Look, I understand the rules the International Olympic Committee has in place. In a competition that pits the world’s best athletes against each other, the last thing anyone wants if for someone to cheat. Steroids, illegal drugs of any kind and a large number of over-the-counter medication have all been banned, for fear they will be ‘performance enhancing’.
Sometimes though, you really wonder if maybe we’ve gone too far.
Oilers defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky, playing for Slovakia in the Olympics, has been reprimanded by the IOC for testing positive for pseudoephedrine, a drug used to treat nasal congestion. Indeed, Visnovsky admitted he had taken the drug before the actual test was made.
Since he did not test positive on either of the other tests in the Olympics, and the fact that he consulted with several trainers and doctors before taking the medicine, the IOC decided it was best to just slap him on the wrist rather than suspend him. So at least there’s some sanity involved.
And I guess you could call Advil Cold & Sinus ‘performing enhancing’, considering that where before you couldn’t breathe -- now you can! Seriously though, the actual drug could be used for dishonest purposes, as the drug’s common side effects are extra energy (the nervous kind) and elevated heart rate.