ROME, FEB. 26, 2002 (Zenit.org).- There was fear that the winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City would be marred by terrorist attacks. Instead, they may be remembered for the drug scandals among athletes.
Monsignor Carlo Mazza, spiritual guide of the Italian Olympic team in Salt Lake City, spoke about the problem over Vatican Radio.
“Sports at the highest level of competition is going through an era of commercialization and industrialization,” the monsignor said. “Therefore, we run the risk of passing moral judgments without thoroughly understanding where it is headed.”
Monsignor Mazza believes that the real question is: How is it possible to introduce authentic values in these conditions?
“I think this is the great challenge: to introduce real values in the sports world,” he said. “Personally, I am not especially scandalized by doping, because it is a condition that is proper to a certain kind of sport that lives on performance, money and the laws of the market.”
“The great problem is to try to understand well if this sport is conceived for man or against man,” Monsignor Mazza emphasized.
“I think that those who are responsible at the world and international level, and also at the national, are working along this line; however, results will be achieved with great patience over time,” he added.
