Anybody that sits in a port- a- pot for 7 min several times in an hour deserves the over all win trophy.
What? It takes me about 10 minutes just to get properly settled in, get my reading materials all sorted out, etc. That’s before “executive time” starts, and then after that proper bidness. Then a leisurely wind down. Then gotta get all cleaned up and sorted out. Can easily clear 20-30 minutes.
I’d really like to understand the motivation of cheats and liars as regards their sports “accomplishments.” There are so many instances, and so many stories.
What gets me even MORE: how do people feel they can get away with this business in these high-tech days? Is part of the thrill seeing if they can get away with it? Or are they obsessed enough with chasing the “accomplishments” at any cost that they are oblivious? What’s going on in their heads that they (possibly) cheapen the success of those who play by the rules, ignoring others for their own reward? I’m sure they don’t think of that aspect. It’s all about them, and the attention they can get.
I would never dream about cheating or making up some fantastic achievement that I hadn’t earned. I wonder what drives people to do that?
I’ve posted on other threads about an older swimmer I know who tells people she swam in the 1960 Olympics. She has two Olympic Rings tattoos on her back, having got the second one when she found that the first one was covered by her swimsuit. She even commented about it in the last month on a FB post of mine, when I mentioned the Olympians I’ve met, trained with, and competed against. She took the opportunity to say I’d left her off the list. SERIOUSLY, WTF!!! Anyone can do a web search and find the info in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. When I pointed out that I saw only two American names in the results for her event, she first wrote that she hadn’t been married at the age of 17 in 1960, so her name was different, and then that she didn’t make the finals, so I wouldn’t find her results…
Is it attention, adoration, admiration, or something else these people want?
I stopped playing handicapped golf because of all the cheats out there. What always surprised me the most were the “vanity” handicaps, they would get crushed in tournaments and just say they had a bad couple of rounds. But 90% of the time they could walk around and say they were a 4 handicap! There is a thirst for over representing accomplishments out there.
Don’t get me started about sandbaggers! There are cheaters on both ends of the spectrum!
Goes to show, can’t escape this stuff in any amateur sport.
Just read the February 2020 edition of WIRED Magazine. Great article in there on Marathoninvestigation.com.
It makes me so sad that: 1) people would cheat and accept a medal and 2) that anyone would feel the need to cheat in the first place.
I’ll never be an elite or pro athlete but, nonetheless, finishing on my own, in any place, feels great! Cheating and lying about it can’t feel good at all. It must make the cheater feel awful in fact.
Thomas, I see the glass as half full, regarding mental illness in endurance sports. What I mean by that is if a person does have a legit mental illness, what better therapy than to get involved in triathlon, ultra running, ultra swimming…? The vast majority of folks as we know with, or without mental illness, show up at the start line, git er dun (ALL the course), and go for pizza after. Not sure if the person here is suffering for real or just suffering from bastard’s disease.