The latest cheating revelation that has hit the scandal- ravaged cycling world needs to be analyzed thoroughly,
so to speak. Pro cycling was rocked last weekend when a competitive young Belgian cyclist Femke van
Den Drieschke 19, racing in the Cyclocross World Championships, was caught with her pants down, riding a bicycle that had a motor hidden in the frame.
There should be a fine line in high intensity sport – sports authorities need to introduce hard and fast rules ensuring fairness is first and foremost. As has become the norm, the offender is denying any knowledge of the concealed
motor inserted in her bike.
Does this ring a bell? Remember disgraced record Tour de France winner, one Lance Armstrong? The defiant cyclist vehemently denied any involvement in doping and even went as far as suing his detractors – only to later
admit that he had been a cheat all the time.
A large chunk of sporting disciplines is embroiled and affected by doping and cheating scandals, notably those relying upon pure physical capability, such as cycling, athletics, weightlifting, cricket and swimming.
What is more worrisome is that a significant chunk of athletes have effectively abused their bodies through these shortcuts, in the process undermining their health to the extent that many of them exit the game of life prematurely.
Ultimately doping leads to a wide range of ghastly ailments of mental and physical distortion.
But alas, what makes athletes really think it worthwhile, notwithstanding the growing body of evidence pointing to the inherent dangers and dire consequences of using performance-enhancing drugs.
In modern sports, moolah, doping and cheating have become the best of bedfellows and are currently the most influential elements of cheating in many high profile sporting disciplines – these are the prime movers in Foul Play.
For most cheats, the ultimate aim is either driven by greed, glory or moolah, or all three and although those are the three main ends, the volatile fashion in which they are pursued hugely varies, ranging from minor infringements
to trickling all the way down to criminality.
And while the beautiful game of football has for some strange measure enjoyed a clean bill of health with regard to results anipulation
and doping – high ranking officials have made it their sole beat to rig the voting process when it comes down to crucial decisionmaking. The world’s football governing body FIFA is currently embroiled in one of the biggest scandals in sport, ranging from money laundering to gross misappropriation of public funds, maladministration, and a horde of other serious allegations levelled against some of the top dogs in Zurich.
Art of Basic and Applied Manipulation The great Argentinean genius, one Diego Maradona, netted the infamous Hand of God goal
en route to a 2-1 triumph over England in the quaterfinals of the 1996 FIFA World Cup. The goal was scored with a fist (literally
manipulation). That’s what is called basic manipulation.
Delaying tactics in football in a bid to unravel your opponent’s concentration with the aim to undermine their performance, offensive
words and verbal goading as it can soften the opponent, are just among some basic manipulation methods.
Insulting your opponents’ family and close allies would generally wind them up. Another form of basic physical manipulation
involves ‘pushing the envelope’ without breaking the rules. Instead rules are bent, albeit often, into shapes in which they are
barely recognizable – thus allowing foul play to become an art rather than a crime. I rest my case.