by Zach Bigalke

Created on: January 17, 2008

I have written many things about the use of performance-enhancing drugs over the past several years. From cycling to football to baseball and the track, the subject has been so prevalent recently in the world of sports that it seems inevitable when the next positive test result is revealed...

So when I heard that Marion Jones, the incredible American sprinter who was one of the stars of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, had admitted to her use of steroids, not one exhalation of shock pushed forth from my lungs. What has shocked me, however, is the realization that, for once, an athlete is actually facing real punishment for her crimes. Too often we see athletes gaining incredible physical benefits, greater earning potential, and a slap on the wrist once their enhancement is discovered.

But not now. Jones is facing the warranted punishment for her crimes. While it would be nice to see the suppliers and the trainers who administer these illicit substances punished as well, it is important to realize this fact - an athlete must be held culpable for what he or she does to his or her body. Jones knew the game of Russian roulette she was playing when she agreed to begin her nefarious cycle... one which culminated in five Olympic medals, two IAAF World Championship gold medals, and millions in lucrative endorsements and winnings. She kept pulling the chambers of the pistol, lying all along the way about her actions...

And now she receives her comeuppance. She has been stripped of her medals, and forced to forfeit all her results after September 1, 2000. She will serve six months in jail - not for her steroid use, but for her repeated perjury in both a check-fraud scandal and about her use of performance-enhancing drugs. Technically, she will not be jailed for her steroid use... merely lying over and over again about the fact. But her penalty will stretch far beyond her jail time for perjury.

Jones' reputation has been irreparably stained. Her athletic achievements have been exposed as frauds as much as the rubber checks which landed her in jail. She will no longer earn a dime doing the one thing she has always done best - running faster than her competition. The penalty is fair, and Jones takes her pedestal in the Hall of Shame...

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