1988 Olympic decathlon champ Christian Schenk admits he doped but he'll keep his gold medal

Well he was competing for the East German team, so yeah . .. .

Confession should mean that he is stripped of his medal. In fact, all of the East German medals from that era are tainted and should be returned. If they find evidence on those who get the new medals, let them be stripped as well, but until that time, pass them on. Frank Shorter deserves that 1976 marathon gold because the lists and schedules were printed.

He should instantly lose the medal.

But at the end of the day, its the decathlon, so no one really cares.

I told you so!

Surly Shirley wrote:

I told you so!

There's one or two guys here who maintain that we shouldn't doubt GDR performances because they never failed a test. So many doping apologists on this forum I can't remember exactly who, maybe doctorj or said88, but they often claim the likes of Olaf Beyer legitimately beat Ovett and Coe at the European championships in 78.

Are we really naive enough to claim that only athletes who were state-sponsored doped in the 80s? If athletes are willing to run the risk of getting caught with out-of-competition testing and retrospective testing now, I think it's reasonable to assume doping was fairly common in the 80s - and not just amongst East European countries.

That's a bit naive. Who exactly would you give it too? There were a lot of Eastern and Western athletes doping at this point and it would be difficult/impossible to find out who was doping and who wasn't.

Another interesting point is how much the doping impacted his psychological health. He had to be institutionalized by his own family. The doses used in the GDR were quite high, many athletes and even their children are still suffering from health problems resulting from doping (cancer, infertility, depression...)

Bottom line--Doping messes you up!

80s culture wrote:

Are we really naive enough to claim that only athletes who were state-sponsored doped in the 80s? If athletes are willing to run the risk of getting caught with out-of-competition testing and retrospective testing now, I think it's reasonable to assume doping was fairly common in the 80s - and not just amongst East European countries.

Yeah...that's what I'm thinking. But there are so many people with strong emotional ties to their heros of the 80s who get so defensive and hostile that it's not worth bringing it up anymore. It reminds of the days when I had to break up fights at the sports bars where one NFL fan would accuse another fan of his team using PEDs and the fight is on. It's sad how so many people have obsessive emotional ties to these athletes - treating them like some kind of Gods or something. Lol.

But weren't they all having roids with their breakfast cereals? And when did it stop? Or has it?

Devil Dog wrote:

He should instantly lose the medal.

I don't believe that he was the only one doping so maybe he is actually morally superior to guys who were also doping but who do not admit it.

Who was the first clean guy?

RANK FINAL RANKING POINTS

1. Christian Schenk (GDR) 8488

2. Torsten Voss (GDR) 8399

3. Dave Steen (CAN) 8328

4. Daley Thompson (GBR) 8306

5. Christian Plaziat (FRA) 8272

6. Alain Blondel (FRA) 8268

7. Tim Bright (USA) 8216

8. Robert de Wit (NED) 8189

9. Dave Johnson (USA) 8180

10. Pavel Tarnavetskiy (URS) 8167

11. Petri Keskitalo (FIN) 8143

12. Beat Gähwiler (SUI) 8114

13. Dezső Szabó (HUN) 8093

14. Mike Smith (CAN) 8083

15. Simon Shirley (AUS) 8036

16. Simon Poelman (NZL) 8021

17. Mikael Olander (SWE) 7869

18. Uwe Freimuth (GDR) 7860

19. Lars Warming (DEN) 7859

20. Roman Hrabaň (TCH) 7781

Isn't that the same Olympic Games than the famous Ben Johnson drug bust?

In 1988, I think that you have to go pretty deep in that list to find the winner.

Fttfvffvt wrote:

Isn't that the same Olympic Games than the famous Ben Johnson drug bust?

In 1988, I think that you have to go pretty deep in that list to find the winner.

What about Caitlin in his/her career?

Gramps wrote:

What about Caitlin in his/her career?

The former Bruce Jenner was a poster boy for better-bodies-through-chemistry.

In 1972 Jenner was the answer to a trivia question--Who was the third guy to make the Olympic decathlon squad?

In 1976 Jenner simply had a different body.

About ten years after the Montreal triumph, I saw Jenner doing a fashion shoot and doubted that I was seeing straight. "Bruce? Where'd you go, buddy?" About a quarter of him seemed to have disappeared--he was back to being just another trim, fit-looking guy.

But it's important to understand that Jenner got that 1976 body by doing an enormous amount of hard and intelligent work. Steroids are not a substitute for hard work; they are what permit it. The juicers are usually (usually--there are a few knucklehead exceptions) the hardest workers in the gym.

lease wrote:

About ten years after the Montreal triumph, I saw Jenner doing a fashion shoot and doubted that I was seeing straight. "Bruce? Where'd you go, buddy?"

Turns out your doubts were well founded.

Gramps wrote:

Fttfvffvt wrote:

Isn't that the same Olympic Games than the famous Ben Johnson drug bust?

In 1988, I think that you have to go pretty deep in that list to find the winner.

What about Caitlin in his/her career?

Fttfvffvt wrote:

Isn't that the same Olympic Games than the famous Ben Johnson drug bust?

In 1988, I think that you have to go pretty deep in that list to find the winner.

That was a rough Olympics. Most of 100m finalists looked like they had prepared for a bodybuilding contest. The women of the Soviet block nations ran away with most of the medals in the 400m up through 5000m. And there's evidence that this was the first Summer Games where rocket fuel was used. Funny thing though...I was just a naive youngster back then and thought they were all just eating their Wheaties & spinach. ?

Those Seoul Games were a circus wrote:

Fttfvffvt wrote:

Isn't that the same Olympic Games than the famous Ben Johnson drug bust?

In 1988, I think that you have to go pretty deep in that list to find the winner.

That was a rough Olympics. Most of 100m finalists looked like they had prepared for a bodybuilding contest. The women of the Soviet block nations ran away with most of the medals in the 400m up through 5000m. And there's evidence that this was the first Summer Games where rocket fuel was used. Funny thing though...I was just a naive youngster back then and thought they were all just eating their Wheaties & spinach. ?

Paula Ivan, who didn't get out of the 1500 heats at the previous years World Champs, shows up in 1988 and solos a 3:53 to win gold. What a joke.

lease wrote:

Gramps wrote:

What about Caitlin in his/her career?

The former Bruce Jenner was a poster boy for better-bodies-through-chemistry.

...

In 1976 Jenner simply had a different body.

...

You should see Jenner's body now. Jenner has always been about body transformation