December 23, 2005

"My record was a product of doping." : Former East German swimmer Petra Schneider asks that her national record in the 400-meter medley, set in 1982 (!), be abolished.

posted by lil_brown_bat to other at 08:41 AM - 19 comments

I think that is very courageous. I think it is quite late, but still thoughtful. The medals should be taken away, along with any records, and given to the ones that deserve them.

posted by grabofsky74 at 09:15 AM on December 23, 2005

Congratulations on her for her honesty, and integrety, (ableit, belatedly). It would be nice if other atheletes that are guilty, (cough, cough, McGwire, cough, Bonds), would be man enough to admit such. But in our "culture of me", I doubt it.

posted by RedStrike at 09:17 AM on December 23, 2005

And here I thought all this the time the East German woman were well fed!

posted by panteeze at 09:33 AM on December 23, 2005

What?!? Those were WOMEN?! Oh my.

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 09:40 AM on December 23, 2005

I would like to confess too. In 1990, my inturmual hockey team in elementary school went to the big show and won. We got ribbons. Ribbons that should have gone to the blue team. It was... It was our sticks. They werent regulation. If anyones out there from the blue team, the green team is sorry.

posted by steelcityguy at 10:00 AM on December 23, 2005

To all of the good people in my bowling league: On most of the Wednesday evenings when we were competing I was slightly (very) drunk and had frequently been using the doober. It didn't help my scores (in bowling or college), but in the spirit of this thread, I would like to apologize.

posted by 86 at 10:03 AM on December 23, 2005

By the way, if you ever get the chance to join a bowling league, I highly recommend it.

posted by 86 at 10:03 AM on December 23, 2005

I would like to apologize for never having joined a bowling league. (I did get slightly drunk once and kick a bunch of people's ass at candlepins once, though)

posted by lil_brown_bat at 10:27 AM on December 23, 2005

I cheated once -- ONCE -- at thumb wrestling..and I'm really ashamed. Seriously, though...I salute Ms. Schneider for her integrity.

posted by alumshubby at 11:46 AM on December 23, 2005

10 bucks that Schneider is an alcoholic in the midst of the twelve step program.

posted by DudeDykstra at 12:13 PM on December 23, 2005

I once nudged the dice while playing Monopoly.

posted by grum@work at 12:46 PM on December 23, 2005

ok....ok...i cant take it any longer. I was the man on the grassy knoll.

posted by jonfu at 01:15 PM on December 23, 2005

Hold any old school east German female athlete up to scrutiny and you will find a...uh...pair of umm...dull razors.

posted by kosmicdebris at 01:21 PM on December 23, 2005

so what I cheated , won and enjoyed the hell out of the victory its only cheating if your caught RIGHT

posted by 9erftbl at 01:39 PM on December 23, 2005

Isn't there some kind of statute of limitations on such a thing? Not to say that she should get off scott-free or anything, but -- it was a quarter-century ago. Don't take her out of the record books completely. This is exactly what asterisks were for. Change the medal counts, append the record books, send out the appropriate paperwork to everyone, sure. But if we wipe out Schneider's accomplishments completely because she was honest enough to come forward (this had to be a difficult decision), then that'll stop more people from doing the same, which is much worse than a mere wayward world record in one event. Okay, I'll stop now. You can go back to your hermaphrodite double-entendres and speculative snickering.

posted by chicobangs at 02:09 PM on December 23, 2005

Let me guess...she is writing a book...or selling a screenplay.

posted by stofer71 at 02:26 PM on December 23, 2005

Wait one minute here! Who knows, maybe the next in-line for the record has her own doping story to tell. And on and on. Maybe the first clean record holder could be from 1976!

posted by The Casual Observer at 03:03 PM on December 23, 2005

Let me guess...she is writing a book...or selling a screenplay. Or she's got some serious health effects that she attributes to doping, and it's public knowledge, and people were already questioning the record. That's pure speculation, but there are at least some facts connected to it, unlike your speculation.

posted by lil_brown_bat at 03:36 PM on December 23, 2005

Bravo to her for coming forward. As for a price to be paid, it sounds like she is already paying it with poor health. In this case I think forgivness is the better answer.

posted by commander cody at 12:58 AM on December 24, 2005

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