American Athletics at a Crossroads
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by user BigPPup
The United States has enjoyed dominance over the majority of athletics across the world for the past thirty years. Part of the luxury of being a dominate force on the world sporting scene extends beyond the fields of competition and grants a nation the ability to have influence on the governing bodies of various athletic commissions. For the past three decades the U.S. has managed to stand on top the sporting world and wield its influence on everything taking place around it.
During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s sports meant more than winning on the field, they represented a clash of culture and political philosophy as the Americans went head to head against the Soviet Union and the East Germans. In the wake of the East German steroid scandal and the collapse of the Soviet Union the U.S. stood alone in the world of sports. The American athletes had defeated the worlds best in three different sets of Olympics and they did it while they were clean. Not only did the Americans defeat the enemy from across the pond but they defeated the enemy while they were cheating. Now the U.S. had the opportunity to look down their nose at the rest of the world, for being dirty and impure in how they regulated their athletes.
Since that time, the Americans have touted how great their training regimens are, and how the United States can create the greatest athletic performers in the world without using performance enhancing drugs. The U.S. has been tireless in its efforts to thwart steroid use from international competition while heralding its athletes for their “clean performances”. We all cheered the American success and scolded the French as Lance Armstrong dominated the Tour De France, while the top French competitors failed drug test after drug test. We cheered as American sprinters returned to greatness in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics once again dominating track and field events as competitors from other parts of the world struggled with the strict International competition standards for performance enhancing drugs.
Sure during this whole time there were murmurs that the American athletes were just as tainted if not worse than their competition but we brushed that under the rug. No one paid attention to the fact that Marion Jones and her former husband had struggled to pass drug test for the 04 games in Athens. (C.J. Hunter ended up being ineligible for those games.) We knew the names Balco and Conseco and Bonds, but those were more side shows than the main stage. Steroids were still something you got in back ally behind the seedy neighborhood. The United States was still able to claim control over its steroid issues and keep things in check.
Now in the summer of 2006 steroids are rampant in American sports. The next great American cyclist hope Floyd Landis has already earned 1 positive test and may lose his Tour de France title. This comes just two days after he made what was considered one of the most incredible performances in the history of the event. While the Floyd Landis scandal was still in its infancy the new face of the American track team Justin Gatlin test positive for steroids. Two American competitors at the height of their international athletic careers struck down for cheating.
On the local sports front, the “American Pastime” is in a complete state of disarray as every record, every performer is in question. This past weekend should have been one of the greatest moments of the Baseball season, Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies on Sunday. However, the headlines from Sunday’s ceremonies were all about steroids and would Mark McGuire make his way into the Hall of Fame in 2007. What should have been a celebrated weekend ruined by the steroid rampage.
All of this brings us to a point where we must sit back as fans, athletes, and writers and really take into account the current state of the American sporting scene. How great is the American sporting empire in all actuality? No matter what public relations spin writers and anyone else may try to spin American athletics has suffered blow after blow over the last few years and is staggering on its feet.
American competitors are no longer winning on the international stage. Take a look at the World Cup, World Baseball Classic; Basketball at the Olympics, Rider Cup, Davis Cup, Tennis, the list goes on about their failed accomplishments. The performers who have done well and won on the international level are coming back with positive drug test and leaving the U.S. even more embarrassed than if they had just lost at their events. On the national sporting scene guys are dropping left and right with positive steroid test.
Has the United States become what they always claimed to fight against? More and more our athletes are looking like the East German and Soviet teams from the Cold War era. With all these accusations against American athletes how much longer can the U.S. remain at the forefront of the world athletic scene? The United States is dreading into dangerous territory, and must act quickly and intelligently if it wishes to remain atop the sporting world. If the U.S. continues to let its drug problems run wild then it will not be long before all the accomplishments of American athletes will be lost amid a cloud of scandal and shame.
Date
Mon 07/31/06, 11:13 am EST
