Doping is very harmful for the Olympics.I mentioned a few days ago how Crystal Cox, who won a gold medal for running in the preliminary heats of the ladies 4x400 in Athens, was caught doping. She lost her medal, and her teammates could potentially lose their medals. I'm currently working on a web page about the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Marion Jones was caught doping, and all of her teammates lost their medals too.

The Italians have demonstrated their seriousness about their anti-doping policy by imposing a $140,000 fine for any athlete who is caught doping at the Olympics. While this may sound harsh, I think it's a good idea.

Doping causes a lot of harm. It hurts the other competitors who play fair. It doesn't just make it more difficult to win a medal, it can hurt these competitors economically. Let's say athlete A was using steroids, and won the gold medal against clean athlete B. Will athlete B get the same product endorsements as athlete A? Probably not.

Marion Jones didn't admit to taking steroids in Sydney until 2007. By that point, most of the economic endorsement boost that her teammates in the 4x400 meter race would have gained from winning would probably have faded away. If Jones had been caught right away, that would have been another story. Her teammates would have lost out economically.

Not only does doping make the other teammates lose out, it can hurt the teammate’s country. When an athlete uses performance-enhancing drugs, they cause the country to lose credibility. Doping marred the women’s 4x400 meter relay for two Olympiads in a row. Marion Jones’ steroid use in 2000 made her teammates lose their gold medals. We have yet to find out how Crystal Cox’s drug use will affect her teammates; my guess is that because she did not race in the final, the other athletes will get to keep their medals, but you never know how the IOC will rule. Whether or not they lose their medals, it cheapens their win, and makes the United States look bad in the eyes of the world.

So good for the Italians for imposing a fine on athletes that are caught doping, but I would hope that the Italians would show a little discernment in some situations. For example, when Andreea Răducan won the all-around title in Sydney, and then lost it because she took a couple of cold pills that contain pseudoephedrine, most people thought that it was a little ridiculous. Should the Italians impose the fine in a case like that? I would hope that they wouldn’t. In most cases, doping is not a simple matter of making a mistake by taking the wrong cold pill. In most cases, a fine would be in order.