Why Shirley Babashoff is a Hero and Barry Bonds is a Villain

While it may seem strange to compare Shirley Babashoff, a female Olympic swimmer from 33 years ago, to Barry Bonds. If you think about it for a moment, it really isn’t. 

One spoke out against her competitors cheating and the other did not when he should have.

One had medals, records, and glory taken away from her because of her competitors’ cheating, while the other broke one of sports most sacred records by cheating his competitors (both past and present).

One was not seen as a hero by many when she competed, but now is seen as a hero by almost everyone; the other was seen as a hero by some when he broke the record, but now he is seen as a hero by very few.

Both were labeled as surly, one unjustly and the other well deserving.

In short, to me, Babashoff is least known and most deserving sports hero on the planet while Bonds is the least deserving sports hero in America and a villain.

And given Saturday’s revelation that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003, I am throwing him under the bus too.

While it may seem that I am being harsh on Bonds, really, I am not.

When it became obvious that several baseball players were using steroids and gaining an illegal, unfair advantage, if Bonds and Rodriquez (easily the best players of their generations) had started speaking up and complaining about the cheating—the public pressure on commissioner Bud Selig would have been too great not to act.

Instead, they started using steroids, which made everything worse (including their health long-term) when they had a chance to save the integrity of baseball.

Granted, Selig, and the baseball owners should have acted earlier against steroid use, but I blame the players more because they were (are?) doing the actual cheating.  However, buses are big and there is room underneath my (our?) bus for Selig and the owners also.

For those of you under the age of 40, allow me to tell you about my (our?) hero, Babashoff. 

Reports from the East German Stasi files (revealed years later after the Berlin Wall came down in 1990), indicated that more than 10,000 athletes were subjected to systematic doping of DDR athletes from 1973 to 1989. 

Most notably was the East German women’s swim team, which dominated the 1976 Olympics by winning the Gold medals in 10 of 11 events, much to Babashoff’s detriment and dismay.

In the 1972 Olympics (when Mark Spitz won seven Gold Medals) when Babashoff was only 15, she won a relay Gold Medal and two individual Silver Medals.

At the 1973 World Championships she won two individual Silver Medals and two relay Silver Medals. And at the 1975 World Championships, she won two individual Gold Medals, an individual Silver Medal, and an individual Bronze Medal. 

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