The Case Of Marion Jones English Literature Essay

Doping is a serious challenge facing sports today. There are many sportswomen and men who use performance enhancing drugs which enable them to perform better at sports activities through increase in resilience and agility aided by drugs. Doping is a serious issue in the sports fraternity since it gives competitors unfair advantage over the others. Since sports activities assume a level playing field for competitors, doping is heavily criticized and punished in the sports industry (Morgan 56-62). Marion Jones is a world famous athlete who excelled in athletics competitions over several years. She specialized in 100m and 200m meter races and won several gold medals in her career as an athlete. However, Jones’ career in athletics came to a halt after she was caught doping and she agreed to the allegations. She used steroids which enhanced her performance and gave her an edge over competitors. These actions made her be stripped of some gold medals earlier won and led to an early retirement in athletics. Although she later began playing tennis, doping caused a serious embarrassment and an end to her athletic career.

Doping may be compared to drug use in society. The society does not embrace drug users and these are seen as social deviants in almost all societies. Doping in sports is also not condoned in society. The society embraces the many benefits of sports including recreation, profession, stress reliever, health booster, bringing together warring communities among other benefits (Morgan 23-28). The society therefore ensures that participants play at level playing fields and they accept results achieved. This paper will discuss the issue of doping in sports and compare this to the overall perception of society regarding to drug use both in sports and outside sports. The case of Marion Jones will be used in the analysis. The discussed issues will be summarized at the end.

The case of Marion Jones

Marion Jones was a successful track athlete who won several medals over her career as a sportswoman. She is a national of both Belize and the United States. Jones excelled in sports activities over her years in school and later married a tracks coach, Hunter. During the 2000 Olympics, her husband who was to participate in shot put was banned from competing after failing drug tests. Traces of steroids were found on his body and he was forced to withdraw from the competition. She won five gold medals during the Olympics. Although traces of steroids were later found on her body, she denied using them. However, in 2007 she admitted to steroid use and the fact that she lied during her previous denials about her use of these drugs (Shipley 2007). She was stripped of medals won in 2000 and given banned for two years from participating in track events. Jones was later jailed for six months after admitting to lying in previous investigations about her drug use, which constitutes perjury. In 2008 she was released and remarried Thompson after breaking up with Hunter in 2002.

Throughout her career, Jones had been accused of drug use. These allegations began as soon as she was in high school although she denied all of them. Her association with known people who used performance enhancing drugs such as Hunter also gave credibility to these allegations. Her former husband Hunter together with BALCO founder Conte also testified that Jones was using drugs, even before her admission and punitive measures were taken against her. The actions by the athletic sports body served as warning to other athletes who used performance enhancement drugs. In addition, they served to show that athletes risked going to prison over lying to investigators about their possible use of performance enhancement drugs.

Society image of doping and drug use in general

The use of drug use in society is a problem which affects people of all social backgrounds and classes. Drugs are being abused by people of all ages, the poor and the rich and generally, all segments of society. There are legal and illegal drugs which are abused and these include stimulants, depressants, prescription drugs and others. The use of addictive drugs including alcohol and hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin has greatly affected society. This is because drug users are burdens to their friends and families, thereby making the problem a social problem. They are a burden to the state since rehabilitation and treatment charges are passed on to tax payers. Recently, there is an emergence of abuse of prescription drugs which has cost the lives of many people including celebrities.

In sports, the society also criminalizes the use of performance enhancing drugs especially in track and field events (Mottram 33-35). Many people invest in sports activities either as careers or for recreation. The importance of sports in society cannot be understated. It is a billion dollar industry which adds several positive values to society. Doping is therefore not tolerated by the society in general. The use of performance enhancing drugs is looked down upon and sportspeople who use these drugs are looked down upon by society. Very few people would offer sympathy for sportspeople who are caught using performance enhancement drugs. In the case of Marion Jones, few people had sympathy for her as she knew the consequences of her actions.

Generally, the society expects social norms to be followed in every social role played by people in a social grouping. Any immoral act including infidelity, violence or drug use by sports players is looked down upon (Berry 692-693). After Tiger Woods confessed to infidelity, he lost sponsorships worth millions of dollars. Many people shunned him and few had sympathy for him. This shows the seriousness with which society expects sports people and especially role models to young people, to uphold the social norms.

Reports in the case of Marion Jones and societal perspective

The case of Marion Jones is not unique to sports. Many sports people have been caught using performance enhancing drugs and they have faced the consequences of their actions. It has been discussed that the society expects role models and especially those in the sports industry to uphold moral values (Kanayama et. al. 1-12). When the reports of use of drugs by the world famous athlete came out, the public was surprised. Many people were sad that she had earned her prowess as a track professional through drug use. They felt cheated and had little sympathy for her. However, when she publicly confessed to the use of drugs and announced her retirement on live television, some people began feeling sympathetic towards her. They viewed her actions as misguided by her coaches and the people she interacted with. Although there was sympathy at this time, no one defended her actions since the society does not tolerate immoral practices such as drug use.

The media soon enough began interrogating her past and new revelations came out. It was reported that suspicions on her drug use began even when she was in high school. Many sports commentators felt that she had to bear the consequences of her actions which ought to have been clear from the beginning (MSNBC Website 2007). The public also began losing the sympathy it has for her since it appeared that she had used these drugs for several years. The fact that she lied to investigators earned her six months in prison. The sponsors also withdrew their support for her. In fact, had she continued participating in track events, she would have found it difficult to find strong sponsors for her off-the-field events.

Cultural lessons learned from Marion Jones’ experience

There are different lessons which have been learned from the experience which Marion Jones underwent pertaining to her involvement in drug use. The first lesson learned that that the society is against immoral activities such as drug use. Due to the challenges which drug use presents to society, a large proportion of it is against drug use and other immoral practices. This is especially the case when such immoral practices involve celebrities who should be role models to young people. The lack of sympathy for the actions of Marion Jones illustrates this perspective. Drug use, even in sports, is not condoned by society. Another cultural lesson learned is that value of sports in society. Although the value of sports has been appreciated over the years, the feedback from the public and its reaction over the Marion Jones scandal underscores the importance of sports activities. There was massive feedback on newspapers, mass media and Internet websites and blogs. Most people were unhappy for her and this shows that they value sports activities and the importance of level playing fields among all participants.

Finally, another important cultural lesson learned is that negative sanctions such as punishments have to be enforced in order to encourage morality in society. Negative reinforcement is strategy which has been used by the society for a long time to encourage positive behavior. Children are reprimanded or punished for bad behavior while adults face the criminal justice system whenever they perform criminal behavior. Marion Jones was punished by both the sports body and the criminal justice system over drug use and perjury respectively. This shows that the society is keen on punishing offenders in order to rehabilitate them and act as deterrent to people keen on committing similar behavior.

Summary and conclusion

Various aspects of drug use in sorts and the society in general have been discussed in the paper. Doping in the sports industry has also been discussed. It is a common practice although heavily looked down upon by society. Doping is a serious issue in the sports fraternity since it gives competitors unfair advantage over the others. The importance of sports in society has informed the decision to criminalize doping. The society embraces the many benefits of sports including recreation, profession, stress reliever, health booster, bringing together warring communities among other benefits. Marion Jones a world famous athlete who excelled in athletics competitions over several years admitted to using performance enhancement drugs. In 2007 she admitted to steroid use and the fact that she lied during her previous denials about her use of these drugs. This decision saw her banned from sports for two years and also serve a six month jail sentence for lying to investigators. The overall result was her early retirement from track events.

In sports, the society also criminalizes the use of performance enhancing drugs especially in track and field events. The use of performance enhancing drugs is looked down upon and sportspeople who use these drugs are looked down upon by society. Very few people would offer sympathy for sportspeople who are caught using performance enhancement drugs. In the case of Marion Jones, few people had sympathy for her as she knew the consequences of her actions. Different lessons which have been learned from the experience which Marion Jones underwent pertaining to her involvement in drug use. The first lesson learned that that the society is against immoral activities such as drug use. Due to the challenges which drug use presents to society, a large proportion of it is against drug use and other immoral practices. Another cultural lesson learned is that value of sports in society. Although the value of sports has been appreciated over the years, the feedback from the public and its reaction over the Marion Jones scandal underscores the importance of sports activities. Finally, another important cultural lesson learned is that negative sanctions such as punishments have to be enforced in order to encourage morality in society. The experience which Marion Jones underwent should discourage athletes from engaging in drug use during sports. It should also encourage sports people in general to participate in competitive sports at a similar playing field in order to maintain fairness and integrity in the sports industry.