Olympic Shooter Dopes it up, USA Receives Bronze

In an interesting turn of events, Olympic pistol shooter Kim Jong Su of North Korea was stripped of his two Olympic medals (Men's 10m Air Pistol and Men's 50m Pistol) after testing positive for Propranolol. Say huh?

Yep, I reckon there will always be some folks who are willing to cheat, no matter what the competition may be. Propranolol is a beta-blocker, which helps the heart beat more regularly and reduces shaking or trembling. Serious competitive shooters know the value of controlling one's heartbeat (non-medicinally, of course) and/or shooting between heartbeats.

When Kim vacated third place in Men's 10m Air Pistol, American Jason Turner suddenly became a medalist, receiving Bronze in that event. This is great news for Jason, who was only one point shy of Bronze at the end of the match. And I believe this makes him the first shooter from the USA to earn an Olympic medal for pistol shooting since 1988. Very nice work indeed.

In Men's 50m Pistol (60 shots), Kim's Silver medal went to China's Tan Zongliang, the original Bronze medalist in that event. The Bronze then went to Russian shooter Vladimir Isakov.

Shame on anyone who uses drugs in the Olympics. Apparently Kim was not the first athlete to test positive for a banned substance at the 2008 games, but he was the first medalist to do so. It's been reported that in Kim's case, the International Olympic Committee believes he is guilty of "a deliberate intake" of the drug, as opposed to accidentally taking a medication containing a banned substance.