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It’s not all that uncommon for an athlete’s sports record to be erased if they admit to or test positive for steroids. Probably the most famous example of this was when Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson had his 100 meter world record taken out of the books and his gold medal from the Seoul Olympics stripped after a urine test of his came up positive for stanozolol.
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Johnson, as well as many other Olympians, have professed that taking steroids is a must in order to keep up with the competition (many of whom are also using steroids). However, these thoughts often fall on deaf ears because the International Olympic Committee seems to have their feet set in stone on the issue of steroids. So any athlete caught using them will be facing a nice long vacation from the sport in which they compete.
But these are medals and records that we’re talking about. If a sports governing body wants to take them away because someone didn’t follow their rules, an athlete can live with this. Athletes don’t use a gold medal to buy groceries or a world record to make a house payment. Obviously, they use money to do these things which is why it would seem unthinkable for a sports governing body to impose a monetary punishment on an athlete. However, the unthinkable has happened and the person that is suffering in this case is former 100 meter world record holder Tim Montgomery.
Tim was a virtual unknown throughout his career until he broke Maurice Greene’s world record in the 100 meters in a blazing time of 9.78 seconds. Montgomery was riding high after his accomplishment but was brought back down to earth in 2004 when the United States Doping Agency charged him with using banned performance-enhancing drugs. He was not alone either as his former girlfriend, and Olympic gold medalist, Marion Jones was being investigated too.
While there has been no concrete evidence brought to the table on Jones, Tim was eventually convicted of using THG (a.k.a. "the clear" obtained from BALCO after a long investigation. After his conviction, the USADA attempted to place a four year suspension on him. Hoping to receive a lighter sentence, Montgomery appealed the suspension to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
And yes, he did get the suspension reduced. Unfortunately for him, the suspension is only a small part of his punishment as his world record has been taken away, his finishes dating back to March 31, 2001 are wiped out of the record books, and, in the harshest of rulings, the prize money that he had earned during the same time period is supposed to be paid back.
In case you’re wondering, he is supposed to pay back what is estimated to be almost ONE MILLION dollars! Ordering an Olympic athlete to pay back this kind of money is ridiculously unprecedented. What is Montgomery supposed to do now? I doubt that he has a million dollars just lying around. No one plans for this sort of thing. And even if he does pay the money back, where will it go? It probably won’t be given back to fans that paid to see the event or the companies who sponsored the competition.
Interestingly, World Anit-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound said that the decision to go after an athlete’s money will “hit them where it hurts.” Yes this certainly will hurt Tim Montgomery. It will probably hurt so much that it will cripple the rest of his life. And it must be asked, does he truly deserve this severe of a punishment.
He didn’t proposition someone to take out the knee of his nearest competition or get into lots of legal trouble away from the sport (both of which have never had the consequences that using steroids has had). He simply went out of the boundaries of the sport in order to make himself the best he could be.
It is presumed that Tim Montgomery doesn’t have the money to cover the amount sought and even if he did, the punishment goes way too far. So this leaves me to wonder, how far can these punishments really go? Will sports governing bodies seek to not only take an athlete’s money but their house, furniture, and car too?
While the answer to this is still unclear, one thing is certain: after seeing how her former partner has been put through the ringer, I doubt that Marion Jones will be making any confessions about steroid use in the future even if she has used them.
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