The use of drugs in sports has had a long and well documented history with track and field being no exception. The sport has been plagued with numerous scandals of world champions testing positive for performance enhancement drugs, painting a gloomy picture of a sport losing its credibility.
Still suffering from the events that have become popularly known as the BALCO scandal which implicated superstars Dwayne Chambers, Marian Jones and Tim Montgomery a decade ago, the sport has once again been rocked with the news that former world sprint champions Tyson Gay of the U.S and Asafa Powell of Jamaica have fallen prey to the doping cancer. Add that to the doping mess in Turkish track and field, with doping
charges brought against the 2012 women’s Olympic 1,500-meter champion
and a two-time European hurdles champion, and the only thing worse for
the sport would be if Usain Bolt tested positive
I was utterly disappointed when i first heard the news because i felt the heroes of our sport had failed us; they had failed the younger ones looking up to them and those of us who can only dream of the career they have. For many a casual fan, having such heroes ripped from the highest
podium—due to cheating—creates a permanent wound in the psyche. Those
potential converts give up on the sport and most will never come back. But there is still hope for the sport, hope manifesting itself in the "night in shinning armor" of the sport, rock star Usain Bolt and all the other elite athletes out there who staying healthy relying on pure talent and hardwork!
But i kind of understand them because they are both pushing 30 and are not getting any younger. The temptation to take a stimulant to extend their careers a little bit, to remain relevant in this very competitive sport with the new breed of talent and to retire on a high will be likely to push them to take such decisions.
The problem in sprinting has long been like the problem in cycling.
People tend to think they have to dope in order to be competitive. Athletes test
positive every year and get suspended. But that doesn’t break the
cycle: it may just accelerate it.
Here is the argument that Ben Johnson’s coach made when persuading
him, as a young runner, to get with the program: “You only cheat if
you’re the only one doing it. This means if the other guys are doing it,
and you start doing the same thing, it’s not cheating.” This is the other side of the story that is very worrying, the fact that these athletes are always approached by individuals and sometimes even their trainers with "the next new thing" that will help them train and recover better.
How can sprinting change? Its time to clean up and start all over again with tougher sanctions on athletes brought on doping charges to reduce the risk and reward calculation professional athletes go through —
cheat and become world class, or stay clean and fight for the top of
the podium like everyone else . Cycling has cracked down and cleaned up and times in the Tour de France are far slower than in years past after the Lance Armstrong scandal rocked the sport.
That might not be enough. The culture of the sport is broken, and it
needs repairing. The hundred-metre dash is one of the purest sporting
events there is: this is how fast human beings can move. That’s why we
take such pleasure in Usain Bolt’s beautiful loping stride or Tyson
Gay’s amazing upright posture and the strain in his neck.
