Moral doping

A few days after the end of the Olympic games, it is really difficult to appreciate whether our participation in this event was a successful one. The 26 medals, out of which 11 are golden ones, represent an extraordinary record, which can be compared only with our prize list at the Los Angeles Olympics (1984). The 11th place within the world hierarchy is a pretty sensational result, since our sportsmen proved to be better than those coming from Germany, Great Britain and Holland. Our satisfaction becomes even more intense if we take into account the training conditions and the financial support of our delegation. The problem is that the Romanian "miracle" was put into shade by the doping scandals which have affected our position. The weight lifters Ciharean and Mateias, the gymnast Andreea Raducan (forced to give up her gold medal because of a simple cold pill) and, last but not least, Mihaela Melinte, made many commentators anathematize the whole Romanian delegation. As a matter of fact, all the members of our delegation were turned into victims of the anti-doping war.
But the troubles which our sportsmen had to face at Sydney had a positive part too: by winning so many medals, they proved they can be real, genuine winners, in spite of the psychological pressure affecting them. The social solidarity manifested by Romanians when the olympic team got back home showed that we have finally learned to love and appreciate our sportsmen. After the Sydney Olympics, we’ve realized that we can manifest and express our joy on the streets not only when our national football team wins a match.
(Ion TEODOR)