I’m sick of people crying foul about this stuff. The scapegoats. It’s always going to be there. Some will get busted and some won’t. It’s beyond human capability (for instance) to run 100 M in less than blah blah blah seconds. That record will continue to be beaten. By people with performance enhancing drugs.
I say level the playing fields. Make steroids legal. If an athlete wants to destroy his or her body in the process, so be it. A brief shining light. Whatever.
Mark my words, that sort of artificial catalyst will be the norm within 15 years.
Trust me, moral arguments are not going to win this debate. It’s all about MONEY.
Whoever has the best pharmacist WINS!
Such is the future of sports. Hate it at your peril, but that is where we are headed.
[quote=“jimipresley”]I’m sick of people crying foul about this stuff. The scapegoats. It’s always going to be there. Some will get busted and some won’t. It’s beyond human capability (for instance) to run 100 M in less than blah blah blah seconds. That record will continue to be beaten. By people with performance enhancing drugs.
I say level the playing fields. Make steroids legal. If an athlete wants to destroy his or her body in the process, so be it. A brief shining light. Whatever.
Mark my words, that sort of artificial catalyst will be the norm within 15 years.
Trust me, moral arguments are not going to win this debate. It’s all about MONEY.
Whoever has the best pharmacist WINS!
Such is the future of sports. Hate it at your will, but that is where we are headed.[/quote]
I still love the rank absurdity of Ross Rebagliati getting stripped of the first ever gold medal for snowboarding at the 98 Winter Olympics when traces of marijuana were found in his blood.
First off, if there was no marijuana, nobody would have ever invented snowboarding.
Second, as, IIRC, Robin Williams, said on some talk show, dude, if you consider marijuana to be a performance enhancer, well shiiiit, you really don’t have a clue. :roflmao:
Fortunately, the decision was eventually overturned, mostly since marijuana was not on the list of banned substances.
(Apologies for the awful quality of the Youtube video. I guess SNL/ NBC don’t allow these videos out there, and want us to go to Hulu, even though in Taiwan we can’t. If in the future that video is taken down, Google “SNL steroid olympics”)
There’s a parallel in farming: dosing animals with random drugs to make them fatter. Most governments are (slowly) making it illegal because it has no economic benefit: as soon as one farmer starts to dope his animals, market prices fall because that farmer can offer a bigger animal for only slightly more money, and all other farmers have to start doping to make a profit. The end result is that nobody does well except the drug companies. Farming costs are higher and animal welfare goes down the toilet.
Athletes would just end up competing on the basis of how many chemicals they can ingest without exploding.
And yeah … as bismarck says, drugs can’t alter your basic genetics and physiology. All they can do is help you build more muscle, and in competitive sports that’s not the whole story.
On the other hand … for non-competitive use, I can’t see what the problem is. Anabolic steroids and beta2-agonists are extremely safe drugs if used sensibly, and the only obvious risk is from unskilled injections, counterfeits, or dirty needles. As usual, I think it’s only America that gets really worked up about that kind of thing (while, incidentally, permitting farmers to dose up their animals with pretty much anything they like).
Athletes at the Paris Olympics later this month would be tested for performance-enhancing drugs, but at a competition plotting to rival the Games, doping will be the point.
The Enhanced Games, planned for late next year, would not test competitors for drugs but instead encourage them to take advantage of medical advancements to break world records.
The organizers say that by freeing athletes from the tyranny of anti-doping agencies and embracing technology, the Enhanced Games aim “to safely evolve mankind into a new superhumanity”.
I would say it really depends. I mean look at Armstrong here. Drugged up, for sure. But it took more than just drugs for this performance. (I’m completely against the Enhanced Games idea, but if it goes through, the “athletes” will still have to have a great deal of athletic ability.)
Ever feel like you’re an automaton following a program? I just spent a few minutes looking for the SNL all-steroid olympics skit from 1988. Copied the link. Then thought, “Wait, I should look upthread.” And I posted that video in 2011.
But, the link from 13 years ago is dead, so here it is again:
I doubt anyone with decent athletic ability would even consider taking part in those games. Athletes like Armstrong want to win clean, but feel forced to take drugs, because they have reached their physical limits and/or compete against people who already do drugs.
If doping is allowed, it instantly becomes a medical experiment, where random people compete against each other with mad scientists as their coaches. None of the regular athletes want to be part of that circus. Like no serious boxer wants to fight in till-someone-is-dead fights in some dungeon setting.
Again, while you could argue it is survival of the fittest and therefore natural, I believe it’s against humanity.
Yeah, you’re probably right. Especially in the first few years if this actually goes through. But man, the 2003 Ascent of Luz Ardiden was really something, even with all the doping.
