Olympic fall out

After watching the first 10 minutes of the womens shot put finals at the Olympic Games, I turned to my wife and told her that the New Zealand athlete would win the gold medal but that it would probably be 6 months before she received the medal. The moment that the thrower from Belarus, Nadzeya Ostapchuk, cast her first throw, you just knew that something wasn't right. She isn't a small girl, but she doesn't look overly muscular either. It wasn't the way that she looked, it was the suddenly explosion of power which seemed to come from nowhere. It just didn't fit the picture. The more I watched her throw, the more interested I became. Her technique was ok, about what you would expect at that level. But nothing in her action justified the amount of explosive power that she had.

The television history will tell you that Nadzeya was duely presented with the gold medal and sobbed during the playing of her national anthem. Seven days later her name was being removed from the official records after having returned 2 positive results for anabolic steriods. Of course it all made sense. Nadzeya was a pretty good thrower, she just wasn't THAT good. She got caught and that's a good thing. What interests me now is the events which lead up to making such a dumb decision. I don't know about the inner workings of Belarus, but I do wonder how much of this mess is of Nadzeya's making, and how much was pressure from within the country. Exactly how much free will do those athletes have, when their options are limited. It's hard to say and I guess we would have to be in that position to know.

I am annoyed with how the IOC has handled this. They knew about the results, had held a hearing, and had drafted a formal decision to strip the gold medal from Nadzeya, 36 hours before the Closing Ceremony. Yet they delayed releasing that decision until the morning after the ceremony. For the athletes concerned, that really sucks. Places at the closing ceremony were limited for athletes, with those who had won medals taking priority. I don't know if Nadzeya was at the ceremony but, if she was, she deprived another athlete of that privilage. During the closing ceremony, the medals were presented for the running of the men's marathon. They could have awarded the medals correctly for the women's shot put at the same time, allowing for those people who rightly deserved those medals to recieve them in front of the crowd as they should have. I'm sure it feels very rewarding to receive your gold medal in the post. I'm guessing that the timing of the press release was designed to avoid official embarassment for the games organisers and for the IOC. But I seem to recall that this event was supposed to be about the athletes, and a bit less about upsetting corporate sponsors. Disappointing handling in any case.

I don't want to keep bagging Nadzeya here. There are enough other sites doing that, in pretty childish ways. I have zero tolerance for drug cheats, I think they should receive a lifetime ban. The dererant to all concerned has to be that strong. But I do have some nagging thoughts about Nadzeya and her situation. I suspect there is a lot more to her story and that she may well not have been in total control of everything that was happening around her. I can't prove that, but that's just my feeling. A tragic tale in any case.

I'm sure there will be more of those results coming to light over the coming months. Athletes have so much to lose these days that they will try any kind of underhanded method in order to score that lucrative shoe or car sponsorship deal. There's one case involving a newly crowned double Olympic champion which really pisses me off. About a year ago they switched trainers to a trainer in another country. That trainer has been as dodgy as since being an athlete back in the 80s, hanging out with the druggies from Athletics West and Sainta Monica Track Club. Those 2 clubs were the sporting Woodstock. The number of top athletes from those pharmacies who died of sudden heart failure or who developed serious cancers is just staggering. Anyway, this particular trainer apparently developed a health problem with required specific medication. That medication, when taken, removed the symptoms of that health probelm. What it also does, coincidentally, is to alter metabolism rates and body temperature changes. This allows for a person to retain energy in their body longer and to increase the level of energy output without suffering from overheating. All perfectly legal and nothing on the IOC or WADA banned list. But still gaining an advantage over that of their natural ability. Enter our soon to be crowned double Olympic champion. 3 weeks after arriving, they are diagnosed with the exact same medical condition as their trainer. Requiring, of course, the exact same medication. Along comes another athlete and would you believe it, they have the same health problem as well. Amazing ! 12 months later and both athletes have suddenly lept from being average elite athletes to becoming virtually unbeatable. One takes 2 gold medals while the other takes the silver in one of those events. Those kind of blatant abuse really pisses me off. Ok, it's not illegal today, but it is about to become. Illegal or not, they still knew it was giving them an advantage which they hadn't worked to acquire. And that's just got to be wrong.