Since my young age, I have always been interested in sports, primarily because of its symbolic ritual that provides an opportunity for the underdog to create the upset and prevail. Jane Goodall, was talking recently about the "hopelessness of a world without hope" while commenting on the image of an Iraqi civilian picture, and in sport, there is the suspension of that hopelessness, even if it is in the eye of the beholder, that suspension of hopelessness was what attracted me the most in watching sports and playing at them. It was a formidable space of dream and a great source of imagination for the little boy from the suburb of Montreal that I was.
My fascination for sports, led me to practice many different sport with relative success. From baseball where I always hoped of hitting a grand slam without ever gaining enough confidence to believe I could hit the ball consistently (I loved putting a lot of pressure on my shoulders!!!), to tennis when I was fantasizing about Martina Navratilova and inspired by the likes of Ivan Lendl and Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe, or soccer that I played for a colourful and never dull Chilean team from Montreal (I kept running everywhere on the field, playing defence and attack!!). In other words, sports was a regulating force during my childhood and at times a source of great fun, when I was able to manage my stress and the pressure I would self impose. My brother and sister could tell you that one of my great passion during my teenage years was cycling and more particularly, the (in)famous Tour de France, always a great source of Greek tragedy. Miguel Delgado, on his way to win the tour, shattered by the news of his dying mother, Stephen Roche collapsing of exhaustion after an epic stage, Laurent Fignon and his 5 wins, Sean Kelly the eternal second, all these guys would not only make me dream of equal feats but I would cry and feel every win with them. I loved cycling with the excess of something that surely will not last long enough!
Today, my interest for cycling in particular as vanished but I have stayed in tune with the development of the sport and witness its descend to hell in the last few years, with constant revelation of doping and illegal process to enhance performance. It is with great interest that I have read and heard different comments on the recent revelations from once renowned female cyclist Geneviève Jeanson, that she was indeed under the influence of doping process during all her career from 16 through 23!
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,,-6938870,00.html
The question keeps coming back to me and is self evident. Of course, the athlete in this case like in many has cheated; of course it is normal that he or she should be sanctioned. But to me, it seems that we never tackle the real question of why athletes are prone to cheat. Why a young and talented young girl of 16 years old does has enough trust into her coach, 10 years older, to accept cheating not only with her career but with her health and ultimately her soul?
To me, all these cases of doping are a, not-so-subtle, reflections on ourselves. Narcissus, looking at himself into the water, and drowning from that vacuity of his obsession for himself. They are showing us how addicted and complicit we are in becoming celebrities, winners of something, anything, and many time even though the cost is high. We are ready to compensate our fears, our lack of self confidence, and our addiction to being perfect with any product out there that could help us get an edge on everybody else. I remember the results of a survey to Olympic athletes done during the LA Games in 1984 that said that 80 % of athlete would be ready to take a drug that would guarantee that for 5 years, they would become a legend into there sport, even if at the end of that period they would die.
If, in your life, and for the same period, you had the chance to take a pill or two that would guarantee that your fears, your anxieties, your shortcomings and all your issues would be replace by incredible victory in everything that you are undertaking, before finally, you die 5 years later. And if you would be offered these pills when you where 16, would you take them?
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