Tuesday, February 14, 2006

The Straight Doping

The first Olympic athlete suspended for doping in 2006 was Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva. Not the kind of 1st place you brag about. Pyleva won a gold and a bronze medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, which is a bit unsettling.

The first athlete caught doping and sent home even before the Torino Olympics began was Brazillian bobsledder Dos Santos. The four-man team he was on, however, was not disqualified, so in a way, I guess it pays to have at least one guy on your bobsled team on the juice to give you an edge qualifying. Just ask the Australian team. That's who the Brazillians beat to get into the Olympics. Don’t you think that if one member of a multi-person team is disqualified, the whole team should be disqualified? Wouldn’t that be an incentive to not test positive for a banned substance? By the way, Santos was caught using nandrolone, an anabolic steroid that actually occurs naturally in the human body, though in very small quantities.

Q: What is the Olympic oath?
A: The Olympic oath is a symbolic gesture of sportsmanship that traces its origins to the 1920 Olympic Games. One athlete from the host country takes an oath at Opening Ceremonies on behalf of all the athletes. The oath is "In the name of all competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, committing ourselves to a sport without doping and without drugs, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams." A similar oath is also taken by a judge from the host country.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home