Everyone Must Be At It - Doping That Is

Doping - It's a funny word really. I mean it amuses me purely because it resembles the name of one of Snow White's Seven Dwarfs.

In reality doping is not a joke however when it comes to the world of sport. In fact  the doping skeletons have an uncanny knack of coming out of sporting closets at regular intervals, the beginning of this year being no exception.

We've had Lance "Everyone was doing it so why not me" Armstrong finally revealing to Oprah the truth behind how he finished in front of everyone else at seven Tour de France events by stocking up internally with more drugs than a pharmaceutical company stores. Of course, in this case, USADA, the US Antidoping Authority, had to prize open Armstrong's closet with a hammer, by hounding Armstrong and his fellow  team mates for numerous years before the doping skeletons were finally unleashed from the closet.

Similarly it's taken a year long investigation by the Australian Crime Commission to discover that the use of prohibited substances is apparently widespread amongst elite athletes in Australia. During the "we will hunt you down" scare tactics employed by Australia's Justice and Sports Ministers at the well publicized press conference last week, interestingly no reference was made to any incidences of doping in a particular sport. So what are the Australian sport viewing public meant to think when they are  told doping is widespread amongst elite athletes?

I tell you what statements like that create -suspicion. Did that athlete finish a race so far in front of other athletes and had time to have a cup of tea, before the rest finish, simply because he/she is a brilliant athlete or because they ingested a cocktail of drugs on a regular basis?

This is the ugly, non amusing side of doping scandals. The minute a sport is involved in a doping scandal, virtually all athletes are tainted with same brush. Indeed everyone must be at it heh!

Why are the positives never accentuated when discussing doping in sport?  I reckon we should congratulate all those athletes who believe in working and training hard to be the best possible athletes they can, and don't turn to a mad scientist to achieve their goals. I'm keeping the faith. Anyone else?