by Zeke Allen

Created on: April 15, 2008   Last Updated: August 07, 2008

Recently, a friend of mine attended a dinner with a former member of the US Olympic Track and Field team and someone asked how many of the current athletes at the Olympic level are taking performance enhancing drugs.

His response?

Everyone.

Having spent significant amounts of time around a lot of very good athletes, some of whom carry aspirations of making Olympic teams, some of whom already have, it is a subject that comes up with some frequency and one that always inspires a great deal of debate.

Doping has been rampant within Track and Field and Cycling and almost every other sport that involves the performance of the human body. The amount of money to be made in supplying athletes with the newest and most undetectable drugs far outweighs any money to be made by developing effective tests so the testing always lags behind the drugs.

Given these facts, the likelihood of some new doping scandal coming up around the Beijing Olympic Games is pretty good. Once it comes to Olympic time, coaches and athletes and everyone else involved are doing their very best to be there and to be on the podium. Emotions run high and the chance of someone leaking material or spreading rumors is very good.

Maurice Green, a gold-medalist in the 100m is currently testifying in the case of a Mr. Hereida, a man who has already named several high-profile athletes for whom he performed services which included getting illegal drugs. He claims he is prepared to give more names as the trial progresses. This may blow up and spread to current athletes as well as the former ones, but time will tell.

With all the pressure on the athletes, the chances of them deciding to take a chance on doping are higher. With all the pressure on China to host a wonderful Olympics without scandals or problems, they might try to keep positive tests quiet (something that would not be a first) to try to protect their image. The WADA and various countries' Olympic Committees will be trying to keep their noses clean as well and all of these factors put together mean there will almost certainly be at least some small drug scandal before or during the Beijing Olympics.

It wouldn't really be an Olympics without one would it?

Learn more about this author, Zeke Allen.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.