Page 14-Friday, July 17, 1981-The Michigan Daily
CTHE SPORTING VIEWS'
Steroids and a double standard.. .
*American falls victim
By JOHN FITZPATRICK
Daily sports writer
BEN PLUCKNETT IS a discus thrower. A huge man, standing 6'7" and
scaling 305 pounds, the red-bearded American set two world records in
the discus this year. His latest mark was a booming toss of 237'4",
established in an international meet at Stockholm last week.
Had it not been for his suspension from competition Tuesday by the ruling
body of international track and field, the International Amateur Athletic
Federation (IAAF), Plucknett would probably still be competing, unnoticed
and unappreciated by most of his countrymen.
Plucknett's suspension was made on the basis of steroid tests conducted at
a meet he won in New Zealand in January. Steroids are drugs commonly
used by all, or nearly all, of the best shot-putters and discus throwers in the
world. These drugs act to enhance the muscle mass and definition of an in-
dividual, thereby, it is theorized, improving performances in events which
demand strength or quickness.
Though they are widely used by track and field athletes, steroids are
prohibited by the IAAF, an organization reviled by those it governs. It is
within the IAAF that one finds incessant controversy-controversy which
has raised the ire of thWestern track world.
The IAAF and Eastern Europe
IAAF decisions have consistently favored Eastern European athletes in
matters such as drug suspensions. This is not an unsubstantiated assertion
of prejudice, but rather a fact. Last year, five Eastern European women who
had, like Plucknett, been suspended for steroid use, mysteriously saw their
suspensions revoked in time for them to compete in the Moscow Olympics.
It was there that the IAAF truly revealed itself as an organization per-
nicious to the sport it oversees. Ian Campbell of Australia had the longest
distance in the triple jump competition, but a Soviet judge ruled that Cam-
pbell had fouled. He ended up fifth. Video tapes of the disputed jump clearly
showed it was legal, but the IAAF upheld the Russian judge's ruling, thereby
confirming the gold medal awarded to Soviet triple jumper Jaak Uudmae.
Officially sanctioned cheating of just this sort abounded in an athletic
festival which is supposed to represent the quintessence of track and field.
Discus throws were mismarked by Soviet judges as the event was won by a
Soviet, and the IAAF did nothing. Actually, it did do something, with-
drawing all IAAF officials from the infield of Lenin Stadium, as they were
making the Soviet judges "uncomfortable."
Soviet officials also mismarked javelin throws and overlooked an illegal
change in the composition of the foursome that won the 4 x 400-meter relay.
The gold medal winners in those events were Soviets, of course.
Western athletes like Ben Plucknett are "suspended for life" for steroid
use. Massive rule breaking by U.S.S.R. judges is tolerated. Why?
On the surface, the Plucknett suspension is not an injustice. The IAAF was
enforcing a rule, and a rule is an indifferent entity. It can be rigorously en-
forced, as it was with Plucknett, or it can be ignored, as it was with East
Germany's Ilona Slupianek, who, like the American, was found to be using
steroids, but was suspended for only one year-1978. Plucknett had his world
records taken away-the women's world record Slupianek set several years
ago still stands.
American athlete's predicament
Plucknett's plight would, perhaps, not be a sad one if he was an Eastern
European athlete, subsidized by the government and attended to by a bat-
tery of physiologists. But Plucknett is an American, and in the maelstrom of
American athletics, he must sink or swim on his own.
Ben Plucknett, discus thrower of international renown, found himself in
the hospital not so long ago, missing valuable training time due to an injury.
He had sustained a massive shot gun wound in his stomach while he was
eking out a living asa bouncer at a bar. No government subsidies for Ben
Plucknett-for he is an American. And, as an American, Plucknett did not
have physiologists available to advise him on steroid use and how to time his
intake of the drug to evade detection. Slupianek's physiologists goofed once,
but the IAAF was understanding about it.
When attempting to derive some sense of meaning from the Plucknett
episode, one ends up assessing the IAAF, which was responsible for the-
whole affair. Though it is true that any major sport, such as track, needs an
organization to provide a degree of cohesion and uniformity, the good such
an organization does for the sport, in a utilitarian way, must outweigh the
harm it wreaks. Though this is obvious, the IAAF, perhaps, is not aware of it.
The men who compose the IAAF's council, and particularly president
Adrian Paulen, must realize, if they are at all rational, that the damage they
have done to Ben Plucknett, and Ian Campbell, and countless others, will ac-
crue to an abominable level some day, a day which will mark disaster for
track and field. It can only be hoped that this realization will come soon.
Baseball strike talks
remain futile; players
desire arbitration
NEW YORK (AP)-Talks fell apart in the 35-day-old major league baseball
strike last night, and it appeared that federal mediator Kenneth Moffett would ask
the two sides to move the negotiations to Washington D.C., probably next week.
The striking Players Association late yesterday offered to submit to final and
binding arbitration the issues in the strike, but management's Player Relations
Committee rejected the proposal.
IN A FORMAL statement issued by the PRC, the 26 major league owners said
"arbitration is not an acceptable alternative on the issue of compensation."
Union chief Marvin Miller had suggested the arbitration as a solution to the
stalemated strike which has forced cancellation of 406 games, more than 19 per-
cent of the full major league schedule.
Miller said that if management would accept a ruling on the issues by University
of Kansas law professor Raymond Goetz, baseball's permanent arbitrator, "the
players are ready to go back to work almost immediately."
RAY GREBEY, spokesman for the management bargaining team, noted that
Miller's arbitration proposal came about one hour after talks had adjourned.
"It is surprising that the spokesman for the players union should seek to make
proposals to the press long after the close of the bargaining session," he said.
"This announcement is obviously designed as a public relations ploy in an effort to
avoid resolving the issue of compensation in negotiation.
"The position of the Player Relations Committee remains consistent with what
they have taken throughout these negotiations: that the issue of compensation
must be settled in collective bargaining, not by an outside party."
MANAGEMENT OFFERED a new proposal yesterday aimed at settling the
dispute about how to compensate teams losing free agents in the re-entry draft, but
tied to it recommendations for solving other issues created by the strike, such as
credited service time for the strikers.
The owners said that if a settlement is reached within a reasonable time, they
would give the players service credit starting yesterday, but not for the previous
five weeks of the strike. Miller flatly rejected that idea.
Grebey said that management would accept arbitration on the issue of credited
service time, a question the owners' committee had raised during yesterday's
bargaining. When it came up, Miller rejected arbitration for that question, saying
the existing basic agreement was clear on that matter.
4
4
Pretend it's Muhammad
Light heavyweight boxer Michael Spinks pounds on the speed bag as he
completes preparations for tomorrow's WBA title fight with champion Eddie
Mustaffa Muhammad. For Spinks, the bout provides him his biggest oppor-
tunity to step out from behind the shadow of his brother Leon, a former
heavyweight champ.