There is an old idiom that says, ‘Cheaters never prosper.’
Although I wish that were the case, the truth of the matter is that in real-life cheaters often prosper.
Take sports for example. How many professional, or Olympic level athletes have gone on to win medals, score lucrative sporting contracts, or endorsement deals, in large part due to illegal means?
Unfortunately, we will never know the real number. After all, cheaters rarely admit to their indiscretions even when they are caught.
Remember Ben Johnson? In 1988, at the Seoul Olympics, Johnson won the gold medal in the 100-metre event, breaking the world record. The country rejoiced, and I along with them. Two days later, Johnson was stripped of his gold medal and his world record erased after testing positive for anabolic steroids.
I was devastated and I didn’t believe it. After all it couldn’t be true. Canadians are the good guys. We don’t cheat and for months after the Olympics I believed all the conspiracy theories saying that he was framed.
Yes, I was a little naive, especially in light of all the evidence. In fact, only one sprinter in the Top 5 finishers of 1988 has been untouched by a drug scandal.
In 2011, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) convened a team of researchers to try to determine more accurately how many athletes use performance-enhancing drugs.
More than 2,000 track and field athletes participated in the study, and according to the findings, which were reviewed by The New York Times, an estimated 29 per cent of the athletes at the 2011 world championships and 45 per cent of the athletes at the 2011 Pan-Arab Games said in anonymous surveys that they had doped in the past year. By contrast, less than two per cent of drug tests examined by WADA laboratories in 2010 were positive.
Then there is the recently released McLaren Report (also commissioned by WADA) that confirmed evidence of widespread, state-sponsored doping in Russian sports.
Despite the report, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is going to allow Russia to compete in the upcoming Rio Olympics.
Was it the right decision? I don’t think so. Cheaters shouldn’t prosper and it is up to the IOC to help ensure that they don’t. A good first step would have been for a complete ban of Russian athletes in international competition. However, even with all the evidence and rumors about cheating in sport in the media it is still important that we continue to support our Canadian athletes because there are athletes that truly deserve our support. Here in Barrhead, we are fortunate to have such athletes competing at a national level, such as Melissa Lotholz and Heidi Peters, who are not only top athletes, but have proven that people who conduct themselves with honesty and fair play can prosper.
