D is for DRUGS

She was one of my heroes of the track. I couldn't believe a woman could move so elegantly at such speed compared to the rest of the female race and in victory she was always magnanimous. For a few years she dominated her sport, winning gold medals at the Olympics at an age when most athletes in her chosen discipline were well down the rankings and she produced world records that still stand today, even though some experts suggest that they may have been wind assisted. All this was in contrast to her career just a few years earlier when, although an obvious talent, she only scaled the heights of the victor's rostrum on a few occasions. Analysts also pointed to her markedly changed physique which they suggested could be linked to use of illegal steroids rather than to a more comprehensive training regime. Her untimely death in her sleep at the young age of thirty nine, added fuel to the fire for those who believed her world domination was not won simply on ability, but no evidence was ever found that she had been a victim of illegal drug use either inside or outside her sport, though the coroner was never given permission to test for such substances. Still, I remember 'Flo Jo' for all the excitement she brought to athletics during her reign and especially for the fashion statements she made on the track in her choice of running costumes and exquisitely manicured and artistically painted long nails that never seemed to get damaged when she knelt down in the starting blocks.

When I was a youngster the closest any of us came to using drugs to enhance our performance, was a bottle of Lucozade before the start, or a Mars Bar that helped you work rest and play but lay in your stomach like a lead weight all through the game. Then there were those Dextrosol glucose tablets that melted in your mouth like soft snow and were supposed to provide you with extra energy throughout a game and for a while I always carried a packet until I got tired of it!

After I left school and continued to play club rugby, one of our guys openly took drugs before every match for he could be seen sitting in the changing room getting the last few drags from a cigarette just as the referee knocked on the door and told us to get out on the pitch. From what I can remember about some of his displays, they certainly weren't performance-enhancing! Another team mate did appear at training on several winter nights with plenty of legal drugs in his system, which he had managed to acquire over the bar in the few hours prior to our session so his training was restricted to a few ill timed tackles, a word from the coach and an early bath.

These days there seem to be very few sports that are not tarnished with some allegations of drug abuse and last summer's Tour de France became something of a non-event by the time all the positive users had been expelled. Even the animals can't escape though at least they are not responsible for deceiving the punters when their performance is drug fuelled. But even some of the substances that are now deemed legal in helping athletes and other sports people to better their performance or increase muscle amount or tone are questionable in the longer term damage or increased risks of side effects that they may directly or indirectly cause. Now so many crave success and want to win, and the phrase once uttered by that great soccer pundit Alan Hansen when he said, 'First is first and second is nowhere,' appears to become even more prophetic as the years pass. I suppose, apart from anything else, the financial rewards are so great and fame is just around the corner that the temptation to succumb to anything that might help achieve such success is always just sitting outside the door. So it's often strange that in the sport where drug aid 'appears' to be less prevalent and where the financial gain is now completely out of proportion to a player's ability, so many footballers regularly use substances such as alcohol, nicotine and 'party' drugs that neither enhance their performance nor improve their credibility off the pitch.

Such is our desire to be successful in the eyes of man, to be better than others, to be world famous or even well known locally, that many resort to methods that, under close scrutiny, are shameful and deceitful but because they remain in secret, allow us to be something we were not intended to be. And while drug use and abuse is only a small corner of such activities, it is there that the physical and mental scars become so apparent and lead to so many other problems within our society. We would do well to remember that all who have achieved fame or notoriety, whether it be through drug use or hard work, through improper or proper means, will some day pass beyond this world and will give account for how they lived their lives. Peter says, 'All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.'

To children born in this century, 'Flo Jo' and many like her are only names on a page but God knows every detail of their lives and ours and in Him is found everlasting glory. And that makes Him a real Champion.