With the promise of glory, would you dope?

SterWould you take a drug that guaranteed you an Olympic gold medal but also your death in five years’ time?

Think about it. The glory, the money, the adulation; unstinting for five years and, then, nothing. You die.

As dark as the question may seem, it was asked by Bob Goldman, an American doctor, following publication of his book Death in the Locker Room.

Dozens of elite athletes were surveyed over a 13-year period ending in 1995. Around half of them said they would take the Faustian bargain.

I can’t pretend to have insight into the psychology behind such a decision, but I imagine that for elite athletes an Olympic gold medal holds a significance that none of us could contemplate. Athletes thrive on the cheers and they live off their earnings. An Olympic gold medal guarantees both.

The Goldman Dilemma, as it came to be known, took place largely in the context of a weak international doping policy. The World Anti-Doping Agency didn’t exist.

Subsequent studies revealed that far fewer athletes would go down this road, but it wasn’t excluded altogether.

The Goldman Dilemma came to mind recently with the slew of positive tests by chiefly Kenyan and Russian athletes. As someone like Lance Armstrong demonstrated, the “reward” of doping clearly outweighed the risk (which happily excluded certain death). So he doped. There are many such like-minded athletes who, knowing the dangers of taking a prohibited substance, do so anyway. The testing procedures are full of holes and, besides, with members of the Russian establishment complicit in the doping, their chances of evading the testers were pretty good.

It’s easy to see why athletes are seduced by doping. It guarantees improved performance and it aids in recovery. Steroids and stimulants work, which is why they are so popular.

‘IIt’s easy to see why athletes are seduced by doping’

Two-year bans aren’t deterrent enough for many, who fancy their chances of keeping one step ahead of the anti-doping brigade. It’s often one set of (dirty) doctors against another set of (conscientious) doctors.

This is why blood samples are often taken and stored. The technology for testing a substance may not be available currently, but it may be in coming years. The blood samples can always be revisited, as occurred in May when 23 London Olympic competitors, five of them medalists, failed retrospective doping tests.

It was a potent reminder that athletes can never be too cocky thinking they’ve got away with cheating. That knock at the door could some at any time.

For now, the eyes of the world are on Russia which this week named 68 athletes to its Olympic squad, contingent on their ban being lifted. The case is with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which must make its ruling in 10 days’ time.

Whatever happens, it will be messy. If the ban is lifted, there will be an outcry, not least from other athletes who are sick to death of the duplicitous nature of Russian athletics. Indeed, the provisional team includes former world indoor triple jump champion  Yekaterina Koneva, who was banned for two years previously.

If the ban is confirmed, it will create a political storm and some Russian athletes will likely try and compete as independents. Many, though, are fierce nationalists and would prefer to sit at home.

Either way, Rio will have to add the Russian problem to the many others it already has piled up at its door.

Don’t be fooled, though. The Russians won’t be the only ones with a cloud hanging over their participation. It will be mere weeks after the Olympics before word comes trickling through of athletes testing positive. Every Olympic Games since 1968 (bar, ironically the Moscow Games of 1980, which is widely believed to have been fuelled by testosterone, for which no test existed), has exposed dopers, many of them big names.

We might even have to get used to the dreadful possibility of dope fiend Justin Gatlin, a proven cheat, winning the high profile 100m sprint. He’s been tearing up the tracks – he ran a 9.80 this week – while Olympic champion Usain Bolt is injured and may not be in top form come August.

Don’t say you haven’t been warned. – © Sunday Tribune