Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Jazz
I still don't get it. Track is basically ignored here, except for 2 weeks every four years. This didn't make the front page of any sports page I saw. Although Marion Jones did, but in a negative way.
And if you think that "most" of the track sponsors are in the US, you're a typical American.
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Im not American, and Im not talking exclusively about track.
My question was rather simple: what makes some athletes be treated like phenoms and some like likely drug abusers? Marion Jones was considered a phenom and given the benefit of the doubt for a very long time. Putting it in question form, who was the last American to immediately draw suspicion based on success alone?
And I couldn't help but notice that most athletes that come immediately under suspicion are not Americans. The Jamaican track team, the Chinese gymnasts, the Chinese swimmers, most cyclists not named Lance Armstrong, and so on.
I don't know the specific reason for that, but I think that as a trend it is undeniable that that happens, and one of the reasons I would venture is that most of the international sports media is based in the US, and most of the major sporting event sponsors too.