Drugs
Last week Marion Jones admitted that she lied to federal investigators about taking PEDs in her lead up to the 2000 Olympics were she won five medals (three gold). She has since stated that she made a mistake when she unknowingly took PEDs which she believed to be flax seed oil.
I always find this to be such a dubious argument.
Here’s the thing. An athlete knows what he or she can do on the field; in the pool; in the gym; on the road; etc. Someone who sporadically exercises might toe the line at a race with absolutely no clue as to what is going to happen, but that does not happen to those of us who train every single day for hours and hours for years and years. Progression is noted and (hopefully) expected, but every inch of it is earned and observed along the way.
I don’t doubt that some athletes have no idea what is pumped into them. However, I KNOW that anyone that receives an instantaneous jolt in fitness, speed and/or strength one day, week or month has got to know that it did not arrive from their own good-doings.
So yeah, I suppose someone can honestly say (not that I know that MJ is honestly saying….) that they did not know he/she were taking something, but they certainly had to know that they were improving beyond a reasonable rate.
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This recent news story about MJ has sparked a lot of conversations amongst the folks that I train alongside. Most of my training partners are in a similar place to myself. Some are elite AGers and others are neo pros like me. The only professionals that I regularly train with (swimming excluded) who are making ends meet entirely through racing are Chris and Marilyn McDonald. I only mention this because I do not know how the conversations differ amongst the “made its.”
I think everyone that regularly surrounds me believes they can achieve success through their hard work and dedication. I don’t really know the goals of everyone around me, but I doubt it does not involve beating your competition. We all want self-improvement, but this is racing isn’t it? You have to want to win. I don’t know of anything that is more motivating than the thought of being the last one standing (or first I suppose).
I imagine this is the danger that tempts the most noble of athletes to compromise their constitutions. I assume that most drugged athletes entered sport without any intention of taking PEDs. Then one day they find themselves not even being able to pronounce the juice that makes them fire all day long. I really cannot fill in the grey area between those two psyches, but clearly they stand on opposite sides of the spectrum and yet they apply to the same person.
I don’t think it would be a stretch for me to say that almost any athlete that dopes likely believes that they cannot succeed otherwise. I also imagine that they believe that the only thing separating them from the top tier is the drugs the top tier is taking. This leads to making that crucial life compromise. What would YOU do if you felt that you did everything you could (for nearly your entire life) to succeed and you still were not on top? Did you ever notice that some of the most successful students were always the ones that had a cheat sheet? They had invested the most time and coming up short was not an option to them (and ironically they needed the cheat sheets the least).
This might explain bad choices, but it does not make those choices the right ones.
We all have to live with the choices that we make. I grew up watching my father stand his ground on ethical matters in the corporate world and it separated him amongst his peers. That separation made his life hard at times, but he knows that when forced to make a decision he made the right one(s). Today his former colleagues can look at his house perched upon one of the best spots in Crested Butte and know that it was built upon an honest foundation.
There are daily opportunities to compromise yourself. Don’t let the ease of others to make the wrongs decisions persuade your ability to make the right ones.
To clean sports,
jd