People claim that athletes have a choice, bullshit. This is their choice: a) Dont dope, remain unknown, retire poor b) Dope, hope you wont get caught, and at least have a small chance of winning without getting caught

There really isn’t a choice – Ben Johnson is still a Canadian hero, which is way better than what he would’ve been had he been clean. If you want to criticize something, criticize the system, not the athletes – the way I see it, they really have only one choice.

And for me, the fact that they are doping does not take anything away from them

And we disagree. Understanding that people are pressurised into taking drugs to keep up does not mean their achievement is as laudable. Otherwise we’d all say Ben Johnson was the second fastest man of all time – and the fastest for about 15 years.

Sure it does– it turns it into a competition of chemists rather than a competition of athletes. There’s no baseline and so there’s no level playing field.

If you want a chemist competition, change the rules and make it explicit.

Look at all the recent steroid scandals in US baseball of late – almost all the biggest hitters of late have been taking steroids – Barry Bonds, McGwire, etc. Most people in the know understand that steroids are simply a given for all-out performance sports, and the richer countries simply have better techniques to mask their use.

The question is not whether or not Olympic weightlifters are on drugs, the question is simply will they get caught. And for me, the fact that they are doping does not take anything away from them – they are simply making an informed decision to put their bodies on the line for glory.

Indian women team won only a bronze, it is the Indian men team that won a gold in TT. More from a newspaper:

http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=28457