The Olympics
I hear people screaming and cheering “Oh, these are the best athletes in the world!!!” and I often find myself laughing. Because to be quite truthful, no they are not the best in the world. Some are, of course. But all of them?
Another thing that winds me up is when people say, “None of them use steroids, which makes it even better!” I am sorry, but this is quite frankly the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! They don’t use steroids? Of course they do! “But they drug test them!” So…? Do you know how easy it is to get past a drug test? I know 1000s people who do it on a monthly basis, in some cases weekly basis.
Usain Bolt, for example. I receive a lot of questions asking me “Do you think Usain Bolt uses steroids?“
Of course, I do. But what do I have to base my opinion on? What do I have to base my opinion on steroids use in the Olympics?
Well let’s start off with Human Growth Hormone, a performance enhancing drug. How many people have been caught with this in their system at the Olympics? No one. Yes, no one has EVER been caught because it is not only very hard to catch, but can easily be masked with masking agents.
Let’s look at what the experts have to say on Usain Bolt:
Carl Lewis Suggests Usain Bolt Uses Steroids: ‘If You Don’t Question That, You’re a Fool’
And he is correct.
Carl Lewis won nine gold medals in four Olympic Games and is considered by many to be the greatest track and field athlete of all time,.and while Lewis is impressed with Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who won three gold medals and set three world records in Beijing, he’s also skeptical that Bolt is doing it without the benefit of performance-enhancing drugs.
Steroid Nation passes along this quote from the London Times, which apparently began with a Sports Illustrated interview Lewis conducted:
“When people ask me about Bolt I say he could be the greatest athlete of all time. But for someone to run 10.03 one year and 9.69 the next, if you don’t question that in a sport that has the reputation it has right now, you’re a fool. Period.”
It’s a shame that athletes like Ben Johnson, Marion Jones and the entire East German athletic program of the 1970s and 1980s make us feel this way, but Lewis is right: There’s no proof that Bolt used steroids, but you’re a fool if you don’t at least acknowledge that it’s damn well likely.
In fact, I’m 100% sure with the knowledge and experience and the guys I know that he is using anabolic steroids.
Is this a bad thing? No, not at all. What’s bad is… wait, scratch that! What is downright idiotic is the fact that people condemn steroid use. Yet the Great British Cycling team has had a specially developed suit that has allowed them to perform better while cycling and get a gold medal. Numerous individuals and nations have accused this of cheating and they are correct.
How can a performance enhancing suit be allowed BUT a performance enhancing drug be banned? At least with steroids it’s the actual athlete doing it!
Still dont believe Olympic athletes use steroids and get away with it? Let’s have a look at some of the athletes who’ve admitted to steroid use.
Marion Jones. Jones was once considered the “greatest female athlete in the world.” A sprinter and winner of five gold medals is the 2000 Olympics. Jones confessed to using tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), which is in the drug class of anabolic steroids. Jones said that her coach gave it to her under the guise of flaxseed oil. She claims she did not known she had been given steroids and would not have knowingly taken them.
Natalya Artyomova. Artyomova is a retired Russian Olympic 1500 meter and 5000 meter runner. She also held records in the 3000 meters and 1000 meters. In 1992 Artyomova tested positive for steroids and was permanently expelled from the sport.
Olutoyin Augustus. Augustus ran in the 2008 Olympics in Bejing. She is a Nigerian 100 meter Hurdler and she received a two year suspension for the use of steroids. She is still expected to compete in the 2010 Olympic games.
Ben Johnson. Johnson was a famous sprinter in the 1980s. After winning a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics, he tested positive for steroids. Johnson had his medal and his title taken away.
And so there you have it. I’m not claiming every single guy or girl in the Olympics is on steroids but a hell of a lot of them obviously are.
And by telling your children “you can do this or you can do that naturally” and once they find out they can’t, a lot of them don’t believe their heroes/role models are on steroids they begin to think something is wrong with themselves.
The amount of times I’ve seen this happen is ridiculous.
