Guess What? I Cheated!

Tiger Mountain, Bronx Zoo, New York.  Copyright 2012: singeronthesand

Make it to the top by lying and cheating;

get paid with smoke and a promotion - to death!

Proverbs 21:6

A huge part of the hype of the Olympics is the post-medal ceremony interview.  Everyone wants to talk to the gold medalist - find out the story behind their success, the hard work and personal goals that propelled them to the top of their sport.  Some stories are heart-wrenching, others are hilarious.  Imagine though, a gold medal Olympian blurting out in his interviews:  Hey - I got a gold medal and a world record - and I got them because I cheated!!

Probably sounds far fetched, right?  Actually, that is a quote right out of the London newspapers, as well as The Los Angeles Times and the Sidney Morning Herald.  In a recent interview with the Australian newspaper, Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa, gold medalist and new world record holder in the 100-meter breaststroke, claimed that he won the race and set the world record with extra, illegal dolphin kicks.  Burgh said, If you're not doing it, you're falling behind.  It's not, obviously - shall we say- the moral thing to do, but I'm not willing to sacrifice my personal performance and four years of hard work for someone that is willing to do it and get away with it."  So he does it, gets away with it, and then brags about his cheating?  That is an entirely new level of "sportsmanship."

Burgh's excuse for cheating?  Everyone else is doing it.  And if other people are cheating, and he doesn't cheat, then he won't win, and winning is what this is all about, right?  Obviously not just winning, but winning at any cost.  Somehow, that takes quite a bit of luster off of that gold medal.  For the rest of his career, he will be known as the Cheating Olympian of the London Olympics. Not exactly the best story to pass down to the grandchildren.