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Collateral Damage

Wed, 10/10/2007 - 21:47 | Sports
In the wake of Marion Jones pleading guilty to doping, the chair of the U.S. Olympic Committee has asked all members of the 2000 Olympic relays that included her to return their medals. Needless to say, her teammates are not very thrilled. Why should or shouldn’t all members of the 2000 Olympic relays that included Marion Jones return their medals?
 

Comments

I dont think the teammates

Submitted by lashae (not verified) on Fri, 10/19/2007 - 12:31.

I dont think the teammates should have to suffer because of what Marion did. They didn't do anything wrong and they worked too hard to have to suffer for that.

They did run as a team but

Submitted by Lashae (not verified) on Fri, 10/19/2007 - 12:27.

They did run as a team but who is to say that if Marion wasn't doped that she still wouldn't have won? I just really think that her teammates shouldn't have to suffer just cause she messed up with steroid use. They didn't do anything wrong and they worked incredibly hard.

Unfortunately, these women

Submitted by nerakami (not verified) on Fri, 10/12/2007 - 10:39.

Unfortunately, these women were a part of the team with Marion Jones and as a result, walked away with medals which were tainted. Marion Jones because of steroid use, ran a very fast leg which gave her team mates a big lead over the other runners; it is for that very reason that they all should have to give up the medals. It would be very unfair to the 2nd and 3rd place winners from the other countries, who have all spent years and tireless effort honing their skills (without drugs I might add) not to get the medals that should have rightfully been theirs in the first place. I am more concerned that the athletes, like Marion who do take drugs can actually stand on these podiums accepting these medals, looking their competitors in the eye, whilst knowing within themselves that they cheated. That is a mind blowing reality to me....

You know lying hurts us all.

Submitted by MuchLoveInEssence (not verified) on Thu, 10/11/2007 - 10:22.

You know lying hurts us all. Unfortunately it's the same results in this case. Even though I feel that the other people with medals should be allowed to keep them-I really don't know the rules of the US Olympic. But one thing is for sure, what you do in the dark comes to the light. We all have been caught up in the darkness whether big or small but what is the defining moment is that some of us will take our wrongs and learn from them. Maybe in this case Marion Jones has learned a great deal from her lying. But this is what lying does to your life; it buries the truth so far into the deep that when truth finally finds it way back to the surface it has a vengeance.

Lying is a destroyer of relationship. Whoever would befriend a lying spirit is only setting him/herself up for a free fall… If you tell a lie you must tell another one to cover the first. So where does the lying stop? Only when one is revealed…I think that truth holds more weight and integrity than lying. Lying can only suggest that we have something to hide and that we are superficial in thought.

Ms. Jones has a second chance at making it right for herself only if she chooses to. I think that she is a great athlete without the steroids. Its funny how God will bring us back full circle to the mess we made in the past only to show us that we can do better than we think.

Steroids are terrible-the side affect alone is enough to say no to! I’ve known many people with illnesses that took some form of steroids and the side effect was not pretty. It caused swelling, fatigue, irritability, mood swings, suicidal thoughts and the depressing list goes on. Just the side effects alone is scary…But I guess the ability to perform well is enough for someone to risk taking a harmful and over a period of time deadly drug. This drug over a period of time causes a person to lose the calcium in the bones which leads to the bones becoming frail and brittle-I think the term would be osteoporosis. But to any extent it’s harmful to the body …

But I hope Marion sees her monetarily down-spiral as her motivator to telling the truth in the future… Truth rules! It goes hand in hand with love. If you put those two together a great partnership/combination is created...

The athletes that have been

Submitted by Ursula S (not verified) on Wed, 10/10/2007 - 23:24.

The athletes that have been found guilty of taking the enhancement drugs should return the medals. But the athletes, [blacks, minorities and women] that weren't involved, should, could and will keep their medals. The black athletes have come too far, [those that weren't involved in the steroids] and they shouldn't give up their medals because of another persons deeds. Just punish the "misbehaving person" and let the others stay in the "achievement" "Hall of Fame."

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