An Athlete's Rep

This week, Germany's tabloid Bild Zeitung asked, "Mr. Ullrich, you really didn't know about this?"

But the affair has long gone beyond Jan Ullrich or any of the other big names. Sure, if yet another cyclist from Ullrich & co. were to come out of the doping closet, it would help illuminate the situation further -- but it would be essentially meaningless.

That's because today, much more is on the line than the careers of a few cyclists. Anyone who has been following recent developments in athletics, swimming, triathlon or cross-country skiing -- to say nothing of weightlifting -- will hardly claim that the morass of doping scandals is confined to the cycling arena.

We are now talking about competitive sports in general. This is about breaking up structures with unmistakably mafiaesque semblances. Ultimately, the reputation of all competitive sports is on the line.

Our unsung heroes

But even that is a generalization that scratches at the surface but skirts the core of the issue. Indeed, the central question has yet to be asked: To what extent are we -- consumers, viewers, fans and also the media -- to blame for all of this? What kind of society are we living in, anyway?

It is time to examine the demands we place on our athletes. Barely 20 years old, they are expected to act as role models -- a part only few come by voluntarily. In their twenties, they are supposed to be the shining heroes who make no mistakes and scoop up all the medals at the Olympic Games. And over 30, they are meant to do everything they can to prove that age doesn't matter.

Craving new records

Where do the fans of cycling races stand? At the top of the hill, where the riders hurt the most. What do people want to see at track-and-field events? They are waiting for the world record. And what do they want at weightlifting competitions? They want to see more weight loaded on the bar.

The limits of athletic achievement are constantly being pushed. At the same time, the athlete is expected to be a clean-cut do-gooder, ready to cast aside all signs of exertion and bedazzle the cameras with an eloquent post-match interview. Of course, the athlete will achieve all of this on bread and water alone.

How one person is supposed to be all that, nobody wants to know.

People who live in glass houses...

This rigmarole is not without hypocrisy. For what is it that we non-athletes do? We send our kids to school with sedatives. We indulge in a little booze during lunch time, or even before we arrive at the office. We can barely survive without nicotine and alcohol. And we drink liter after liter of coffee, so that we can do it all.

We are a drug nation: At the first sign of a mild cold, we immediately pour a bottle of cough medicine -- which, by the way, is prohibited for athletes -- down our throats, or just stay in bed griping.

Ultimately, competitive sports are a mirror image of our society, and is therefore no better or worse than us. If the sport is to change and become clean, then society has to change. We have to change.

Wolfgang von Kann is Deutsche Welle's sports editor.