The last time I thought the Olympics was incredible was when Ben Johnson beat Carl Lewis for gold and got the World record.It was awe inspiring and incredible I thought at the time.A couple of days later it all became a farce and I have had little respect for the cheaters games since
I take your point Dal and we can add the fact that Raelene Boyle was beaten by East German Renate Stetcher, a since confirmed drug cheat, in both the 100 and 200m finals at the Munich Olympics. If Coates really wants to square the ledger he should campaign to strip Stetcher of the Gold and get Boyle the Gold she deserves.
At the Munich Olympics East German women did not win a gold in swimming but at the Montreal Olympics four years later they won all but one of the individual events. With the collapse of the East Germany, GDR State archives show that East German athletes were involved in a State sponsored steroid programme. Female East German swimmers were given Oral-Turinabol which is a testosterone derivative. This has subsequently affected their fertility and lead to miscarriage and birth defects. The swimmers were told that the supplement was vitamin.
The link below is a research paper and not from any authority on the subject but it is interesting,
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f00/web2/naimzadeh2.html
In relation to Ben Johnson that old WADA campaigner Dick Pound, who is currently leading the WADA investigation into doping allegations against Russian athletes, made this comment,
"The Ben Johnson thing was a one off, it wasn't a Canadian system of doping, whereas in the former East Germany and a number of the Warsaw Pact countries it was a little more organized and systematic."
Pound, who is Canadian, is under stating the scope of the East German operation it was more than just 'a little more organised' than the Johnson thing.
The Olympics is where this all started particularly as the East German programme was State sponsored and propaganda based. Sport was used by Eastern Block countries as an ideological tool hence the United Nations involvement. Australia has to be seen to be doing the 'right thing' but taken in the context that certain foreign Governments have encouraged steroid use among their athletes and the after effects of those programmes the AFL and Essendon are particularly small fry.