Feb 04 2009
Busted
I was a little shocked and largely disappointed to hear that Michael Phelps was busted for smoking marijuana by that illustrious publication, the News of the World, no less. What’s worse, he had no defence for it other than the fact that he is 23 and had behaved in a “youthful” manner.
Ok 23 isn’t that youthful.
And this from a guy who had already been caught for drunk driving some time ago and had to deal with the drama and fall-out from that. You would think he would have learnt his lesson then.
But the incident got me to thinking about other cases where top athletes have been caught doing silly things with drugs and such.
Top former cyclist Jan Ullrich was caught for using ecstasy and also crashed his sports car in a drink-driving incident before he was enveloped in a far more serious doping scandal that pretty much ended his career.
And more recently, Tom Boonen, another premier cyclist, was caught for cocaine use out of competition. He was cleared of any serious punishment yesterday and was back to his winning ways in the Tour of Qatar race.
There have been many other similar cases in the past. So what is it with athletes and drugs abuse?
These guys are sporting icons, looked up to and respected by many around the world.
They are also supposed to be physical specimens of the highest order, capable of amazing feats of fitness, endurance and speed. After all, it’s not everyone who can pull off eight gold medals in a single Olympic Games.
They spend hours and hours honing their bodies to become the best in the world, over years and years of mind-numbing and physically excruciating training. They don’t stop for public holidays, birthdays, vacations or natural disasters. They are there in the wind, rain, cold, heat, pounding out the miles and kilometres or lifting weights until their bodies cannot take anymore. Then they come back the next day and do it all over again.
With all this sacrifice, pain, blood, sweat and tears, why would someone abuse their body with substances that could be damaging in the long term, and worse, could result in a positive drug test that comes with punishment, fines, and even suspension from their sport?
Yes, most of them were caught in the off-season, and it’s important to make the distinction between the use of recreational drugs and that of doping products that artificially enhance performance. The latter is cheating. The former, I think, is just plain stupid.
In the wake of Phelps’ latest scandal, I know many who would say that he was just “being human after all”, that he was blowing off steam after a hard racing season, just having fun.
I suppose these a slightly valid reasons. After all, here is a guy who has spent most of his life staring at the black line at the bottom of a pool, plowing up and down for thousands of miles a year. Maybe he should be cut a little slack.
But I think that all elite athletes need to realise that they are held to a slightly different standard from the rest of us. It’s precisely because of their talent, sacrifice and achievements that they are looked upon as being role models, icons, someone to be respected, admired and maybe even mimicked in their lifestyles, focus and determination.
As people, young and old, pursue their dreams and goals in life, it’s natural to look to those who have come before and achieved more than most to set an example of what to do, of what can be done.
So it sucks when these people do something that is foolish, that is not right, and in some cases, against the law.
I’m not saying they should be angels or perfect. But they should know what they represent to athletes and sports fans around the world like myself, who look to them for inspiration and motivation. And hopefully think twice before reaching for that bong.
