Ivan Tsikhan, Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, Justin Gatlin, Floyd Landis, Barry Bonds… just a few names that were caught doping - Were they guilty of crimes or were they just pushing their bodies to the limit and beyond to show us the possibilities of human body?

In some industries it is practically encouraged to get better results with pharmaceuticals and with help from different doctors. Plastic operation, Botox, Viagra, Collagen injections are just a few examples to enhance the abilities and looks.

If we just look at show business, how many actresses are using Botox to slow their age and how many actors were using HGH to enhance their looks. The look is everything, the make or break of current show business.

It is OK for an actor to visit a surgeon and change whatever needs changing, in fact they are encouraged to do so by their agents, producers, whatever. In porn 99% of actors take Viagra and consider it work tool. Some people object, but generally this is accepted and the law allows it. Yes, this is alright as show business is multi-billion dollar business and these “enhanced” people get to pay more taxes… It doesn’t stop there though, what cannot be changed on the body is later changed on the pictures and most pictures of models these days are digital altered. These are all legal ways to improve the functionality and achievements, nothing is wrong here.

But if the Marion Jones wants to beat the World Record and she is using Erythropoietin (EPO) she is the Devil herself. Wait a minute. Wasn’t she just using all the possibilities she had for that 1/100 of a second, so that she could satisfy our needs for the game itself. The World Record and Gold medals are worth something. First place is the winner, the second isn’t first and the third place is remembered by no one.

Yes, you could say that this is not the sportsmanship, doping is cheating. However, in that case it is not fair that some athletes are training for years using high altitude training, world class nutrition, best coaches and the best equipment they could get their hands on while others were using only old equipment, bad coaches, some were also malnourished. So this cannot be considered sportsman-like either. If we start saying what is OK and what is not, we should really go deeper than just saying doping is bad, everything else is OK. Let’s be frank, most athletes are using some kind of doping, the only difference is they don’t get caught. And the only reason they don’t get caught is because they have more money - more influence on the doping committee (Jonson-Lewis), better coaches who are more aware what can be detected and when, and they have access to better doping substances. BALCO affair should have thought us that. If all should have an equal chance why is Armstrong allowed to use a 100k bike?

Here is an intriguing idea - Why not giving athletes a choice? Yes, you can use doping, but it is your decision only. It is your body, it is your life. Sure would make all the events more interesting… The whole concept of legalized doping would become better for us as we would get new better substances, they would be better researched, and a lot safer athletes would be under constant medical supervision. And of course, no more UG’s.