For the younger people around (under 25 or so, that is) there was a time when the Olympics were used as a political tool even more than they are now. The time I'm talking about was from the mid 70's to the late 80's.

The USSR had always used the sporting event as a tool to show how powerful communism and the communist way of life was. Their goal, of course, was to turn everyone and every country they possibly could into a "comrade" for the good ole hammer and sickle

As such, it was almost a little humorous to watch how the Russians would cringe when they went up against their communist brothers and sisters from East Germany. Especially in the swimming events, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), as East Germany was known, had steroid use and other types of doping down to a fine science.

Anyone who was watching at that time remembers how the East German women would come to the racing pools looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger clones. Many of them gave the distinct impression that they would have had a good chance to make the roster of the New York Giants.

One of the greatest injustices occurred in the 1976 Olympics when the U.S.'s Shirley Babashoff, swimming against the first really "doped up" GDR team, lost five nearly assured gold medals to the European swimming machine.

One of the cogs in that machine, Kornelia Ender, gold medal winner of the 200 meter free style in '76, admitted some 13 years later that she routinely received injections to enhance her athletic performance. Understandably, her revelations came about only after the destruction of both the Berlin wall and the political wall which had separated East and West Germany for over 40 years.

But, while women's swimming was possibly the most visible of the doping injustices, it was far from the only sport or athlete which was effected.

The doping wasn't limited to the swimming, of course, as can be attested to by track stars such as Frank Shorter who won the '72 Olympic marathon. He expected to win as the heavy favorite in Montreal in 1976, but lost by more than a minute to the GDR's Waldemar Cierpinski.

There were other injustices as well over those years, from a number of countries, but East Germany's reign during that time was the most blatant. Of course since that time, such Americans as sprinter Marion Jones or three of the four members of the 4x400 meter relay team in 2000 all returned their medals.

All of this begs the question, is a few minutes on an awards platform and a medal around your neck worth possibly years of health problems? The answer is yes, to some, those who will benefit monetarily, of course. And that answer is probably an emphatic yes if that gold medal can be turned into gold in the pocket in the form of endorsements or a pro contract.

So will there be doping at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in just a few weeks? Absolutely! Will some of it be uncovered? Probably! And since this is the case, some honest athletes will be cheated out of their medals and the fame and fortune which often go along with them.

Will things ever change? No! Not as long as the will to win at all costs supercedes the will to win fairly. But, in this world today, fairness and moral right or wrong has come to mean very little.

And, once again, that's just my opinion this week, for what it's worth.