They are killing my sport

Yet another bomb has exploded in the world of track and field as the Olympic Queen, who brought home 5 Olympic Medals for the United States at the 2000 games in Sydney has admitted to doping since 1999. By admitting to this, she has tried to waive the fault and wrong doing directly to her coach, who provided her with what she apparently thought, was flax seed oil…

Marion Jones, an athlete I previously admired, yes you read that right, the statement was made in the past tense primarily because she will always remain in the past and be known as an imposture to the public, a thief, a cheat, a killer of dreams. I take these situations very personally as these cheaters make my job much harder when passing on the message that everything is possible with hard work. At one point I decided to no longer speak of athletes who were caught doping, but in this case, the person at hand is bigger than me, we are talking about Marion Jones and I could no longer keep silent.

Marion, an athlete I previously admired because of her charisma and contagious smile. The same Marion that I interviewed in Monte Carlo in 2002 after the Grand Prix Final; The same Marion Jones that made the cover page of most of the worlds largest and most well known newspapers and magazines. The same Marion Jones that now has become yet another reference to cheating and dishonesty in sports.

This brings back thoughts and memories of an anonymous phone call I received from someone at the lab after the anti doping was administered just after the conclusion of the 2000 Olympic Games, that a big fish was caught. Was she the big fish (a big named athlete) that was caught doping in Sydney?

Well let’s move forward, that is entirely another argument, either way there were plenty of names that came forth such as the United States athlete C.J Hunter. He is a big athlete, but no big fish in my eyes. C.J Hunter at the time was the husband of Marion, coincidence?
The problem that this creates for me occurs when I am speaking to children about how it is possible to win medals without doping, when we see figures such as Ben Johnson 1988 Olympic Champion, Justin Gatlin 2000 Olympic Champion and Tim Montgomery former 100m world record holder all cheat and test positive for doping, and now we add Marion Jones to this list that holds no bearings whatsoever in history other than a group of athletes who tried to cheat and were caught doing so.

These athletes are in the midst of killing track and field, my sport, a sport that is noble, graceful and beautiful to watch. For me it is not even a sport, it is an art form that is practiced and perfected. Citus, Altius, Fortius from old latin meaning faster, stronger, higher.


What child has not wanted to be Citius, Altius or Fortius in their neighbourhood, school and class? At the Olympic Games, the entire world watches to see who will be crowned as the fastest human on earth. Unfortunately, many of these deemed gods do not respect the laws or the respect the sport itself. They are searching for the title without the work ethic.

Is it worth it to dope and risk your health for 15 minutes of fame? Is it worth it to dope and be classified in history as a cheater alongside of the names of Ben Johnson, Tim Montgomery, Justin Gatlin or Marion Jones? Is it worth it to live your life as one big lie?
Log onto http://www.brunysurin.com/ and voice your answers on my personal blog.

My next blog will be on the top 10 excuses of a poor performance.

This article has been made available to you by Xistence Supplements. http://www.xistence.ca/



Bruny