Posted by Denis Cummings to findingDulcinea
The lead-up to the 2008 Olympics has been marked by the suspension of athletes for drug use, suggesting that the games will once again be scandal-ridden.
Seventeen athletes have been banned from the Beijing Games during pre-Olympic drug testing and more are sure to follow. Additionally, several athletes have dropped appeals from past drug tests and withdrawn from the games.
Doping has taken center stage at the past two Summer Olympics, and the scandals continue to grow. The United States 4 x 400m relay team was recently stripped of its 2000 medals after a team member admitted to doping.
The commonness of doping has fans questioning the credibility of many sports. “Any time an athlete does something extraordinary anymore, it’s, ‘How can that be?’” said psychology professor Daniel Wann.
The International Olympic Committee, together with the World Anti-Doping Agency, hopes to stamp out doping this year and plans to increase the number of blood and urine tests by 25 percent from 2004. However, it still might not be enough.
“The IOC has seldom been more in need of a clean Games but the uncomfortable truth is that it will not get one, regardless of how many samples are collected,” writes The Guardian’s Paul Kelso.
Antidoping efforts continue to lag behind doping technology, as authorities search for effective tests for performance-enhancing drugs like EPO and HGH.
“Every year, we think the labs and the testing are getting better, but then along come the Olympics and we find things we never expected,” said Don Catlin of the Anti-Doping Authority.
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