marion jones

a couple of friends (jay and mike) have asked me my thoughts on the whole marion jones situation. i'm guessing it's because they know i'm a field & track guy, and because i've blogged about this sort of stuff (track, steriods) before.

so here i go:
first, i'm not all that surprised. her baby's daddy, sprinter tim montgomery was banned and had his records stripped due to steroids and his links to balco. her previous husband, shot putter c.j. hunter missed out on the olympics due to some peculiar circumstances and accusations of steroids. after their divorce, he pointed the finger @ her and montgomery for steroids as well.

second, i think that it's semi-honorable that she's returned her gold medals and titles. as far as i can tell, she was never caught, but has admitted to her cheating. not many who are in the position of being accused (bonds, hunter, lance armstrong, etc) but not found guilty have done this. others that have tested positive, but maintain their innocence (floyd landis, rafiel palmero). and there's some others out their, like jason giambi who have admitted to "something" and say they are sorry, but not for what. so, for jones to just admit and confirm suspicion and turn over her results is a step in the right direction.

third, it sucks for everyone else involved. some of her medals were for relays. that means that other people will have to give back what they worked hard for, the honor that they devoted their lives to. this also stinks because i would venture that the alternates for these u.s. relay teams would have been strong enough to win the gold as well (this is an unproven feeling of mine). still others were robbed of the joy of victory, and even though they now will be declared a winner and get the medal, it's not the same. marion's cheating robbed all these people of an important piece of their lives.

finally, i hate it that it puts another black eye on sports. track and field has worked hard to help people feel that the sport is as clean as it could be. they work tirelessly to eliminate cheating. but, the cheaters keep working hard, too, to get their competitive edge. i want people to know that what they're seeing is real. it's worth watching. this will just add more doubt.

oscar pistorius

just watched an interesting piece on espn's outside the lines about oscar pistorius. don't konw who he is? not surprising. not only is he a track athlete, he's one without legs. he's gaining a lot of attention because he is taking the paraolympic world by storm. super dooper fast. world record fast for para-athletes. but, he's also getting attention because he's putting up times that are comparable to "able bodied" athletes. which has people wondering if the prosthetics are aiding him.

the iaaf will vote in july whether or not to allow athletes compete with such prosthetics alongside non-prosthetic wearing athletes. the issue, again, is whether or not there is any advantage, something that can be proved or disproved through biomechanical studies.

i've seen a US para-athlete compete alongside other athletes @ a track meet. if i remember correctly, he only had one prosthesis. but he ran well and i think he long jumped, too. but, he wasn't in the fastest heats. it's my feeling that there isn't a benefit, and if there were people would expose it quickly and make a big stink about those using it (like steriods). i'm not saying that people wouldn't knowingly use an unfair advantage because it repeatedly has been shown to happen. but i don't think these are aids. studies should prove this.

two side notes:
he lives in pretoria. so does my brother, sister & their lil ones. so, they should make it a small goal to see this guy run.
they've only caught 66 (68?) athletes using steriods during the olympics