the Spin Team
As the players have gathered in Indian Wells for the BNP
Paribas Open, they have been asked about Maria Sharapova’s doping violation.
Their comments both surprise and disappoint me as a fan of the game. Ben
Rothenberg of the New York Times
wrote a piece
in which he provided quotes from several players and coaches with whom he spoke
on the question of what, if any, attention do they pay to the emails that they
receive from WADA. If the quotes attributed to these athletes/coaches are
true, I am appalled that professional athletes pay so little or no attention to
WADA’s email on the list of prohibited substances.
“No one clicks that link,” said Jiri Fencl, a
Czech coach.
I just have my vitamins, so I don’t really have
to check it,” ninth ranked Petra Kvitova said. “So I’m not really reading that.
To be honest, I’m also not really checking those emails,” she said. “That’s
what my doctor is doing, and my agent.”
“I don’t read so much, because the only thing I
take is sometimes some aspirin,” he said. “I don’t take vitamins. I take
anti-inflammatories. So it’s O.K. But when I have something to do, of course I
call the doctor. I know there is a list, every year you need to read it, but I
don’t read so much.” Fourth-ranked Stan Wawrinka said: “I don’t read what they
change on the list, because I don’t take anything. But if I have to take a
medicine, I will check if it’s on the list or not, and then I will ask my
doctor if it’s on the list or not. ”
While one can understand that professional athletes are
often too busy to sit down and go through what is no doubt a long email with
several links etc., it boggles the mind that in this day and age professional
athletes will just flippantly state that they don’t read the emails from WADA
or have a process to ensure that the email is read by someone on their team.
For most folks who work in certain industries where providing information to clients/customers on a timely basis is a key to success, the importance of reading emails and other correspondence cannot be overlooked. I cannot, therefore, understand how it is that a professional athlete whose first
responsibility should be what goes in their bodies, can decide that reading an
email from their governing body about what substances are prohibited is seen as
a bothersome inconvenience. Ultimately, they put themselves at risk for falling
afoul of the rules as Ms. Sharapova has done.
Why do these tennis players show so little interest in
anti-doping? Is tennis so lax in its doping control that they feel they don’t
need to even think about it? Are the consequences so small that they would risk
a doping violation? Regardless of the reasons, I find their lax approach to
their careers damning and irresponsible. However, tennis players are not alone
in their contempt for doping controls. Fans also seem to care very little about
the cleanliness of a sport that they profess to love. A few years ago, I read an article in which
the writer sought to outline why many fans are apathetic about doping in
sports. The article stated that most fans don’t really care whether their
favourite team, or athlete is doping, because they watch sport to see the
boundaries to which humans can push their bodies. The athletes they love become
extensions of themselves and with whom they identify. Their love has very
little room for critical reflection; it is why fan is the short form of “fanatic.”
I don’t buy into this argument, but the
writer clearly has a point because zealous tennis fans have actually begun to
question the merits of an anti-doping program in general!
What hope can we have for tennis fans to take anti-doping
seriously when, like current players, ex-players join in the chorus of
disregarding its value? This morning a
tweet from Neil Harman led me to a 4-page letter from Andrea Yaeger, lauding
Ms. Sharapova for her contribution to tennis and her humanitarian efforts, especially on behalf of victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Sister Yaeger
is a former tennis pro who left the WTA tour to pursue life as a nun. In Sister
Yaeger’s letter, she can only point to Ms. Sharapova’s contributions to tennis
in very general terms. However, her most egregious turn is taking a swipe at
her unnamed former colleagues (and one gets the impression current players) whom
she portrays as dishonest and failing to contribute to the sport as Ms.
Sharapova has done.
Why is it inconceivable that Ms. Sharapova can do well for
her sport and take a banned substance? The sad fact is that Ms. Sharapova could just
as easily have been “a wonderful role model, incredibly hard working and
talented player and a morally conscience person of the highest level. Society
and humanity have benefited from your over decade of contributions to tennis,
sports, humanitarian causes and business ventures” as Sister Yaeger points out, and
still remain fallible enough to take a drug that is listed on WADA’s prohibited
list. The two things are not incompatible and therefore it does not mean that Ms. Sharapova should not be held to the very high standards Sister Yaeger believes she
has not previously broken.
Sister Yaeger is
concerned that in Ms. Sharapova’s long and illustrious career she has made this
one fault and therefore should be forgiven. She will be and should be treated
with compassion after she accepts and serves her punishment. We can
respect tennis’s anti-doping penalty AND continue to hold Ms. Sharapova in the
high regard Sister Yaeger is advocating.
It is a disservice to those who have also built the WTA
that they did not receive such loud and boisterous support from Sister Yaeger
during their grievous moments on the Tour. Where was Sister Yaeger when Serena
Williams made her “one” fault at the 2009 USO? Did she write a letter to
Serena and to the world asking everyone to forgive her? When Serena cut
her foot in 2010 after winning Wimbledon and ended up with a pulmonary embolism
as a result and the rumours of doping circulated far and wide, did she reach
out to Serena and say I am praying with you? When both Williams sisters
were booed and called names in their tender years at Indian Wells, did she reach
out to either of these 2 American women and their family to tell them how sorry
she was that they had to experience this? Yes, Sister Yaeger can choose to
write letters defending an admitted doper. She has the right to do so, but
please don’t think that pointing to Ms. Sharapova’s humanitarian efforts means
she’s less culpable for breaking WADA’s anti-doping rules.
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