By Brent Rutemiller
PHOENIX, Arizona, December 13. They set records. They became famous. They became rich.
They cheated. They stole. They lied.
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They were idolized. They were paraded. They were crowned.
They cheated. They stole. They lied.
Marion Jones and the 1976 East Germans have a lot in common.
They cheated. They stole. They lied.
The only difference is that the East Germans get to keep their medals and records and Marion Jones must give them up. All because the International Olympic Committee voted to not overturn results older than 8 years.
That news is tough to swallow for people like Shirley Babashoff. When asked by this writer about Marion Jones, Babashoff said, "I think she should keep them (medals). There is no difference." After an awkward pause of silence, she quipped in her classic sarcastic way, "Yeah, Right!"
People are taught that hindsight is supposed to be 20/20; that time is supposed to heal all wounds and it is never too late to right a wrong. However, the IOC has deemed that its vision will not get any better after 8 years; that wounds need only 8 years to heal for those who were cheated, lied to and robbed; and that 8 years is plenty of time to right a wrong.
As a member of the USA Women's Olympic Swim Team, Shirley Babashoff was the most visible victim of the injustice during the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada.
Babashoff was branded by the media as a poor sportsperson for her comments implying that the East German women were on growth hormones. Headlines called her "Surly Shirley". Favored to win multiple gold medals, she came away with four silver and only one gold medal.
If the record books were to remove all the East German performances for that Olympics, Babashoff would have been the toast of the town with 5 gold medals. Instead, she got roasted.
As reported almost a year ago, one hundred and sixty-seven former East German (DDR) athletes were financially compensated through Germany's Olympic Committee for the systematic doping of DDR athletes from 1973 through 1989.
What more proof does the IOC need? Oh… the IOC 8 year rule.
Reports from the East German Stasi files, first obtained by Phil Whitten and reported in Swimming World Magazine, indicated that more than 10,000 athletes were party to the abuse; most unknowingly and without parent permission. Many of the women have gone on to experience psychological problems or have delivered children with birth defects from the after-effects of doping.
What more proof does the IOC need? Oh… the IOC 8 year rule.
The East German state-orchestrated drug program claimed titles in 10 out of 11 swimming races at the 1976 Games.
What more proof does the IOC need? Oh… the IOC 8 year rule.
Still the fact remains that the record book is tainted. Not by one athlete, but by an entire team.
The payment to 167 of the 10,000 athletes ends a long dispute in Germany. What is interesting is that the unified Germany could have washed its hands of the entire issue by claiming that it was from a previous government no longer in existence or simply that the case was… uh, older than 8 years.
In her own words from an earlier interview with this writer, Babashoff lays out the case that the issue really isn't over: "Everyone should be compensated somewhat or just acknowledged. Even our own Olympic Committee should step up and have an event where they can invite those who are still alive and recognize them, perhaps with a commemorative medal… or at least say, 'We know that this has been hard for you.' They should at least acknowledge the women.
"Some people want to think that the issue is over. From our side of it, the whole issue has been shoved under the carpet. I think it is sad. So many women deserved their medals. They were cheated out of their medals at the Olympics!
"We would like to get what we earned. We were going for the medals, NOT the cash. We were amateurs. We worked so hard. We earned it and it was stolen right in front of everyone's face and no one did anything about it. It was like watching a bank robbery where they just let the crooks go and then say, ‘It's okay'".
The injustice is not only felt in the USA. Canada and the Netherlands also were impacted by the onslaught of the East German medal blitz.
The first step is for the general public to demand that the International Olympic Committee rescind the 8 year rule allowing for the revision of the record books.
Do you think there should be a statute of limitations on going after drug cheats? Should the IOC change the eight year rule? Please add your comments in Reaction Time below.
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Reaction Time Comments
December 13, 2007 Forget the past!! We need to look at current cheating by swimmers and coaches using a modified butterfly kick during the breaststroke. Submitted by: Gub
December 13, 2007 I am quite sure that one of the specific reasons for this 8 year rule, or more accurately why the IOC might have an issue with returning medals won while "under the influence" in Montreal in 76 (or just giving duplicate ones, or what have you), is for the fact that the IOC did not test something like either the entire top eight finalists, or at least at top three medalists, and that it was instead random. I could be wrong on this. (I also remember that in Barcelona only the top 4 finishers were tested, and only a random selection of the top 4; therefore, not gauranteeing a testing of a Chinese female finalist.) And that now, as opposed to then, they are also, perhaps most importantly, conducting out of competition random tests. They are not necessarily implicating the other finalists or medalists from Montreal, or indicating that they might have possibly been cheating as well, but that rather the IOC could NOT without a doubt conclude that the other deserving medalists/finalists did NOT cheat. At least thats what I recall in my reading from some newswire services after the Marion Jones indictment came through the other month. It is still brutally unfair, and I think so sort of official retro-active sanction should be imposed onthose athletes whose names are found in the East German Doctoral Theses.
Any comments or response? Submitted by: Park528
December 14, 2007 The IOC as a governing body is failing to provide justice for all those swimmers who, through their honest and totally committed effort have been dishonestly denied the medals they deserved. It is simply a case of right and wrong - there should be no time limit for justice!!! The IOC only loses credibility by their lack of action and show a great lack of consideration of all the heartache it has caused the cheated athletes. Submitted by: waterbarb
December 14, 2007 The "suits" at the IOC have turned a blind eye for years just like the "suits" of professional baseball and the NFL. They fly around the world first class, stay in 5 star hotels, eat gourmet meals and live the good life because tickets are sold, sponsorship deals get bigger every 4 years and television exclusives pay massive dollars for the rights to broadcast. Look at these people. They seem to take their perks more seriously than they do the sports which they govern. Now who will hold their feet to the fire? Athletes do make a personal choice when they do drugs. But the "suits" enable them all by passively instituting "don't ask don't tell". (and don't take away my first class seat!) Submitted by: ayni
December 14, 2007 I COMPLETELY agree. But someone needs to devil's advocate here. That said, how can the swimmers who HAVE been dishonestly denied their medals present to the IOC an unequivocal and irrefutable case? Where is the physical evidence? Unfortunately, there is none.
Before the Marion Jones case, all we had from her was her statements, and that she passed all tests she took. She has now proven that all statements are not necessarily reliable. And not JUST her statements. Everyone's. Call her a spoiler, but it didn't start with her. Even IF we had some suspicions because of her relationship with CJ Hunter, or physical body signs, she has helped to disprove just making a statement.
And how do we not know that the Soviet girls were not cheating? Should we assume that since they are Eastern Bloc, that they might have also been cheating out of competition, and then "cleansing" before meets? There are so many what ifs.
SO unfortunately, our girls can't just say "we didn't cheat" and expect to be the only equation, or to be given their medals. Because then if we can, then so can Soviets. And that would put us in a dilemma if a medal was rewarded retroactively to a Soviet girl who in fact cheated out of competition, right? They certainly haven't presented us with a case that they did NOT cheat. Although, I am sure they have expunged any records by now, if they had. See what I am saying? So the same principle of unequivocal proof has to BE applied fairly to everyone. Are the US girls willing to go to bat to give any medals to dishonestly denied Soviets who may or may not have cheated, without us knowing absolutely for sure?
I still agree, as I stated above that those medals GIVEN to the East Germans should be demanded back, Why?? Ah, because we have to the unequivocal and irrefutable proof. Submitted by: Park528
December 18, 2007 Right is right. The real winners in 1976 need to be awarded their medals. Submitted by: Grannie Annie
December 18, 2007 Americans are some of the biggest drug cheaters on earth. Read the sports pages lately?
By the way, I am a born and bred American and cheating is the American way. Read the business section where CEO's corporations are posting billions in loses and they walk away with millions and millions of dollars in retirement packages. Submitted by: Fred154
December 18, 2007 But Grannie Annie, why aren't you understanding where the IOC is coming from? You are actually asking them to go on the basis of VERBAL statements alone to retro-actively award medals from '76. Once they do that for Montreeal, then they have to do it for everyone else. And how do you absolutely know, yourself, that everyone in position to move up into a medal position, in fact NEVER took something that was performance enhancing. And remember, that Montreal is only 4 years after the US doctors failed one of their own swimmers, Rick DeMont, who inadvertently took something that was illegal. Are you seriously that naive that you will take someone's word over scientific evidence in awarding someone something as important as an Olmypic medal. I would think twice before you asked me to vote for a candidate based on how you exhibit your research abilities here. Submitted by: Park528
December 19, 2007 This article reflects some of the underlying issues with American attitudes to sport. You are discussing something which happened 31 years ago, has been widely covered in the media, and has been unanimously damned. Yet it is brought up time and time again. Instead of spending time celebrating the heroic performances of living legends like Michael Phelps and Ian Crocker, (who, presuming American paranoia is correct, are beating many drugged up Chinese swimmers) Swimming World Magazine insists on running stories about bitter, average athletes who claim that they deserve Olympic Gold.
I was also born in America but have lived in Ireland since I was four. While I understand Michelle Smith also cheated, the general consensus among Irish people is that people should partake in sport for fun and as an outlet for passion. This American ethos that winning is everything, that you are nothing unless you win five golds, is nothing but pathetic greed.
Submitted by: mangang31
January 1, 2008 Mangang31 and the many other commentators,
Of course we Americans are very winning oriented. Please don't simplify the goals or intent of a diverse nation as pathetic greed, however. The essence of competition, as has been taught by Olympic swim coaches Mark Schubert and Jim Montrella is "to strive together".
As far as your imputation that Shirley Babashoff's was an average athelete, that seems to me to be a rather uninformed comment. Please review the statistics. World records are never broken by average atheletes.
Ms. Babashoff was beaten by fractions in her best event at the peak of her career by an East German woman who had been given steroids by the East German Secret Police (Stasi) and who was exhibiting outward signs of masculinization, such as a deeper voice and unusual muscle mass. That is likely why she was able to win. It is simple.
So for this reason, I cannot begrudge Ms. Babashoff her bitterness. And under such egregious circumstances, it is hard to argue that the case should be closed due to an arbitrary time limit. Submitted by: oldcabman
January 3, 2008 Hello every1 and Happy New Year!
I'm a romanian born and raised in Romania, swimmer 2. People like you who lived here in U.S.A don't know how is to live and be trained back there in a comunist country.
Shedule : 7 day per week, 2 times per day, 35.000 m in the morning, 50.000 in the afternoon. Every day start at 5.00 am in the swimming pool to have time to be in school at 8 am, school from 8.00am to 1.00 pm, coming home, going back to swimming pool from 4 pm to 9 pm. In the morning the electric power was off ( comunist rule )till 7 am, so we had the training using on both sides of the swimming poll huge candles ( looks funny but is true). Second it's about money and other things we could not have with out to swimm ( money, food etc.)Money! We had like a tuition each month !BAck in 80's for a world record we had not more than 2.000 USD ! Please compare these with other countries ( west Europe or U.S.A).Nice joke ! lots of you are saying BUT IT"S TRUE !.I had to take steroids ! Why because our trainers had like phrase :"You don't take you don't swimm !" you don't swimm you don't have that amount of money and other "garbage" things. Noe I'm sorry because I've used that and this because my body crashed after 12 years. I'm sick , very sick, had already a major surgery. Now you ask yourself how is posible to do this and nobody to see it? It's easy because every where we were outside the country we were all the time in the group and in that group 2 Guys from Securitate ( the political Mitia ). NOBODY could come to us and ask NOTHING !
I have a good friend who also been a swimmer ( doing the training in the same swimming poole) she start with injections, and became in short time a MAN.It's about Tamara Costache. When she won the title in Madrid 1986, she been under steroids.
Guess don't remember on the second place was Kristin Otto from East Germany. Tamara end up with breast cancer couple years later. I can't go back in time and change my decisions! But this were my decisions? Yes 10%, rest of the 90 % belongs to my parents and my trainer who send me to death !
God bless you all.
Submitted by: balkania05
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