Cheaters never truly win do they? There will always be someone else out there who is better then you or me at whatever we’re good at doing. While competition can be good, it can warp ones sensibilities. The need to win, to be first, can lead to people bending rules, breaking them or creating their own. And when that happens, they’re truly not competitive and they lack credibility.

I have no respect for cheaters, and when caught, they should be punished by whatever rules and guidelines are in place for such infractions.

To trust in drugs to help you win… one really must not think they have the ability to win in the first place. Whatever happened to being the best that you can be by doing the best that you can do? There is nothing wrong with losing if you know you tried your best and gave it your all, especially by natural, legal means?

Cheating is for losers of the heart and mind.

An American athlete cheats and wins. Some other athletes were runners-up, and we do not know if they cheated. The American athlete becomes wealthy and admired, and occasionally lies in order to protect her position. Now she will be wealthy and not admired.

Cheaters sometimes prosper, and it shouldn’t be a sad occasion when they are held accountable.

I don’t doubt that Marion Jones worked hard as an athlete, or that she was born with unique talents. I’m just discouraged that someone as gifted as she is will still resort to cheating to get that final edge. In the end, like all the steroid users, her body will suffer the consequences. What’s worse, there are athletes out there right now doing the same thing. What happened to integrity?

Can we really be sure cheating never goes on in any activity?

Logus (#13) said it all, in my opinion. It’s not bad enough that you lied (by way of cheating) to your fans, your competitors, and the sports world in general. You lied to yourself. Now you will never know if you could have won the Gold on your own merits or not. And wouldn’t that be the ultimate irony…if you had been strong enough physically and tough enough mentally to have medaled on your own…never to have feared being caught…knowing that you really were the best and really deserved to stand on the top of the podium?

Why are so many athletes cheating? For the same reason that we had Enron. For the same reason that kids cheat to get into college. Selfishness and greed have always been part of the human condition, but now it seems we have incorporated it as a culture. Is it strictly driven by the monetary gain? Or is it that we no longer believe in the process of striving for excellence? It’s true that nobody much remembers the one who took the Bronze. But, my God! to come in third out of a field of hundreds…that ought to make you proud as punch! Especially if you knew you did it by your own efforts….

News anchors get face lifts and actors take Botox so more people watch them. When are we going after those cheaters!

I think its a shame that when this stuff pops up cheating is the first topic at hand. I’m not in any disagreement that banned performance enhancers give athletes an unfair advantage, that is unless they get caught as in Marions case. But we all tend to forget or ignore WHY these substances are banned. It’s not because they make an athlete perform better, it’s because of the very serious health risks. I’ve long maintained that if there were no health threats, steroids and other enhancers would be no different than other supplements. If you take a sport like baseball there are plenty of improvements that make hitting easier. Bats are made from lighter stronger materials than before. Players are allowed to wear armor to protect against the errant inside pitch, they no longer have fear of crowding the plate. Take another very simple creation, Gatorade. For years and years athletes only had the natural water to help maintain hydration. As all the snappy commercials point out scientists created gatorade to provide a boost in other nutrients we need while competeing, thus providing an edge over water. The thing about these items compared to illegal performance enhancers is that there is no medical risk.

I’d ask you to tell me that if a substance existed that would allow you to work out longer and allowed your muscles to gain more from the workout and it was FDA approved and safe, that it would be cheating or unfair to use. It wouldn’t be.

My point is not that “steroids aren’t bad”, its that we should maintain proper focus on why they are. Everytime the topic pops up, cheat is the first word thrown around. Personally, my first thought was that this woman has potentially given up a long healthy life to win now. She may die in the next 10-15 years. Thats a lot more of a pressing issue than if she cheated. And our second focus should be on the young women that adored her, and make sure they now not to use these things because they could die first and that its cheating second.

I do believe in some form of punishment for users. But I also think constant persecution over cheating instead of legitimate concern over health is counter productive. One of my ideas is that the Fed should get involved, work with the major and amateur sports, and produce some sort of amnesty for users so they can come out of the shadows and tell their stories. A steroid purge so to speak, including massive campaigns about the health risks. This would be followed with aggressive Olympic standard testing after the amnesty and heavy punishment for continued users.

Our current “wack a mole” and “guilt assumption” method does nothing more than perpetuate the system and erode our trust in athletics.

She did not need the drugs.She could have done it right on her own.We hope all her medals and awards will be taken away.

Very sad that she felt winning at any expense was the right way. Very much the attitude of our entire society today.

But people are acting like blind sheep to not realize that a very high percentage of athletes including high school athletes use performace enhancing drugs, and they all no how to get around testing positive.

Logus spouts:
Cheating is for losers of the heart and mind.

Hear that George Bush? LMAO

Methinks Mamma Jones likes the media drama at this point.
Local athletes have people to buy street drugs so they won’t get busted. I doubt if there are many that don’t cheat at some time or other.

Pat C…you are getting smarter every day. You hit the nail on the head honey! When a company I worked for had evil competitors get on their board and drive the company into bankruptcy I had a choice of two STL based corporations to join. BOTH ended up having executives investigated for major security violations. Not good odds…