Sport: this one word has meant so much over time. Fun, winning, losing, succeeding, heartbreak, joy, journey, upset, lifes glory, but what has it turned into now? Steroids?

With the recent controversies surrounding Tour de France winner Floyd Landis and 100-meter world record holder Justin Gatlin, it seems as if every aspect of sport has to be related in some way with performance enhancing drugs, or does it? Is it that all excelling athletes are using some sort of drug, or is it that no one can believe that a person can succeed without them?

Why is it that an athlete can't overcome tremendous odds to become a champion without doubts? Why does there have to be someone concluding that there has to be something else to make an athlete triumphant?

Yes, I would have to admit that there are athletes out there who do whatever they can to win, but not every one does. Floyd Landis, for example, tested positive for high levels of testosterone after his miraculous comeback in stage 17 of the Tour de France. There are so many reasons for that to happen, yet everyone automatically determines that he was using something to help him out, that there is no way that he could have made that comeback without it. That's strange, just a little while before no one believed that, they believed he was a true athlete. Now, no longer is he that, but rather a cheat and a liar. How do we know that he's lying? He said that the tests were false, but no one can even begin to believe him.

Another example is sprinter and Olympic gold medalist Justin Gatlin. Back in May, he tied Jamaican Asafa Powell's 100-meter world record. Just a few days after the Floyd Ladis controversy hit the media, Gatlin addmitted that a month before he tied the world record, he failed a test for testosterone or its precursers. Now, his world record may be taken away and he could be banned for life. Gatlin claims that he was set up. Could he be one to believe, some could say yes, but then they realize who his coach is, Trevour Graham. Six of Graham's past athletes failed drug tests, so of course Justin is just like the others, right? Wrong again, you can't determine a person's morals based on their coach.

Ok, so are there any other reason to conclude that Gatlin did cheat? In 2001 Gatlin did test positive for amphetamine use, and just like now, everyone turned against him. But, wait, the test ended up postitive as a result of the medication he was taking for Attention Deficit Disorder, commenly known as ADD. Eventhough he was granted an early reinstatement by the International Association of Athletics Federations, his suspension was kept on permanent record. This is why he is now considered for the ban.

Could it be that he was a target of sabotage, or is he lying? Though the massage therapist claims that he did not tamper with the tests, how can we necessarily believe him?

The real stories are not known at this time for Gatlin or Landis, but the worst conclusions cannot be made by the public. Not every athlete cheats, the world needs to see that. Otherwise, there will be no journeys made, there will be no upsets, there will be no hope, true sport will no longer exist.