Do drug cheats deserve another chance?

[dlish]

ive been quite critical of drug cheats in the past, and i dont think that'll ever change.

Justin Gatlin has just made his comeback to athletics. For those that dont know, Gatlin was the ex-100m olympic champion and the new star in the athletics world in 2004-2006.

his time of 9.77 to equal the world record in 2006 was anulled, after a positive drugs test. he was coached by a trainer who had numerous athletes test positive over the years. not surprisingly, like all athletes, none have ever taken drugs knowingly.

gatlin has made a triumphant return to athletics winning in estonia in a time of 10.24 (which is quite good considering his time away from competitive sport) but i can not help but wish he wasnt there, and that he'd go away.

he's put my favourite sport into disrepute, and even though he's served his sentence of 4 years away from the sport, i think he doesnt deserve to be there for the simple reason that he's a cheat. pure and simple. he will always be remebered for the disgrace he bought to the sport rather than the talent he had as a sophomore before he went pro.

so his comeback has really ticked me off. not only are drug cheats cheating in their own sport, but they're breaking the law by buying illegal drugs most likely on the black market and encouraging the drug trade to flourish. double whammy.

as far as im concerned, he doesnt deserve the honour of lacing up those spikes, but then again, with my conviction, there wont be many runners left to run close to a 10sec 100m. so for now im inclined to throw the convicted ones into the fire and lot them roast.

so what do you guys think? do drug cheats deserve to be given another chance?

can cheats be rehabilitated? do you have any examples of drug cheats that came back clean and stayed clean? does any drug cheats clean legacy live on?

[Plan9]

I concur. Once you're busted, your credibility is shot. You cheated. And if you let 'em back in? Recidivism is crazy high, right?

Constant testing / monitoring is the only way to ensure you're not a dirtbag and even then some people still think you're a dirtbag.

[Pearl Trade]

They should be punished severly when they get caught, but as soon as the punishment is over they should be given the chance to show what they can do clean. Granted, they will have no credibility and will forever be recognized as a cheater, but at least one chance should be given. They should never be put in the Hall of Fame for their respective sport, but should be allowed to win individual awards for the time they remain clean.

Gatlin wasn't the only cheater in your sport, dlish. Marion Jones is another big one, along with many others. The cream and the clear wrecked track and field's reputation so much that if Bolt wasn't here right now, I believe the sport would have zero attention.

[Cimarron29414]

Stripped of all records and banned from competition for life.

Having said that, I find it fascinating that your favorite sport is a 100m sprint. Hey, you get to watch "the game" and still have 23hr, 59m of your day left to do other things!

[dlish]

ha! cim, the 100m spint isnt my favourite sport!

Athletics in general, and in particular the 1500m mens final i'd consider my favourite race.

that'd leave me 23hrs and 57mins or thereabouts to do other things.

i can understand the fact that they'd serve their time on the sidelines, but IF the IAAF was going to give a cheat a chance, im hoping that they;d be tested at every meet. thats the only way to keep them honest.

if i were the head of the athletics federation, if you brought shame on my sport, you're good as gone. if i'd consider you to come back to my sport, the onus is youto prove to me that you're clean. you play by my rules, or you dont play at all.

theres been too many cheaters come back. dwayne chambers has also recently come back. he got beaten last week by the first caucasian to break 10 seconds.

pearl, im kind of glad marion is no longer in the sport. she'll always be tainted with the cheaters brush because she never came back, and her legacy is as good as gone. This is how all cheaters legacies should end.

[Wes Mantooth]

I think it depends on how many people are doing it. If one or two athletes in any given sport (that's generally clean) are cheating then I say strip the records, and toss them from the sport. But what if essentially an entire league is doing it? coughMLBcough.

If everybody is cheating is it really cheating anymore?

Anyway I suppose anyone could be rehabilitated, if they are willing to submit to drug testing and are competing clean I don't see why they shouldn't be able to.

[dlish]

yeah just like bodybuilders.

when everyone is so juiced up and its well known that everyone is on the gear, theres no use in banning everyone.

I hope that professional sport doesnt head down this way one day. It'd be the day i stop watching.

as for sports that are the dirtiest..i dont know all that much about MLB, but the headline grabbers (outside the US) are always the athletics sprinters and the cyclists.

anyone remember the two greek sprinters at the athens games who faked a motocycle accident to avoid being tested?

[Wes Mantooth]

Wow, now that's messed up. You might as well just fess up if you gotten to to the point of faking traffic accidents to avoid drug testing.

dlish, here in the states MLB is widely know for being incredibly lax on its drug testing policy (although it is getting better), its so bad that the last decade or two are now being referred to as the "steroid era". I'm not sure however if its gotten so bad it would rival other sports around the world but baseball has to be somewhere in the top 10 dirtiest sports.

Anyway it does present some tough questions about what sportsmanship and competition really mean.