Sports and the Cold War

The tension between countries during the Cold War was represented through sports, and specifically, in the Olympics, since they were an international competition. The quest for dominance in the Olympic medals led to the creation of highly sport systems that utilized the latest scientific advances in athletic training and exercise physiology. This led many countries to turn to drugs for their athletes. Drugs were very common in the 1960s and 1970s during sport and even in the Olympics. Although it became an issue many started to notice was getting out of control, little was actually done about it right away. When the issue started to become something that was very difficult to ignore, and after much debate with the International Olympic Committee, a test finally did come along for amphetamines in the 1972 Munich games. The next worrisome drug was that of hormones, considering it was problematic and hard to detect. Avery Brundage, president of the IOC, claimed that hormones could be undetected if the athlete took them early enough before the competition. Hunt tells the controversial story of swimmer Rich DeMont in his article. He explains how DeMont was stripped of his medal for being tested positive for a drug found in his asthma medicine. Many people were unhappy about this because in another doping scandal in the 1972 Munich games fourteen athletes participating in the pentathlon tested positive for tranquilizers but were not disqualified from their events as DeMont was. U.S. officials were infuriated. Basically, to be competitive, all athletes were using some sort of drugs. Hunt also mentions Dr. John Zeigler, a U.S. team physician in the 1960’s who was very unhappy about the teams drug use. He quit after finding out some men on the team were taking 20 times the recommended dosage of various ergogenic drugs. I feel he made the right choice. He took a stand for something that was unhealthy, and un-American. Something should have been done about the drugs of the Olympic games of this time. I understand our countries were in a tense race athletically, as well as non-athletically, however drugs are a form of cheating in my opinion. It provides the body with something that it naturally could not attain on its own. Although I feel something should be done... It is such a tough problem that I honestly do not know what could have been done. Perhaps it was handled in the best way possible? No… I still think more could have been done… but what? How do you solve something the whole world is involved in?... This issue started back then.. and remains today.. A LOT has been done, however drugs still are around in sports. Therefore, these are unanswered questions.