More Negativity at the Olympics

[SuperHornet]

The Olympics is supposed to be about fair play. Yet there is so much cheating going on that it's starting to sound like the Tour de France.

The questions about the Chinese gymnastics team are not going away. Apparently, the coaches and the parents are devastated about the questions. But it wouldn't be unprecedented. One nation was banned from the 1993 world championships after similar violations. There was an incident where one athlete was listed as 15 three years in a row. Even China is not blameless: a medalist from Sydney in 2000 admitted in a taped interview that she was 14 when she medalled.

There was a Ukranian heptathlete stripped of her silver medal on Friday because she popped on steroids. Of course, she's passing the buck to her coach/husband, who supposedly had control of her diet. There were rumblings that she should have been banned before because she had a previous drug-related suspension from the sport. In fact, a Swede and a Brit are quite outspoken on this; they've already stated that the Ukranian is gone. While that seems likely, such statements are premature as the world track governing body has not met to discuss the issue yet.

Add this to the boxing and gymnastics judging, one sees that some MAJOR changes have got to happen for the Olympics to continue to be an enjoyable event. There's talk of a return to old-style judging in both sports, though there seems to be more support for that on the gymnastics side.

[dbackjon]

Add the fact that the Jamacian Track body does ZERO testing, unlike most countries.