryan), Monday, 9 August 2004 22:09 (twenty-one years ago)

i wz referring to banned substances. if drugs are *already* rampant than it is *already* about who can afford the drugs, maybe? perhaps, to play devil's advocate momentarily, with everyone taking as many drugs as they wish, it will be those who possess superior technique who will win!

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 9 August 2004 22:14 (twenty-one years ago)

All (or almost allo) Olympics athletes are on something, some are on even more grotesque stuff than others, but I don't believe practically anyone competing at the highest levels has been "clean" for a very very long time.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Monday, 9 August 2004 22:14 (twenty-one years ago)

with performance enhancing drugs of all kinds made legal: the sporting federations in each country could use their yearly budget buying the most effective drugs, and forcing them upon the most promising young athletes in the country. everyone wins!

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 9 August 2004 22:18 (twenty-one years ago)

true, it is alreay pretty bad. the fact that world records regularly fall is appalling to me. i love sports but this just makes it hollow to me. it's depressing.

i would be in favor of even stricter drug policies, whatever they might entail. i guess im a bit of a purist about it.

― ryan (ryan), Monday, 9 August 2004 22:20 (twenty-one years ago)

blood tests! hair tests!

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 9 August 2004 22:21 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah break into their houses in the middle of the night and do searches for all i care!

― ryan (ryan), Monday, 9 August 2004 22:22 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe just permit the use of drugs, stop the pretence, and have a level playing field?

because it will encourage all competing athletes to indulge in something that involves very serious health risks?

― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Monday, 9 August 2004 22:24 (twenty-one years ago)

i mean, they aren't banned for arbitrary reasons. spinach, to my knowledge, isn't banned.

― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Monday, 9 August 2004 22:25 (twenty-one years ago)

the winners showed more courage by taking potentially harmful drugs which subsequently boosted their performance. don't they deserve some recognition for this?

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 9 August 2004 22:27 (twenty-one years ago)

well they could certainly incorporate that into the "he overcame all adversity" backstories.

― |a|m|t|r|s|t| (amateurist), Monday, 9 August 2004 22:35 (twenty-one years ago)

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