Monday, August 4, 2008

Cheaters Never Win

by Leane Scoz

The 2008 Summer Olympics is set to begin this Friday in Beijing, PRC. For the next two weeks, the world's greatest athletes will descend upon this ancient metropolis to showcase their talents. Well...the world's greatest athletes less the 37 disqualified for positive drug tests since April.

An article in USA Today reports that the anti-doping crackdown is expected to continue in the upcoming days as random tests are conducted at the athletes' village.

The only question that comes to mind is why?

Why do athletes use performance-enhancing drugs when they know the probability of getting caught is high?

Why does the number of athletes using performance-enhancing drugs continue to rise even when the consequences are known?

Why aren't athletes learning from past doping mistakes of fellow athletes?

If someone is a good enough athlete to qualify for the Olympics, why does he/she feel the need to use performance-enhancing drugs in the first place?

Why aren't doping athletes thinking about their status as a role model and what their status will become when they test positive?

Why wouldn't an athlete want to lose/win fairly than be branded a cheater for the rest of his/her life?

The Olympic games give the entire world a chance to come together for a brief moment in time for peace instead of war. They allow people the opportunity to cheer on and be proud of their countries and the great talent representing them. Why would anyone want to tarnish this event and shame themselves and their country by utilizing performance-enhancing drugs?

1 comment:

Mike L said...

I don't get it either. The athletes know that there are unlimited tests to see if the are cheating, yet they still choose to do so. Simply unbelievable.