Jenny Thompson: Cheaters Are Always One Step Ahead of the Testing

Jenny Thompson won 12 medals in her four Olympic games, the most of any U.S. Olympian in history, so you might think she'd be a source for positive comments about the Olympic experience.

But Thompson is actually somewhat pessimistic about the future of the Olympic Games, mostly because she believes that chemists who help athletes cheat with performance-enhancing drugs will always be more sophisticated than chemists who try to catch the cheaters.

In an interview with Playing the Field, she talked about that.

Thompson said:

I don't think it's perfect. I think there are cheaters out there and they are always one step ahead of the testing

I complained in '92 that the gold medalist in my event never got tested. It should have been a given that all medalsits got tested, not just random swimmers. I'm happy that I was able to help change that. ...

I don't think the testing is keeping up with the cheating. Pretty soon, cheating is going to evolve into molecular biology and genetics and I don't think the system is even close to being able to handle that.

Thompson is certainly right that the future of performance enhancement goes far beyond drugs and will include practices that the cheaters will think of before the testers do. It's a sobering thought.

Thompson talked about more than performance-enhancing drugs; the whole interview is worth a read.