The use of performance-enhancing drugs has been a major issue in professional sports since they first became accessible. Currently, there’s the issue of Barry Bonds and whether or not his record home run hits are legitimate. Then there’s the Tour de France—who knows how many cyclists got kicked out this year for E.P.O.? I can’t remember how many investigations Lance Armstrong has been under. Track and field is another sport where the use of drugs is constantly a topic and suspicion. And it stinks; it really does. So many athletes are honest, hard working competitors, engaged in their sport because they love it. They want to push their bodies to their physical limits, so that, as legendary runner Steve Prefontaine once said, “Someone may beat [them], but he is going to have to bleed to do it.” Sadly, however, sports have become more of a money-maker than a character builder. These athletes are getting paid millions of dollars, and if drugs are the only way they are going to be fast enough or strong enough to make those million bucks, so be it.
When, in the 2000 Summer Games, a girl not yet 25 and always with a smile on her face barreled into the world of track and field, I fell in love. That young woman was Marion Jones, winner of three gold and two bronze medals in a single Olympic Games. I grew up with that name, and I followed her career like any dedicated fan—even up to her last Olympics, however disappointing they may have been. And I supported her even when the press began hounding her about the possibility of drug use. She wouldn’t be that stupid. Would she?
Well, Marion Jones has just pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about her use of performance-enhancing drugs, so I guess she would be. I watched the clip of her court statement. Crying and with a shaking voice, Jones apologizes to her family, her friends, and her fans, whom she says she has deeply betrayed. I believe her. I truly believe that Jones is infinitely sorry for what she has done and would take it all back in a second if she could. I believe that she is thoroughly ashamed of letting down her fans and is willing to pay the price. Right now, that price may mean the stripping of her medals, six months in jail, and, harshest of all, a life sentence of guilt and tarnished reputation.
However disappointed and angry I may be at Marion Jones for being so utterly stupid (that’s the only word that comes to my mind), my greatest feeling towards her is pity. Pity because she can’t take it all back. Pity because she can’t ever look at those five medals and feel a sense of pride, of accomplishment. The gold might as well be coal for all she knows. Pity because she never truly experienced the joy and the pride that goes with being an athlete; of crossing that finish line feeling like death yet with a smile on your face, because you did your damn best. Pity because even more than she cheated her fans and her friends, Marion Jones cheated herself.
What should we all learn from this? We’ve heard it a million times, and we will hear it a million times more. But it is worth stating once more now, when the pain of Marion Jones is still raw in the minds of the sports community: Don’t. Take. Steroids. Not because you’ll get caught and end up broke and in jail—both consequences which Jones faces. Not because it’s unfair to all the other athletes out there who are playing fairly. And not because it’s better to be an honest beggar than a rich cheat. Because it’s stupid, plain and simple.
