About Marion Jones…
In 1995 a Chicago physician, Bob Goldman, asked 198 Olympic-level U.S. athletes whether they would be willing to take a banned substance if they were guaranteed to win and not get caught; 195 said yes. More than half said they would take the drug if it would enable them to win every competition for five years but then kill them.
I looked with true disgust at the television coverage of Marion Jones confession to using steroids, and was appalled by the public outrage it generated. I could hardly believe my ears, when I heard so much sanctimonious nonsense about her being a cheater, and questions as to whether all of her team mates in the relay events that she participated in should have their medals stripped as well, because of her drug use.
When is this society as a whole going to stop the hypocritical hogwash about steroids and cheating, and wake up to the reality of our own complicity and responsibility for the phenomenon in the first place. It is such a typical standoff reaction, when something happens that is less than favorable that everyone gets on their high horse and points the finger at the perpetrator, reveling in the sense of superiority that it gives them. It is always about, ‘those bad kids’, ‘those bad politicians’, and ‘those bad people’- but not once does anyone publicly stand up and take any time to question what it is that we as a people are doing to have caused the problems that we have in the first place. As much as people strive towards the illusion of individualism, the reality is that we are all connected and each one of us, thus is always part of the problem, and unless we begin to look at issues from this perspective, we are doomed to continue having them occur.
Marion Jones is a perfect case in point. In all of my years, and all of my conversations with people on the matter of drug use, almost everyone that I spoke to said that they would consider using steroids if they could make millions of dollars in the process in spite of the potential health risks. There were even polls taken that showed that over half of the public questioned admitted that they would indeed consider using drugs if it could help them make millions and do well at a sport. So where is the problem, here, I am sure that almost everyone reading this piece as well would admit to themselves that they might consider taking something if it could almost guarantee them an unimaginable influx of cash, as well as fame and world renown, if they are not already doing so.
Let us cut the hypocrisy, and get down to the real issue at hand. This is a consumer society, where we pay big bucks to see people do big things. We pay millions for grown men and women to hit, dunk, run with or kick a ball better than anyone else can, to run faster, ride faster, jump higher and generally perform better than anyone else can and we look at those able to do so with a godlike admiration. We are a win or lose people- and the use of drugs is nothing more than a REFLECTION of all of us as a society, and is not limited to Marion and the host of others that are caught cheating and then hung out by the press as outcasts, we are the problem.
No one wants to see someone perform at levels approaching what they could do, we want the extraordinary, a culture of excess in so many ways, and yet we fail to see that almost anyone would take a drug to do just that a make a pretty good living in the process. I bring your attention to the quote I used from Bob Goldman regarding whether athletes would take a drug that would allow them to win and not get caught even if it would kill them in five years. That more than half said that they would take it even it would kill them.
Don’t in any way think of this as something of an extreme, as it is you, your sons, daughters, family, friends, colleagues, neighbors and acquaintances saying so, and it is not at all hard to understand. If you place so much renown and reward on so little, then why not? And to think that in any way that the other ‘stars’ we look to are not using drugs is naive at the very least. We see the ones that get caught, but don’t in any way think that everyone that did not get caught is certainly drug free.
A good friend of mine helped coach several American Olympic level athletes, and he said that he was amazed at the fact that part of competition at that level was not just the science of sports performance; there were two other sciences that came into play, the science of drug use and the science of beating the tests. Don’t for a minute think that you cannot use banned drugs and not pass the tests, there are several studies that show that it can be done (in spite of what the media wants you to believe about the infallibility of such tests), and very often the sporting organization turns a blind eye to positive tests from their top athletes, since it will do nothing more than reduce their profit margins. Did we forget that sports are a business, or are we so deluded as to believe that it is a monument of fair play.
That being said, someone using drugs, going into an environment where they know the top competitors are using drugs is not a cheater, they are a competitor. Every bodybuilder on the Mr. Olympia stage uses drugs, that being said, there are no cheaters- as it is a level playing field. The same exists in other sports, but we want to hold on to our notions of false innocence that are always nothing more than dangerous illusions. It sickens me even more, when I see other athletes speak out against those caught using drugs- as you all have seen, they are also no more drug free than the persons they condemn, the difference only being that they don’t get caught.
The other side is the Indian saying of walking a mile in another’s moccasins. Being a bodybuilder is one thing in front of a crowd of hundreds or in the professional case, thousands, but what is it like to do what you love to a cheering crowd of millions? Having everyone know your name, and being asked for your autograph everywhere you go? What about being able to have enough money to buy anything your heart desires, and more importantly to be able to provide for your family and loved ones by doing what you love to do? Would you not take the risk?
Mohammed Benaziza came to the bodybuilding scene in the late 80′s and pushed the envelope, defeating almost everyone at the time, future Mr. Olympia , Dorian Yates included. He died in my friend, Wayne De Millia’s arms after winning his last show, a victim of pushing the envelope a bit too far, but the story does not end their. He had a family in Algeria that he supported with his winnings from bodybuilding, he was not some immoral person with an unfair edge, but rather someone that had a talent, and tried to use it to feed his family- that was his driving force, not the fame and renown. As much as you can disagree with it, it is difficult to label it as immoral.
The morality clause is so often used by us drug free athletes, but I contend that this should never be the case. No one is superior to another, and I tire of hearing it, as it does nothing to address and solve the problem. When prohormones first came out. Prohormones were nothing more than then legal steroids, and the health effects were very much similar to steroids. They were not yet labeled as banned substances, and almost all the ‘natural’ athletes I knew used them at one time or another- stopping only when it was deemed to be cheating by the drug testing organizations. That, to me is proof enough that the ‘natural’ athlete is as human as anyone else, their drug using counterparts included, and it is time they see it that way as well.
I end, not trying to bash anyone, that is not the idea, and I ask that no one come away with this slant, it is a cry for us to see things as they are, for if we do not first see and acknowledge the truth of a situation, it cannot be changed. I am no better than Marion Jones, even though I never used steroids, and spent a life saying no to so many opportunities to do so. I am no different, because I did not have as much to gain as she did, nor did I have the pressures that she had, and even though I think that I may not have taken that route had I been her. That is an invalid point of view, as it is based on nothing. She has choices and drives that I will never have, and it is folly to try to say ‘if I was so-and-so, I would do…’
We have to stop. Stop deifying people that do well at a sport. Stop paying millions of dollars to reward athletes and put things in perspective. More people know who Lance Armstrong is than the local teacher, that retired after forty plus years of teaching for a humble salary, Mother Theresa is being forgotten while the legend of Michael Jordan remains. Perhaps it is too late, perhaps we are too far gone with millions spent even in virtual sport leagues to turn back, but hopefully at least, this piece will provoke thought. Perhaps at the least it would stop some of us from vilifying the next person caught using drugs, and instead move us to try to at least understand the problem and our role in it.
I personally am against the use of drugs, I lost friends to it, and I have a way of life that is able to see no limitations on what I can do with what I was born with, but I still pray for, and wish nothing but the best for those that choose to go the other way. Many of them are friends of mine, and though I disagree with their choices, I know very well that they are not evil, nor are they cheaters. I put Ms. Jones on that list, and I hope you do as well.
Warmest Regards,
Kevin Richardson
http://www.naturallyintense.net/
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