Talking Sports
EDWARD THANGARAJAH
Well done China. Banning one of the best backstroke swimmers in the world, Ouyang Kunpeng, for life is a magnificent effort to wipe out the curse of drugs, which has discredited and made the world suspicious of athletes.
Each time a Chinese athlete does well or breaks a world record, questions are asked whether they have been tested and screened against the intake of drugs and performance enhancing substances.
From the time, a well known coach claimed in the late 1980s, that he had given decoctions to his athletes who broke world records, many followers of sports all over the world have been viewing the performances of Chinese athletes with suspicion.
As a result, even the achievements of those who had trained sincerely and honestly, were viewed with suspicion. But this outstanding action and the claim by Chinese sports officials that they don't want to win gold medals at the Beijing Olympics with doped athletes is a great step. China is undoubtedly heading in the right direction.
It will boost China's sincerity and honesty to hold a clean, dope-free Games.
From the time China won the bid to stage this years Olympics, claims have been making the rounds, that as hosts they are likely to garner medals with doped athletes.
I have heard this story in many places, but after this step to ban gold medal prospect Ouyang I am certain doubts about China's sincerity to present a clean Games will be eliminated.
With such a large population and with so many young athletes all over China, it is not difficult to produce Olympic champions. What they should advocate is systematic training, the likes of which, many of their top coaches are unfolding in a number of sports. Taking these factors into consideration, why should they spoil their name by allowing doped athletes to take part?
The greatest curse of the Games of the Olympiad is the participation of doped athletes. It is a menace which must be banished.
Using performance-enhancing drugs has been in existence since 1904, in St.Louis (USA) when the marathon-winner, Thomas Hicks was administered multiple doses of strychnine and brandy during a race.
The US sprint coach, gave his 1920 runners in Antwerp, a mixture of sherry and raw egg.
Tragedy struck a Danish cyclist, Knut Jensen, during the Rome Olympics in 1960 when he died after taking amphetamines and nicotynyl tartrate.
The Medical Commission of the IOC was set up and it began outlawing drugs. In 1968 (Mexico), a member of the Swedish modern pentathlon team, Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall was disqualified for using alcohol.
The IOC, however, was late with its full-scale drug testing which came into effect only in 1972. By then, athletes had got used to using stimulants, sedatives, hormones and steroids. Even doctors and coaches were working together to produce masking agents to beat the tests.
They were even working on time factors to avoid positive tests and were giving athletes drugs to pass the tests. It was however, 1988 in Seoul, that the biggest doping scandal broke out when Canadian sprinter, Ben Johnson ran a fantastic 100 metres in 9.79 seconds. That's when the Pandora's Box into doping opened.
This scribe was there, when Ben Johnson raised his finger at the finish and virtually humiliated his arch-rival Carl Lewis of the US, who finished second.
Johnson was hailed everywhere he appeared and was treated with tremendous respect. But the day after he was found guilty of being doped, he left the Games, hiding his face in shame.
In 1970, East Germany was known a lot in the world of sports, especially in the Olympics.
Inspired by their government, who were convinced that success in sports, especially in the Olympic Games was a fine form of political propaganda, they made their doctors and coaches work hard scientifically, using steroids and testosterone as the base.
When the IOC banned steroids in 1974 and started to test athletes at the Montreal Games in 1976, the East Germans beat the ban using one of their officials. He was serving on IOCs international drug commissions and used to give out details of the tests to his country's sports officials. He even switched positive samples and gave false test results. The cat was out of the bag when the official sold secret documents to a magazine Stern. Yes, the shameful scandals about the use of drugs have tarnished sports.
A country like China, with so many youngsters who are going to do well in sports and life, must refrain from being part of this disgrace.
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