doper

Add Marion Jones to the list of known dopers.

I am getting tired of athletes that admit to unknowingly using performance enhancing drugs.

Jones said her former coach, Trevor Graham, gave her the substance, telling her it was the nutritional supplement flaxseed oil and said she should take it by putting two drops under her tongue.

In the past, Jones has vehemently denied using steroids or any performance-enhancing drugs.

Jones said she "trusted [Graham] and never thought for one second" she was using a performance-enhancing drug until after she left Graham's Raleigh, N.C.-based training camp at the end of 2002. "Red flags should have been raised when he told me not to tell anyone about" the supplement program, she said in the letter. She also said she noticed changes in how her body felt and how she was able to recover from workouts.
~Amy Shipley, Washington Post via the LA Times, 10/4/07

Gimme a break. You took the drugs, to get the medals, to get the millions in endorsement deals. You got caught. Come clean, don't tell me you were duped. America has a powerful ability to forgive it's fallen heroes, provided they accept responsibility for their actions.

The only thing worse than Marion Jones' cheating is that she can't even admit that she knowingly did it. She and other athletes in her situation think they can somehow absolve themselves of responsibility and save some of their reputation by saying they didn't know.

Please, your strength increases, you're quicker, you recover faster and this happened why, because what, you worked harder. Come on. You are professional athletes, your body is your livelihood, do you mean to tell me you don't know what every substance you ingest or apply to your body is!?

I recall a statistic from a college sociology class that listed the percentage of athletes that would knowingly take steroids that would eventually kill them provided they would win a gold medal. I don't have the article at my fingertips and I can't recall the number but the percentage of athletes that said yes was staggering.

The list of athletes using the flaxseed oil excuse is growing. Here are two other unfortunate athletes who unwittingly took performance enhancing drugs.


Barry Bonds, Outfielder for the San Francisco Giants

Barry Bonds also admitted using a substance that he had been told by his personal trainer was flaxseed oil, the Chronicle reported.
~Amy Shipley, Washington Post via the LA Times, 10/4/07

Sean Merriman, Linebacker for the San Diego Chargers

Merriman's lawyer, David Cornwell, blamed the positive test on a banned substance called nandrolone, and said Merriman unwittingly ingested the substance, which was present in one of his supplements. Nandrolone, however, is an anabolic steroid and is on the list of the NFL's banned substances.
~ESPN, 10/25/06

At least New York Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi (above left) had the courage (though lets not give him too much credit, it got him a pass in the eyes of Commissioner Bud Selig) to admit him was on the bean.



After admitting to using HGH, New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison offered the following apology.

"I've made no excuses and I will not make excuses," Harrison said. "I sent the wrong message with my actions. This is a mistake and this is something that I've done."
~ESPN, 9/2/07

I have no illusion that many if not a large portion of professional athletes (except pro wrestlers of course) are taking some sort of performance enhancing drugs. I might even be willing to hear them out on the level playing field argument but once caught don't continue to lie.