The Olympic shames

By TED ANTHONY

Associated Press

SYDNEY, Australia – It began with an opening-ceremony promise from Australian hockey player Rechelle Hawkes, speaking for all the 11,000 athletes competing at the Olympics. No drugs, she vowed as the world watched. No doping.

No deal.

Sydney wanted these Summer Games to be remembered as “the best ever,” as International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch is expected to put it. And they have been magnificent in many ways – most, even. But forever attached to them may be a less distinguished moniker that makes Aussies cringe.

“The Sydney Games,” lamented the national newspaper The Australian, “are in danger of being remembered as the Drugs Olympics.”

A new, unwanted Olympic vocabulary has taken hold during the past 10 days. The obscure has become the headline: Nandrolone. Furosemide. Pseudoephedrine. Stanozolol. And hovering behind them all, a shorter, less technical word: cheat.

Rumors swirl when an athlete wins by a huge margin or drops out without explanation. Questions are kicking around – nonathletic ones that would furrow the brow of any Sydney organizer.

Should Romanian gymnast Andreea Raducan have been stripped of her gold for cold medicine? Is the United States covering up track and field doping? Is a Bulgarian kayaker using steroids? Is the IOC doing all it can to stop drugs – or just going errantly overboard?

Most importantly, are there more athletes doping, or does it just look that way because more are getting caught?

The IOC, which has made a big deal out of intensified anti-doping efforts it instituted earlier this year, says the Olympics are cleaner than ever thanks to the crackdown. And Samaranch isn’t shy about taking credit.

“I believe that you should congratulate us every time a doping athlete is discovered,” he was quoted as saying.

Then congratulations are in order.

Three Bulgarian weightlifters lost medals – a gold, a silver and a bronze – after testing positive for furosemide, a diuretic that can mask steroid presence. Then, in quick succession: a Latvian rower (nandrolone); Raducan (pseudoephedrine, the cold medicine); and a Russian runner (stanozolol, another steroid).

“Six positive drug tests in an Olympics is not an epidemic,” said IOC vice president Dick Pound. “If you read anywhere, or hear anywhere, that these are the drug-tainted Olympics, that is just not so.”

ToSday, hours before the closing ceremony, the IOC announced two more drug positives, both for nandrolone, including one that stripped the bronze medal from an Armenian heavyweight lifter.

But those eight are merely the athletes disqualified after competition.

Forty-one would-be Olympians were caught cheating before they ever reached Sydney. Nine were thrown out after they got here – including Romanian hammer thrower Mihaela Melinte, escorted from the track as she was about to compete.

National Olympic committees were feeling pressure long before the Olympics. Of the pregames disqualifications, 27 were from China, which cut them as part of a “long-term, tough and complicated” doping crackdown. No Chinese athlete has tested positive so far at the games.

“I am resolutely opposed to using abnormal or unfair competitive methods to achieve good results,” says Yuan Weimin, head of China’s Olympic team. “In the past, the present and the future China will struggle to the end.”

The United States is coming under harsh criticism, too. After officials disclosed runner Marion Jones’ husband, behemoth shot-putter C.J. Hunter, had tested positive for steroids at a July competition, USA Track and Field found itself accused of a wider doping coverup. It has denied the allegations but has proposed turning its drug testing over to an independent agency.

Most controversial has been the Raducan case, which even the IOC has called an unfortunate mistake on the gymnast’s part.

The 16-year-old was given cold medicine by her team doctor that, without her knowledge, contained a banned substance that almost certainly didn’t enhance – and could have impeded – her performance. She had to return her all-around gold medal, Romania’s first since Nadia Comaneci’s in 1976.

The waiflike Raducan was the ideal protagonist, and a sea of protest followed. “Branded for life as a cheat,” one headline lamented.

The IOC, while admitting sympathy, said rules were rules. An appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport failed. Romanians demonstrated in the streets; their Olympic chief, Ion Tiriac, said he’d resign rather than ban her at home as regulations required.

“We’re talking about an aspirin,” Tiriac said, sincere if a bit inaccurate. “I accept procedures. But somehow, somewhere, don’t we miss the point?”

The quandary mirrored one that has long bothered democracies that battle drugs: They want a zero-tolerance approach that is tough on offenders, but also want to prevent the innocent and the inadvertent from being swept away in a rush to judgment.

“The attitude of Western societies, the strict liability approach, is infiltrating the sports movement,” says Jamie Nettleton, a Sydney lawyer who has advised many of Australia’s sports organizations on drug-related matters.

“Is it right? I don’t know. There may not be a right in this,” he says. “But what is important is the tradition of sports, which is that cheats shouldn’t win. And unfortunately, some people suffer as a result.”

Copyright ©2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Customers enter and exit the Costco on Dec. 2, 2022, in Lake Stevens. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Costco stores could be impacted by looming truck driver strike threat

Truck drivers who deliver groceries and produce to Costco warehouses… Continue reading

Two Washington State ferries pass along the route between Mukilteo and Clinton as scuba divers swim near the shore Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023, in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ferry system increases ridership by a half million in 2024

Edmonds-Kingston route remains second-busiest route in the system.

Alina Langbehn, 6, center, and Vera A., 6, right, sit on a swing together at Drew Nielsen Neighborhood Park after school on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett council votes to renovate Drew Nielsen Park

Construction on the $345,000 upgrade could start as early as this fall.

Northshore School District bus driver Stewart O’Leary pictured next to his buses shattered drivers side windshield on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025 in Bothell, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
‘Put me in, coach’: Bus driver back at work after struck by metal bar

Stewart O’Leary, a Northshore employee, has received national attention for his composure during a frightening bus trip.

Lynnwood councilor Joshua Binda speaks during a Lynnwood City Council meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Does the Lynnwood Council VP live in Lynnwood? It’s hard to say.

Josh Binda’s residency has been called into question following an eviction and FEC filings listing an Everett address. He insists he lives in Lynnwood.

Robin Cain with 50 of her marathon medals hanging on a display board she made with her father on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Running a marathon is hard. She ran one in every state.

Robin Cain, of Lake Stevens, is one of only a few thousand people to ever achieve the feat.

People line up to grab food at the Everett Recovery Cafe on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Coffee, meals and compassion are free at the Everett Recovery Cafe

The free, membership-based day center offers free coffee and meals and more importantly, camaraderie and recovery support.

The Everett Wastewater Treatment Plant along the Snohomish River on Thursday, June 16, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett water, sewer rates could jump 43% by 2028

The rate hikes would pay for improvements to the city’s sewer infrastructure.

The bond funded new track and field at Northshore Middle School on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024 in Bothell, Washington. (Courtesy of Northshore School District)
Northshore School District bond improvements underway

The $425 million bond is funding new track and field complexes, playgrounds and phase one of two school replacements.

An American Robin picks a berry from a holly tree on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Calling all birders for the annual Great Backyard Bird Count

The Audubon Society will hold its 28th annual Great Backyard… Continue reading

A view of one of the potential locations of the new Aquasox stadium on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. The site sits between Hewitt Avenue, Broadway, Pacific Avenue and the railroad. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Initial prep work for AquaSox stadium to start, with $200k price tag

The temporary agreement allows some surveying and design work as the city negotiates contracts with designers and builders.

Aaron Kennedy / The Herald
The Joann Fabric and Crafts store at 7601 Evergreen Way, Everett, is one of three stores in Snohomish County that will close as part of the retailer’s larger plan to shutter more than half of its stores nationwide.
Joann store closure plan includes Everett, Arlington, Lynnwood locations

The retail giant filed a motion in court to close approximately 500 stores in the U.S.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.