« Lebonese Parliament to its Civilians: Drop Dead | Main | Reuters Admits Altering Photo!!! »
August 06, 2006
An American Disgrace
Why does he not face criminal charges? With all those steroids hearing in congress, could we not pass a law that demands criminal charges on athletes representing the United States in international competition? Am I being too radical about this?
Two weeks ago, Floyd Landis was cycling's newest star, hailed by the Tour de France as "a Leader for a New Generation." Yesterday morning, his Tour triumph continued a slide both familiar and troubling to U.S. athletic officials: one more achievement tainted by the specter of doping.
In May, American sprinter Justin Gatlin equaled the world record in the 100 meters; last month, he revealed he had tested positive for testosterone. Later that month, Barry Bonds passed Babe Ruth to move into second place on baseball's career home run list; the event was widely ignored by baseball officials wary of Bonds's involvement in a steroid investigation.
Landis celebrated for three days before learning he had tested positive for suspicious levels of testosterone. Yesterday's second test result also was positive, meaning Landis could be the first cyclist to forfeit a Tour title because of doping. He maintains his innocence, and prolonged legal wrangling is expected.
The run of bad news across athletic disciplines last week prompted U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman and former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth to call athletic doping "an epidemic in this country" and USOC CEO Jim Scherr to emphasize the importance of fielding a drug-free team in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
It's ironic because we used to always (in the back of our minds) think that Helga, the 400# weight lifter from East Germany, was doping. Now its us. What a disgrace.
Posted by Aaron at August 6, 2006 11:57 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.lifelikepundits.com/cgi-bin/mt3/mt-tb.cgi/2657
Comments
Huge difference: East Germany had a farm system that forced atheletes to dope; whereas we only encourage it by letting cheaters off pressuring honest atheletes to dope to keep up.
How can you call yourself a conservative and think the government should have the power to jail people for doping? Shouldn't the government stay out of areas where it's presence is not needed? What governmental interest is served?
Posted by: paul at August 6, 2006 01:18 PM
If this is true, it is amazing that he thought he could get away with it.
Posted by: joe-6-pack at August 6, 2006 04:59 PM
I think if a drug is against the law, then that law should apply to athletes that compete on an international setting.
Heroine or Synthetic Testosterone. If it is illegal than there should be a criminal price.
Why should rich (mostly white) athletes get away with such behavior when an average person would be locked up?
Posted by: Aaron at August 7, 2006 09:18 AM
It's embarrassing. He should just slip away quietly. We certainly don't need guys like him tarnishing our worldwide athletic image. And to think I celebrated his win!
Posted by: Pam at August 7, 2006 11:09 AM