Morality and Olympics

**pooch** · 08-08-2012, 04:31 AM

May nakita ako sa News ngayon:
Gold-medal swimmer admits to cheating in 100 breaststroke | Fourth-Place Medal - Yahoo! Sports Canada

Inaamin ng gold medalist na nandaya siya. Ang justification niya eh, ayaw niyang sayangin ang apat na taon niyang pageensayo. And "everybody is doing it" daw.

''If you're not doing it, you're falling behind," he said. "It's not obviously - shall we say - the moral thing to do, but I'm not willing to sacrifice my personal performance and four years of hard work for someone that is willing to do it and get away with it."

I love his honesty.

Pooch

**Aga Mulat** · 08-08-2012, 06:42 AM

But does that "honesty" justify the action? No!!! It's not really honesty kundi "pride". Everybody does it ok pero mga nahuhule eh na d-disqualify so what's the use? Disqualified na tanggal pa ng dangal.

**voltaire** · 08-08-2012, 09:07 AM

Simply put, that's another way of saying the old sporting cliche: "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing."

If indeed, everybody (in Olympic swimming, at least) is doing it, then it even things out. There will always be R&D on performance enhancing drugs and people will always try them out especially if it will remain undetected I woundt want to delve on the morality of winning in olympic sports, but we should see other sporting disciplines specially those that use sport equipments. Would it be morally wrong for a circuit bike racer to use an advanced carbon fiber bike when others are still using the less advanced and bulkier bikes?

**holydevil** · 08-08-2012, 11:22 AM

nagahanap lang siya ng damay,kung talagang aaminin niya yung pandaraya niya e wag niyang sasabihin na pati yung iba,kasi hindi pag-amin yun kundi paghahanap lang ng damay.let them answer for their own consience.

**johnnybatu** · 08-08-2012, 11:19 PM

Hindi yan makadeny kasi may footage.....

**FreyaLuna** · 08-09-2012, 07:07 AM

Originally Posted by pooch

I love his honesty.

He was 'honest' about his deceit because he was caught.

**oversoul1404** · 08-09-2012, 08:44 AM

well, i also liked the honesty. given his stature in the sport, he dared to expose what goes underneath (the water

) so as to wake up the game officials regarding their shortcomings when it comes to game officiating.

but on the other hand, why not just allow it? i don't know what kind of kick that was because i only know frog style swimming. besides, isn't swimming about who can cover the entire distance with the shortest time possible?

it's not like he grew a set of limbs to propel himself under water.

**bishop** · 08-09-2012, 10:14 PM

Originally Posted by pooch

May nakita ako sa News ngayon:
Gold-medal swimmer admits to cheating in 100 breaststroke | Fourth-Place Medal - Yahoo! Sports Canada

Inaamin ng gold medalist na nandaya siya. Ang justification niya eh, ayaw niyang sayangin ang apat na taon niyang pageensayo. And "everybody is doing it" daw.

''If you're not doing it, you're falling behind," he said. "It's not obviously - shall we say - the moral thing to do, but I'm not willing to sacrifice my personal performance and four years of hard work for someone that is willing to do it and get away with it."

I love his honesty.

Pooch

In a secular event such as this, how important then is morality?

And should it be limited to breaking the rules, or is having an advantage over another to be considered "cheating" as well?

**pooch** · 08-10-2012, 01:59 PM

Originally Posted by bishop

In a secular event such as this, how important then is morality?

And should it be limited to breaking the rules, or is having an advantage over another to be considered "cheating" as well?

Yun nga po eh. But I would somewhat disagree that the Olympics is purely secular. I mean, it may be in the contemporary age, but historically, it came from Athens, Greece. Tama? Greece, where polytheism and ahem..ahem.. Zeus ahem..ahem.. was believed to be there..

At any rate, ayoko po kasi yung binebend ang rules eh. I consider na parang cheating na agad if a person is trying bending the rules to have an advantage over his opponents... And by 'bending the rules', I mean disobeying what the purpose of a certain rule is.

Example na lang eh sa basketball.
Allowed ka ng two steps na hindi nagdidribble bago mo ishoot ang bola. When you step the third time, it is considered as "travelling". Pero may ibang basketbolista eh, sinasadya (ahem..ahem...Lebron James (oops.. yari ako sa mga Lebron fans. lol) )
But the purpose of the "three-step travelling rule" is to make you dribble! Once an athlete bend this rule, it is considered cheating methinks......

Pooch

**bishop** · 08-10-2012, 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by pooch

Yun nga po eh. But I would somewhat disagree that the Olympics is purely secular. I mean, it may be in the contemporary age, but historically, it came from Athens, Greece. Tama? Greece, where polytheism and ahem..ahem.. Zeus ahem..ahem.. was believed to be there..

Pooch,

When I say "secular", I mean in the sense that as a whole, the Olympics does not advocate or adhere to the Jude-Christian principles. Nor does it require its participants to do so.

Only that the participants adhere to specific rules on a particular event.

So when you or I judge "honesty", we do it on the basis of our faith which is in the Jude-Christian teaching.

They, on the other hand, may not agree with our definition or application of what we believe should be honesty.

You follow my train of thought?

Quote:

At any rate, ayoko po kasi yung binebend ang rules eh. I consider na parang cheating na agad if a person is trying bending the rules to have an advantage over his opponents... And by 'bending the rules', I mean disobeying what the purpose of a certain rule is.

Pooch

But that is just the thing, Pooch.

Everything is subjective here.

#1. Your dislike of rule-bending, is soley based on your understanding of what "fair play" is. That is subjective to you.

#2. The rules themeselves where established to supposedly take away one advantage over another. But that in itself is also subjective. It is one person or a group of people's point-of-view of what constitutes "advantage".

Case in point: There are a lot of debate about Oscar Pistorious. About whether or not his artifical limbs give him an "unfair" advantage over other runners.

Some say 'yes', others say 'no'.

Another case in point:

There are a lot of buzz going around about Missy Franklin's big feet.

There are those that say that having big feet give a swimmer an advantage over other swimmers. See here.

Unfortunately, there are no rules governing a swimmer with big feet.

So "No Rules", means no rules are broken.

And yet, there is an "unfair advantage" given to one over another.

So using your definition and how you understand "honesty", do you expect Missy Franklin to not participate in swimming if she knows that her big feet gives her an advantage over another?

You see where I am going with this?

**Aga Mulat** · 08-10-2012, 11:12 PM

I am Aga Mulat and I approve bishop's message!

I say the Olympics is just another way for each nation to arrogantly display their pride.

**bishop** · 08-11-2012, 12:28 AM

Aga is correct.

@Pooch, my point is this:

We cannot expect morality from olympians.

The mere fact that participants come from all over the world and from different races and culture means thats 'morality' is interpreted a hundred different ways.

And in a 'secular' event such as this, no one interpretation is above another.

Just because one athlete broke a rule means that he is immoral. And inversely, just because an athlete did not break any rules, makes him a moral person.

Case in point:

Usain Bolt. He won his event without question. And yet, he did this.

**glen** · 08-24-2012, 01:49 PM

lahat na lang dinadaan sa morality...
ang morality ay para lang yan sa meron nun.. ang wala nun kahit anong pangaral bali wala na yun...

sa sports... ang labanan eh strength, agility, speed, endurance, accuracy... mga ganun.. walang labanan ng morality sa olympics anak ng teteng naman...
para sa mga nandaya aba kung di sila mahuhuli ng judge eh di ok kung nahuli at na disqualify according to the rules eh di ok pa din...

kung gusto niyo isama ang morality sa olympics ... aba ipalista nyo yan sa rule book nila...
maglagay kayo ng morality clause dun...

**holydevil** · 08-24-2012, 02:23 PM

here's another story of honesty(?) in sports.
Woman catches giant marlin, but chance at world record gets away