Bitesize Rants #4: The Self-Aggrandisement of Olympic Athletes

Let me preface this rant by saying I'm a big fan of the Olympics as a concept. Amateur sportsmen and women given the opportunity to compete on a large stage is an excellent idea, and one we should be fully behind. I was also against the inclusion of professionals in the competition, like we've seen from football, tennis and now golf in recent years.

However, as the exposure to athletics has become ever more significant, the egos on many of the Olympic athletes seem to have grown larger and larger. From a competition based on demonstrating one's amateur athletic ability for no profit (an admirable accomplishment), Olympic athletes have now become so accustomed to the celebrity and pageantry around the event that they seem to expect this each time, raking in sponsorship money galore (as well as money from the taxpayer to fund what is supposed to be their hobby!).

The tag of the Olympics as the 'Greatest show on Earth' has further heightened this feeling of superiority, and I'll highlight a key example from this year. Over the last few months, fears around the Zika virus have been highlighted as the cause of many pro golfers and tennis players pulling out. Cue widespread backlash from existing Olympic athletes, with names like Louis Smith and Rebecca Adlington mocking their decision and citing this tag of the Olympics being a higher level of competition than anything else.

When you consider the reasons for the withdrawal, it is simply ridiculous. We have all seen the horrific pictures of the impact of the Zika virus, and any athlete that fears for their safety should feel well within their rights to withdraw, regardless of what other athletes feel about the competition!

It’s also not like the Olympics are squeaky clean. Like my previous post on MMA, the Olympics have not been without their own drug scandals. Whether it's Ben Johnson, Linford Christie or the entire Russian team, performance enhancers have been endemic in athletic competition over the past 20 years.

This latter problem is by no means sorted, and athletes should be careful of throwing stones, especially from the greenhouses they currently live in.

My message to the Olympics and Olympians worldwide: put in place a rigorous drug testing and punishment system, go back to wholly amateur competition, and stop inflating the heads of your athletes.

UFC 200: The Rotten Core of MMA

For a sport on the rise, a bit of scandal can sometimes be a good thing. However, if there is anything we have learnt from the Olympics/Russia debacle, allegations of doping from the elite level athletes is certainly not one of them.

So for those of you not familiar (but if you're not, I'm not entirely sure you're reading the right article), the UFC, the dominant mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion in the world, is celebrating its 200th edition with a truly stacked card. WWE and ex-UFC superstar Brock Lesnar is back after a four year hiatus from the MMA world to fight a true knockout artist in Mark Hunt, there are two title fights, as well as the return of Cain Velasquez. That's before we even get to the headliner: the second instalment of a fierce and bitter rivalry between light-heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier and the nominally unbeaten Jon Jones, widely regarded the number one pound for pound fighter in the world.

However, that headliner was rocked earlier today with the announcement that Jones, so outspoken in his condemnation of drug cheats, had failed a pre-fight screening. While the exact substance has not been announced as yet, Jones was unceremoniously dropped from the card, with the Lesnar/Hunt bout promoted to the main event. Cue a tearful Jones in a press conference, sending heartfelt apologies and denying that he was aware of taking anything unlawful.

While many, including myself, will lament the removal of what would in all likelihood have been an incredible fight, this hides an issue that has for so long gone relatively unchecked, and remains a serious problem in the sport. Doping, and more accurately, steroid or hormone abuse, has plagued the sport from its inception, with so many of its most high profile individuals accused, or even convicted, of previous offences. I won't go into detail on all the cases, but below are just a handful of the very top names that have been convicted of doping, with most continuing to fight despite this:

• Anderson Silva - convicted of steroid use in 2015
• Chael Sonnen - convicted of TRT supplement use in 2010 and steroid use in 2014
• Nate Marquardt - convicted of steroid use in 2005 and TRT supplement use in 2011
• Royce Gracie - convicted of steroid use in 2007
• Tim Sylvia - convicted of steroid use in 2003
• Cris 'Cyborg' Santos - convicted of steroid use in 2012
• Alistair Overeem - convicted of TRT supplement use in 2012
• Vitor Belfort - convicted of TRT supplement use in 2006 and 2014
• Josh Barnett - convicted of steroid use in 2002 and 2009
• Ken Shamrock - convicted of three counts of steroid use in 2009
• BJ Penn - convicted of TRT supplement use in 2016

This list is by no means exhaustive, but still includes the two standout fighters from the very first UFC tournament, as well as two UFC heavyweight champions, a UFC light-heavyweight champion, a UFC middleweight champion, a UFC heavyweight title challenger, a UFC light-heavyweight title challenger, three UFC middleweight title challenges, the most dominant female fighter of all time, and the greatest MMA fighter of all time. Hardly slim pickings!

There are also stories of fighters going to great lengths to avoid drug tests, highlighting further instances of guilt. My favourite is Wanderlei Silva, who practically fled the country when a sample collector turned up at his gym!

Bearing in mind that this is a sport in existence since 1993, there has until recently been a worrying lack of emphasis placed on tackling drug abuse by the UFC and the various athletic commissions that have sanctioned the events. This gets worse, however. Following UFC 182, which saw Jones defeat Cormier to retain his title, it emerged that Jones had tested positive for cocaine in a pre-fight test - a fact which was buried by the UFC. Similarly, since Vitor Belfort's UFC 152 title fight with Jones, evidence has been unsurfaced that the UFC knew of the Brazilian's TRT positive test, while it is widely accepted that many of UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping's UFC losses have come at the hands of people using performance enhancing drugs.

So for those to suggest that this is an isolated incident, or even that UFC fighters are a class above boxers in terms of fair play, is simply idiotic. This is a pandemic. Anything you can use to gain a competitive advantage, people will use, and that includes drugs. For Dana White to suggest that steroid use isn't that bad is at best naive and wishful thinking, and at worse flat out lies. Fighters aren't going to stop taking drugs of their own volition or moral compass, so you have to make them.

Having taken his head out of the sand following those comments over steroids, Dana White unveiled a new partnership with the US Anti Doping Agency (USADA) in July 2015, designed to cut down, and ultimately eliminate the use of performance enhancing drugs in MMA. Some may say 22 years too late, but better late than never, I guess!

As part of the new regulations, athletes must be available for random drug testing up to four months before any fight, at any time in any place. While cheaters will still find some ways around this system, it is about as robust as it is possible to be, and will undoubtedly help the UFC become much more clean.

That is, as long as Zuffa (the company behind the UFC) doesn't put its commercial interests ahead of the sport (ironically something Dana White has accused rival promotions like Strikeforce, Elite XC and Bellator of doing). Having set up these robust rules, the UFC found itself in somewhat of a quandary when global superstar Conor McGregor pulled out of plans for UFC 200 in April. Needing to find a suitable replacement, they turned to the man responsible for the most pay-per-view buys in history: Brock Lesnar. However, a deal for Lesnar to return was not officially in place until 6 June, just one month before the fight date. Or more importantly, three months too late for USADA. What were the UFC to do?

Fortunately, there had been some very careful loopholes put in place for such a scenario. You know, the same kind of loopholes that politicians put in the tax system so they can adequately exploit them to their own advantage. In the event of a retired fighter, who had left the company before the introduction of USADA, rejoining the UFC, a special exemption could be granted to enable them to fight. Seemingly custom-built for Brock Lesnar - is anyone else more than a little suspicious? Now don't get me wrong, I am a massive fan of Brock Lesnar's, and I can't wait to see that fight with Mark Hunt, but it is more important that the integrity of the sport remains unquestionably intact.

Another aspect to USADA that confused me today was the handling of the Jones drug screening that cost us the main event. When the news came out that there was not enough time to re-test the sample that Jones tested positive on, I had assumed that it was taken in the days immediately preceding the fight. It came as a great surprise, then, to find out that the sample had actually been taken on 16 June, nearly a month before the event. How was it that it took so long to reveal it was positive? And if they knew ahead of time, why could we not have retested the sample to check whether the cancellation of the bout was necessary? Everyone makes mistakes, and if it turns out to be a false positive, we may have been robbed of the icing on top of the cake: one of the best main events in the history of the UFC.

This episode enables us to draw some conclusions. Put simply, if you want to make MMA a legitimate sport, and not just a business for profit, you need to eradicate doping. That means removing all loopholes, and imposing an inescapable system of screening. This process should be as transparent as possible, to remove any confusion or doubt, and all test results should be given a publication date and published publicly.

USADA is certainly a step in the right direction, but this must only be the start. There are a number of niggles with the current system, which must be ironed out to ensure fair competition. Finally, in my opinion, a real deterrent has to be put in place to prevent drug cheats, and that means life bans. Obviously, in the case of false positives or legitimate medications (e.g. Bigfoot Silva's gigantism meds), this can be rescinded, but this must be the penalty.

MMA and the UFC will not be fully legitimised, and the incredible athletes at the heart of the sport will not be recognised until we remove the rotten core. The message to Dana White and the Fertitta brothers is simple: it may not be best for your wallet in the short term, but it will be best for the sport in the long.

Ten Things I've Missed Blogging This Year

As I set out in a post a few weeks ago, my blog has been more than a little erratic over the last 12 to 18 months as I look to piece certain things back together. To read more about my psychology, click here, but in this post, I wanted to provide my belated opinion on ten of the year's top sporting stories that I never got the opportunity to cover.

This has been separated into the sports that I have previously blogged on, but in the last year I have got into a number of new sports, some of which will be covered here.

Football

1. Leicester win Premier League

I kind of had to do this. Arguably the greatest footballing story in the history of the English game, the ultimate in underdog stories came to fruition this year. While I did give my opinion on the exploits of Jamie Vardy (both in the positive and negative sense) late last year, I never looked at the collective achievement of the squad as a whole.

I suppose here, more than in any other story, there is very little I can say that is new. When you consider that the biggest shock in the Spanish La Liga in recent years was the title winning side from Atletico Madrid, that highlights the scale of the accomplishments. In my mind, the only comparable previous event in recent memory is the Montpellier success in the French league in 2012, but even that pales in comparison to the dramatic turnaround in fortunes.

Without a doubt, momentum played a crucial role, but the performances of a number of individuals was simply outstanding. Whether that's the consistency of signing of the season N'Golo Kante, or the moments of magic from Riyad Mahrez, the Foxes have had quality across the field all season, and thanks to everyone else throwing it away, Leicester run out deserved winners.

2. FIFA implodes and Sepp Blatter found guilty

Who saw this coming? I don't mean in the sense of FIFA's corruption - I'm not naive. We've all known the frankly ridiculous levels of bribes, backhanders and 'favours for the boys' that Blatter and the rest of his cronies have been taking part in. What I didn't expect was for them to be caught, as everyone seemed to be content with the incompetence.

However, what made this moment among the best of the last 12 months was the reaction of comedian Lee Nelson. Though I've never been much of a fan of Nelson's work (his humour always seemed a little too slapstick and PR stunty to me), I have to say his idea at a press conference involving Blatter last year was absolutely brilliant. Having managed to sneak his way into the audience, Nelson took the opportunity to throw a huge wad of cash over the disgraced FIFA chief in one of the most iconic images of the scandal. Though he was instantly arrested as a suspected terrorist, he created a moment that resonated around the world, and highlighted, for the first time, the public opinion of the issue.

3. Footballers as role models: the Adam Johnson story

Like the Leicester story, there is very little that I can add to this story in terms of opinion, as my reaction to this story was much the same as everyone else's - a mixture of disgust and sympathy for the victim. What the latest in a long line of criminal cases against entitled footballers with no concept of other people demonstrates is a point I raised in my first 'Bitesize Rants' post, namely, that footballers should not be considered role models for children, as they have proven time and time again they do not deserve the moniker.

What makes this story particularly abhorrent is the way that both Johnson and the world of football treated his arrest and subsequent case. While I am the first person to stand behind the phrase 'innocent until proven guilty', and it irritates me no end that rape is the only crime where the burden of proof is on the defendant, if you are under investigation for a crime and you have a job in the public eye, you should really be ineligible for selection until the matter is concluded. By all means continue to pay them and treat them the same, but more to demonstrate the seriousness of the situation, you have to ensure they are not being put in the public eye. If it was up to me, no-one would ever be named as a suspect until after they are convicted, but that simply isn't the world we live in.

With this in mind, it is therefore mindless that Sunderland continued to play the winger, and in light of his guilty plea since, only makes the Wearside club look callous and morally bankrupt, willing to play and support a sex offender to gain an advantage. What makes the story even worse is that Adam Johnson, despite knowing he was guilty and about to submit a plea, continued to milk the North East club for all they were worth in wages.

Formula 1

4. Hamilton and Rosberg become best of enemies

Having grown up together through karting and junior formulas, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg formed a close friendship, racing hard but fair and keeping the work away from their friendship. However, like any soap storyline, all friendships inevitably come to an end. Unlike the soap, there were no affairs, illegalities or betrayals, but pure competition.

The breakdown of the relationship started with Rosberg, clearly frustrated at trailing Hamilton in the championship, outbreaking himself in qualifying at the Monaco grand prix in a move reminiscent of the famous Schumacher Rascasse-gate. Further fuel was added to the fire in Belgium, when an angry Rosberg committed the gravest sin in Formula 1 - deliberately hitting your teammate.

After Hamilton's procession to the title last year, the relationship seemed to have settled between the pair to a healthy rivalry. That was until the Spanish grand prix a few weeks ago. Having taken one another out on the first lap, the two very quickly pointed the finger at one another, again stoking the flames and setting the season up for a fiery rivalry.

Tennis

5. Serena completes year grand slam

As much as I hate her hypocritical, have your cake and eat it too, standard feminist mentality, Serena Williams did something amazing last year. To win a Grand Slam is an impressive achievement, but to win all four in the same year is quite extraordinary. She will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the best ever tennis players and dominant champions - it's just a shame about her personality!

Cricket

6. That over...

We've all experienced the feeling where we want the world to open up and swallow us, but I certainly expect that Ben Stokes will have felt this more strongly than most earlier this year. To set the scene, England's cricket team, despite being roundly written off at the beginning of the tournament, and largely underwhelming in the early rounds, managed to perform a Leicester-esque run to the final. In their way stood West Indies, who had already beaten them before.

Having set a disappointing 155/9 in their 20 overs, England were seen as strong underdogs. However, a West Indian batting collapse put England on the brink of reclaiming the title they held in 2010. Step forward Ben Stokes, or more accurately Carlos Brathwaite. With an outlandish 19 required from six balls, Brathwaite smashed four successive sixes off the medium-pacer to claim the title for the West Indies in one of the most dramatic finishes.

Rugby

7. A typically English World Cup

Now, from a dramatic failure to an absolute aborration. The saying 'all good things come to an end' was emphatically proven on home soil last autumn, with our rugby team emulating the performances of the footballing side, and exiting early. The fact that it was a home World Cup only serves to make this point more humiliating, with England becoming the first home nation in the history of the tournament to fail to make it out of the group stages.

Others

8. Mayweather/Pacquiao - Can super fights ever live up to the hype?

When the news that unbeaten Floyd Mayweather, widely considered the greatest pound for pound boxer on the face of the planet, was to fight Filipino great Manny Pacquiao, the fight world went mad. Expectations that this was set to be the greatest fight of all time were far far wide of the mark, however. All I can say is that I am glad I didn't stay up to watch it. From what I've seen, it was 12 rounds of Floyd applying his typical counter punching style, and Pacquiao treading water while he attempted to connect.

Quite often, the best fights do not involve two high ranked individuals, as 'super fights' tend to come with a lot of additional pressure. A high profile loss, especially in emphatic circumstances, can have  a dramatic effect on a boxer's legacy, so it is unsurprising that neither of them left it all in the ring.

It may well have an impact the next time the boxing organisers want to arrange a fight of this size too!

9. Tyson Fury offends everyone

Staying with boxing, Manchester's Tyson Fury shocked the world with his decision win over Wladimir Klitschko. However, rather than just enjoying his victory and rising fame, Fury decided to take a new and different approach - offend everyone he can.

In between making sexist, racist, transgenderist and homophobic statements in public, Fury has also suggested that performance-enhancing drugs should be permitted in boxing. Though he has apologised for any offence caused, I'm still not quite sure how genuine that is. An isolated incident may be able to be forgiven, but multiple occasions makes it a lot less likely that it is true regret.

10. MMA explodes

Last, but by no means least, is the emergence of a sport until recently I had no real knowledge of. Perhaps it is my own ignorance, but it is only in the last few months that the world of MMA has taken an sort of impact on my consciousness. However, ever since watching my first few fights, I have become addicted, and have spent more hours than I care to mention watching old videos and current events.

I'm sure I will be writing enough on this sport in the near future, but the main reason the sport has exploded in this part of the world in the last 12-18 months is Irishman Conor McGregor. Having sensationally burst onto the UFC scene, he captured the company's Featherweight championship in December 2015, beating Brazilian legend Jose Aldo, unbeaten in the last 10 years, in just 13 seconds.

Having lost to Nate Diaz at UFC 196, choosing to go up two weight classes to take on the Stockton native, McGregor has become a global superstar, spending hours on interviews and media to hype fights and talk trash. However, this spectacularly backfired a couple of months ago, with an argument with the UFC over the amount of mandatory PR the Irishman had to do caused McGregor to post the following on Twitter:

Well, the MMA world went mad. Such was the reaction from the fans, McGregor was forced to retract the statement 48 hours later, stating that it had all been a demonstration of the pull and influence that he has over social.

Despite numerous negotiations, the issue seems to be ongoing, despite the announcement that the rematch between McGregor and Diaz is set for UFC 202 - a month later than originally planned.

So there's my top 10 sporting memories over the last 12 months - have I missed any? And what are yours?