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The Olympic Spirit

Chris O’Neill
Ballincollig CS, Cork

Some say that the Olympic Games bring the entire world together while others attest that the Olympic Games are a challenge for amateur athletes to show that they can be the best in their sport. As they compete against many other athletes who are just as good as they, they are tempted to use performance-enhancing drugs, and most do. The suspicion and proof of drug abuse has sadly become a central theme of the Olympic Games. Oftentimes, losses by the United States athletes are rationalised by the media through implications of drug use among the foreign competitors. The media in the United States is biased towards its own athletes to portray them as being the top drug-free competitors even though they were not victorious.

The media reports that the use of performance-enhancing drugs is especially predominant in the sports of swimming and track & field. The many victories won by the Chinese women's swimming team has always aroused a great deal of suspicion as to their possible use of performance-enhancing drugs. Even after strict drug testing had virtually ceased the possibility of drug abuse among Chinese women, the media implications of drug abuse continued.

After Le Jingyi, a Chinese swimmer, won a gold medal, many thought that her win was due to steroid use. The reputation of drug abuse among the Chinese women instantly cheapened her victory. Why should the media in the United States constantly state that Le Jingyi was using steroids to win the gold medal? She was not tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, but six of her team-mates were tested positive. So why is the media biased?

They do not have any proof that Le Jingyi was taking performance-enhancing drugs, but the media insists that she must be taking some kind of steroid in order to have beaten the United States. However, the media should not make such allegations until they have found proof that she is taking steroids. Ireland's Michelle Smith won three gold medals and one bronze medal in Atlanta, and since the United States detests losing, especially when the Games are held in their own country, they decided to accuse Michelle Smith of using performance-enhancing drugs.

Without any hard evidence, many forms of the United States media accused Michelle Smith of using performance-enhancing drugs. The only rationale of the media for their implications was Michelle Smith's vast improvement in her times and past accusations that had been made of Michelle Smith after her husband tested positive for steroid use. Although the Olympic Committee allowed Michelle Smith to compete in the Games, speculations of drug use were still made after she won three gold medals. The American spectators and the media rooted for an American to win, but when they realised a swimmer other than an American won the meet, they automatically accuse the swimmer of taking performance-enhancing drugs. These preconceived notions about Le Jingyi and Michelle Smith were created by the media's selective manipulation of information.

There is not a shred of evidence suggesting Ms. Smith used performance-enhancing drugs. Is it really so difficult to imagine that a 26-year-old veteran swimmer could peak at the perfect moment? Is it so difficult to accept that Janet Evans could have a bad day? Why did the media not accuse Janet Evans of using performance-enhancing drugs when she won three gold medals in the 1988 Olympics? Janet Evans also swam four seconds faster in the same event in the 1988 Olympics than Michelle Smith did in the 1996 Olympics. So why wasn't Janet Evans accused of using drugs by the United States media? The reason why is because she was an American and the media portrays the Americans as being the best.

Although in 1995 the International Amateur Athletic Federation, the governing body for track and field, handed down 33 four-year steroid suspension and two lifetime bans to athletes, most were unknown. Elite athletes are not as easy to test. These athletes have the financial and medical resources to use performance-enhancing drugs without being caught. But there is also a perception that drug testing has become more effective. Even famous track stars have tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Ben Johnson, the disqualified 1988, 100-meter gold medallist from Canada was foolish enough to get caught.

The media tries to manipulate any story or public view that they can get their hands on because they have the power to do so and they are the ones who channel the public's view to the people. They ruin the whole spirit of the Olympic Games by making false accusations of other country’s athletes using performance-enhancing drugs. The Olympic Games are held every four years to bring the world peacefully together, not to see who could get the most interesting story or to see who could accuse another country of using performance-enhancing drugs.

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