A Tainted Victory - 15/01/2012

A few years ago I read an article by Royler Gracie on steroid abuse, I tried to find the article but the magazine was long gone and I couldnt find the article anywhere on the internet so I emailed Royler through his website (www.roylergracie.com)and he very kindly sent me a copy of it. Ive been training Bjj and other martial arts in Aylesbury for over a decade and have always steered clear from Performance enhancing substances and I believe this article played a part in that decision, I hope all up and coming athletes also stay on the right path so that when they do achieve success they can truly enjoy it.

Here it is:

When the Medal is not ours.

 The first time I heard about steroids, was about 15 years ago , at a Jiu Jitsu Tournament. Someone I knew sat next to me and said that he had just returned form abroad and that he saw a few people taking some substance that really improves everything. The stuff they are taking makes you stronger , faster, quicker, it also makes you heal faster from your injuries, have better endurance, just about everything that an athlete or a fighter could want, the stuff would do. I remember saying to him: “That is great, this stuff must be good!” 

 That was 15 years ago , I didn’t know anything or any better about these substances, just what I had heard from him. Today, we know fully about the side effects of the stuff. The steroid not only causes a lot of damage to your health, but it also causes a dependency, because some looks at themselves in the mirror and they see a strong and a fit person beyond their normal state, they start to believe that they need the stuff to stay in shape.

The same parallel can be made to competition, when an athlete takes a substance to better their performance they are cheating. They are also in the process of becoming dependent on that substance to compete and to perform. After a while, they do not believe that they can compete without the stuff. In effect, by taking performance enhancing drugs, that person is taking away the chance of someone else to win. They are taking the medal from someone else who has trained cleanly and did a lot of personal sacrifice and giving the medal to the steroid instead. It is a false win, because along the way, many people have died because of taking these drugs, a lot of people have done a lot of damage to their bodies because of these drugs and because of the pursuit of a tainted medal.

 It is important for the athlete or the instructor to warn their colleagues and their students against the perils of the drugs. It is important that the instructor instill in his students that winning is not everything, winning clean is the goal, winning with the aid of performance enhancing drugs in cheating. It is the responsibility of the instructor, to reach his students with this message, because the students look up to the instructor and believe in his message. It is important for the instructor to reach the kids when they begin training in the sport and warn them against the perils of searching for illegal ways of winning.

 I would like to see the competition organizers be able to do steroid testing. I realize that the procedure is costly and that the sport can hardly afford it,  but realistically , we have to start someday and we have to start somewhere. My suggestion is to start now, don’t wait another day. Perhaps we can start by doing random drawing of the winners of the divisions for testing, this way at least the threat of being caught may discourage someone from cheating.

 If you are a competitor , stay away from steroids, win the medal for yourself, not for the drug!

 Royler Gracie