The Olympic Games - Drug fest?

CFC1 · 01-06-2008, 9:59 AM

Being fairly sporty when I was younger (and an average club athlete) I used to love the festival that was the Olympics. Coe v Ovett ... Jesse Owens, Fanny Blankers-Coen

... But for the last 15 or so years, the spectre of drug taking ...CHEATING... has reduced my appetite and interest for the games to zero. I am no longer bothered about the "fastest man on the planet" 100 metres or the "blue riband" 1500 metres, because every athlete I look at, I am now presuming them to be on drugs.

Am I alone in this? .....

Ian J · 01-06-2008, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CFC1

Am I alone in this? .....

No you're not. I lost interest in sprinting and athletics in general when I realised that gold medals and world records belonged to those with the best pharmacist

miceri · 01-06-2008, 11:59 AM

Feel exactly the same about cycling.

Used to train and race alot when younger. Disgusted with the latest events, don't even have a road bike now :-(

hdsport · 01-06-2008, 3:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miceri

Feel exactly the same about cycling.

Used to train and race alot when younger. Disgusted with the latest events, don't even have a road bike now :-(

At least they have comprehensive testing...golf is only just about to start testing.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...26/2255698.htm

Chelsea (and I assume other clubs) have used (legal but morally questionable) blood spinning.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...wsstory.sport9

Football was one of the last Olympic sports to sign up to the WADA code before the last Olympics.

They have recently re-signed and WADA have buckled and changed their code and there will not be compulsory 2 year bans.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...pe/7427267.stm

Just some food for thought before people (especially in certain media outlets) get on their high horse about athletics etc...

CFC1 · 01-06-2008, 5:57 PM

Bolt breaks 100m world record!

Lateralus · 01-06-2008, 6:33 PM

this thread reminds me of a lee evans joke.

"like the err.... olympic games!!! everyones cheating.......sod it lets get rid of the olympic games. lets just have the anabloic games. that way it wont be called triple jump, it'll be, hop, skip and a.......where the **** he go? or the pills discus?"

oh funny stuff, but yeh on a more serious note, it is getting pretty ridiculous youre rite.

sniffer66 · 29-07-2008, 3:56 PM

Muppets !!

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/...-200807231115/

**Steven** · 29-07-2008, 4:05 PM

Were some Danish sailer, rowers or somebody or other not banned from the Olympics last week? So someone was caught before the thing has even started!

Like most casual athletics fan I was only interested in the men's 100m final but even now I really could not care. Football, tennis and rugby, and even cricket rank above athletics for me

**alexs2** · 29-07-2008, 4:19 PM

The problem as IanJ has already said is that the problem lies with those who are willing to cheat having access to ever craftier pharmacology.

We've been through the steroid era,and have since seen blood doping and use of drugs such as Epo to raise an athlete's blood oxygen carrying capacity,and now once again we find people using caffeine,which was previously banned.

As long as there are people willing to risk their careers for this,there will be a market for it.

Keeping one step ahead of the cheaters gets more and more difficult.

Miyazaki · 29-07-2008, 4:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFC_SL

Were some Danish sailer, rowers or somebody or other not banned from the Olympics last week? So someone was caught before the thing has even started!

Like most casual athletics fan I was only interested in the men's 100m final but even now I really could not care. Football, tennis and rugby, and even cricket rank above athletics for me

If I didn't have $ky hd I wouldn't be interested.

As it is i'm just looking to see the likes of carolina kluft in HD

smashed · 29-07-2008, 4:43 PM

Exactly.
However, its always been the same right back as far as the ancient games when they took various supplements.
The guy who won the 1908 marathon enjoyed alcohol during the race...which is illegal in most sports..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british...llery_01.shtml

Russians used to have a catheter shoved up their privates to put their coaches "clean" urine into their bladder, so that they would pass a test.

Another idiot took steroids, but came off them with a while to go so that he would be clean for the event. However, he was also into blood doping, so was storing his blood in his freezer. As the olympics came up, he reinjected his blood to give him better endurance. Unfortunately for him, his old blood had the steroids , so he got caught on both accounts.
But if you are not stupid, you wont get caught.

Other sports are just as bad I agree, but the difference with athletics is that its mostly a test of physical performance (bar mental strength to perform on the day). Other sports such as football are a lot more related to skill, and not just pure physical conditioning.

*The Dude* · 29-07-2008, 5:16 PM

Always amusing when people refer to the ones who get caught as the cheats...

If it makes anybody feel any better about the upcoming olympics, just imagine how much easier it was to cheat back in the 'good old days'.

CFC1 · 29-07-2008, 6:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Dude

...back in the 'good old days'.

Artie Fufkin · 29-07-2008, 7:16 PM

I reckon they should just allow drugs in sport for everyone

. Sure, the ones with money behind them might end up with better drugs, but the ones with money have better equipment, facilities and coaches anyway.

**alexs2** · 30-07-2008, 6:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Artie Fufkin

I reckon they should just allow drugs in sport for everyone

. Sure, the ones with money behind them might end up with better drugs, but the ones with money have better equipment, facilities and coaches anyway.

I'm sure that's said jokingly,or at least would hope so.

The effects of many performance enhancing drugs even in the short term,can be severe,and the long terms effects of steroids etc are well known.

JohnG · 30-07-2008, 7:51 AM

Same here. I lost interest in the Olympics and athletics in general when it became clear just how many were cheating. It was the same with the Tour de France, I used to watch that avidly but now only watch the occasional stage.
It will be interesting to see all those Eastern Bloc women shot putters with beards again though

neilios · 31-07-2008, 5:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexs2

I'm sure that's said jokingly,or at least would hope so.

The effects of many performance enhancing drugs even in the short term,can be severe,and the long terms effects of steroids etc are well known.

Is this a myth or a fact .

loz · 02-08-2008, 3:44 PM

This weeks sports headlines

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olym...ng/7477827.stm

Quote:

Bulgaria's Weightlifting Federation has withdrawn its team from this summer's Beijing Olympics after 11 lifters failed drugs tests.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olym...ng/7529836.stm

Quote:

Women's cycling world road race champion Marta Bastianelli has tested positive for a banned stimulant.

The 21-year-old, who won the world title in Germany last year, tested positive during the Under-23 World Championships earlier this month.

She was due to take part in the Beijing Olympics where she would have been up against Britain's Nicole Cooke.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olym...cs/7538731.stm

Quote:

Seven Russian athletes provisionally suspended for doping offences were tipped off ahead of visits from the testers, BBC Sport understands.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olym...cs/7538654.stm

Quote:

The United States men's 4x400m relay team have been stripped of the gold medals won at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

It was the sixth American medal from the Sydney Games lost to doping in the past eight months

Woodywizz · 02-08-2008, 6:01 PM

CFC...you started a non-football related thread

I like your style....very sneaky.

SO...will Chelski get revenge for last season...who knows, but I am looking forward to the coming season very much.........Sshh!!!, no-one will ever know this footie related comment was even here

overkill · 02-08-2008, 9:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by woodywizz

CFC...you started a non-football related thread

I like your style....very sneaky.

SO...will Chelski get revenge for last season...who knows, but I am looking forward to the coming season very much.........Sshh!!!, no-one will ever know this footie related comment was even here

He did indeed.

Agreed totally. As JohnG says, watching a load of high as a kite athletes either running like gazelles or throwing like gorillas has been a big switch off for some time. Worse, is the sight of nations, of which the US are the biggest culprits, who accuse everyone else of cheating while their own athletes are doped up to the eyeballs!

Perhaps the answer is to let everyone openly take PED's and then we can see a 'level' playing field again?

Oh, and Woody, I'm not. I cannot see any change on last season, the one before that and, the one before that, the one beforzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Oops

CFC1 · 02-08-2008, 9:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by woodywizz

1. CFC...you started a non-football related thread

I like your style....very sneaky.

2. SO...will Chelski get revenge for last season...

3. Sshh!!!, no-one will ever know this footie related comment was even here

1. I did indeed, but just when I was about to "utilise" it properly, I saw that the MOD's were all over it, so I lost my nerve, for fear of yet more infraction points and closure!

2. Yes!

3. Could we really get away with it, Woody!

Jules · 02-08-2008, 9:54 PM

Is it not true that since the late 70's, the Olympics have been won mostly by Athletes taking PEDs? We just didn't really know about it back then which is why we look back with fond memories of :

Linford Christie?... erm, tested positive eventually.
Carl Lewis?.... erm, test positive eventually.
..and let's not forget the East European ladies who were so doped up that some of them now live as blokes.

Of course back then there were exceptional athletes who won olympic titles clean, but they were probably less common than you might like to believe.

I personally doubt anybody has, or will ever again, train as hard as Sebastian Coe did in the early 80's. I once saw a BBC documentary on him called 'Born to Run' and it was awe inspiring.
At the time he was breaking world records for fun, and is still the 2nd fastest ever over 800 metres.

I read somewhere that for men, PED's help less over 800 metres and that it is a very difficult event to train for. You don't want too much bulk, nor do you need marathon style endurance. Any coincidence? I don't think so.

However, I shall enjoy the Beijing Olympics. It's just that nothing will ever top the 1984 Los Angeles games for me. Those were the days.

Artie Fufkin · 02-08-2008, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jules

... It's just that nothing will ever top the 1984 Los Angeles games for me. Those were the days.

I enjoyed the 80 and 84 olympics too, but the boycotts unfortunately stopped them from become labelled classics.

CFC1 · 03-08-2008, 9:21 AM

Woody and Overkill ... What do you think of the inclusion of professional sports, like Tennis in the Olympics? ... not so heavily disguised backhand coming up ... oh, and I see that they have a football tournament too! Does that attract your interest? Who do you think will win? ... oh, and does the odd spliff, from say, the Jamaican team, warrant labelling them as "DRUG CHEATS"? ... phew, I think I got away with it, just!

*Wild Weasel* · 03-08-2008, 11:49 AM

It was much better when it was part of the cold war. The American collegiate system vs Soviet child abuse and East German chemists. Those were the days.

neilios · 03-08-2008, 12:00 PM

I think that all sport people have been looking for an advantage over each other since competitive sport began centuries ago .
Does everyone think that rugby players all look like mini bodybuilders through drinking protein shakes and bench pressing ,er no .

Manipulation of the bodies hormones to produce greater athletic performance can be done either through ped or science such as training at high altitude ,should all methods of body manipulation including extreme scientific training methods and steroids ,hgh ,be banned so that all are on a level playing field .What about the different budgets of the competing nations ,this one argument blow away the level playing field point ,what about the special swimsuits,bikes etc that the more affluent nations use ,how is that a level playing field.

It is interesting to note that the film supersize me highlighted the effects of a legally accepted diet in the shape of mcdonalds yet the effects of steroids on healthly adults over the same period has not been studied and as yet is unknown .The same side effects mentioned for steroids are the same side effects for most drugs you can care to mention ,as well as an unhealthy diet that a large percentage of the population now partake of .

From my own experience i do think there is a lot of misinformation about these drugs and general scare stories ,they are not the magic pill ,injection that everyone thinks ,but they are a licence to push the body beyond what maybe natural for themselves ,they are in fact a training aid ,not a perfomance enhancer as some quote.

Obviously the east german program of giving oral turinabol to children and women was indeed wrong and im not suprised there are medical complications and tradgedy ,but with the win at all costs attitude of the world we live in sports people from all sports will use what ever they can to get to the top .

loz · 03-08-2008, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wild Weasel

It was much better when it was part of the cold war. The American collegiate system vs Soviet child abuse and East German chemists. Those were the days.

Yes. Those were the days, when men were men, and women were men...

overkill · 03-08-2008, 1:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wild Weasel

It was much better when it was part of the cold war. The American collegiate system vs Soviet child abuse and East German chemists. Those were the days.

Erm, something wrong about that..... Oh yes, slight amendment, The US collegiate system, plus child abuse and chemical snaffling vs Soviet child abuse and army athletes and Eastern European Chemists.

Yes, that's more like it..............