In today’s Sanford Herald, I wrote about how steroids is causing me to question whether or not Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps’ accomplishments at the 2008 Olympics were truly legit.

Please, please, please don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that I think Phelps and Bolt used steroids. I’m not saying that they used steroids or other forms of performance enhancers to shatter the world records and win the gold medals.

The point I am trying to make in today’s column is that we, as sports fans, need to be careful who we root for because athletes are known to disappoint fans.

Floyd Landis, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery are just a few that come to mind. Granted, Bonds and Clemens haven’t tested positive for anything that we know of, the steroid shadow hovers over them and it has completely ruined their reputation with the fans.

Seriously, how much of a letdown will it be if some Senator guy or some drug company names Michael Phelps as a steroid user or as a dealer’s clients? Seriously, how disappointed will we all be?

I think the answer will be pretty obvious.

Remember, it took Marion Jones seven years to come clean about her steroid use and now she’s sitting in a prison cell because she was lying to everyone.

So, as much as I want to enjoy Michael Phelps’ record breaking achievements at the Beijing games, I just can’t. Not right now, at least. It might even take seven years for me to be truly convinced about Bolt and Phelps.

Not until I know that neither Phelps nor Bolt nor Dara Torres nor Shawn Johnson or anyone significant from the games used steroids. These Olympics were great and I would hate to see everything ruined two or three years down the road with a steroid investigation and seeing someone having to relinquish their gold medals would be a shame.

Still, thanks to people like Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, I have no choice but to question these achievements. It sucks that these people have to ruin it for the rest of us, but in this day of cheating and where finishing anywhere other than first is deemed as a disappointment, you really never know what measures people will take to win.

Again, don’t take my words in the column the wrong way. I’m not saying that I know that steroids were used or that I even think they were on steroids. All I am saying is that we all need to be careful who we root for, because we really never know which athlete will disappoint us next.