The media and the public have savaged American athletes for using steroids. The case of track and field icon Marion Jones is the most recent. Last week, she tearfully returned her three gold and two bronze medals to the U.S. Olympic Committee after admitting that she used steroids to enhance her performance.
Much of the criticism of Jones and others caught using steroids is unfair. There is a disconnect between what the sports-viewing public knows and expects and what is actually going on. Fans have created such high expectations for athletes that success seems to require steroid use for any sport requiring speed, power or a combination of the two. The genie is out of the bottle -- for good.
This was not always the case. When I was competing, some athletes used performance-enhancing drugs, but most didn't. I never did and still established American and world records in the javelin throw. Yet my world record was surpassed by an East German who participated in a program famous for pharmacological enhancements.
It is extremely difficult for an athlete to resist doing whatever it takes to win. Our culture has elevated elite athletes to a status that is good for neither them nor us. It is unhealthy and unreal.
Elite athletes are normal in every way except for the fact that they are born with a singular skill with which they become obsessed, chasing its allure until age and injury stop them. Their natural obsession is exacerbated by $20-million signing bonuses, gold-medal tallies and fan and media insistence that elite athletes are special in every other way. Athletes are not gods. We must take them off the pedestal.
Fans, the media and sports governing bodies believe that we can rid sports of steroid use. Athletes will always be a step ahead of the testing labs in concealing substances because of the multibillion-dollar industries that have been built on their sweat and their obsession. They will seek out the next great "thing" -- a vitamin, a nutritional supplement, a training technique, a piece of training equipment, a new shoe, a drug. Athletes have used performance enhancements and supplements for centuries. We cannot change the nature of the beast.
Do we really think it's in the best interests of the National Football League, Major League Baseball or USA Track and Field to punish athletes -- their cash cows -- who test positive for steroids?
