Doping in athletics has become unavoidable

Bikram Vohra 08:06 27/08/2015
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  • Under fire: Gatlin.

    Different strokes for different folks. Ben Johnson was never given the grace or the space to ever return to the track. But Justin Gatlin managed to return despite a double offence and, in the comeback, almost stood on the top of the victory podium.

    In fact I had thought for a moment he’d pipped Bolt and that would have consecrated doping forever as an integral part of athletics. In fact, with four of the finalists in the 100 metres at Beijing this week having been caught for doping in the past, perhaps we should figure out that it is never going to disappear and with the steroid and herbal range so vast not everyone is going to get caught.

    The ones that got away will one day bridge that 0.01 second gap between Bolt and Gatlin in every discipline in the world of sport and where will we be then? The general approach is that he has paid his dues. He made the deal to co-operate (what that means is still a mystery, did he snitch or confess because the major complaint in the aftermath is that he has never said sorry) and his ban was cut in half.

    What exactly constitutes paying your dues especially when pharmacology accepts the fact that anabolic steroids can still have a positive impact on ability and stamina and performance years later. Ergo, even if you test clean you may be dirty, the stuff is like a latent virus, it’s in your system and it is working for you even if it doesn’t show up.

    This being true, just imagine the thousands of athletes in the past quarter of a century who have gone out on the field and competed unfairly because their bloodstream and their muscle mass had worked in their favour. Would Gatlin have made a mockery of the righteousness of cleaning up the world of athletics if his residual capacity had seen him get past Usain, a very likely scenario if he hadn’t lunged for the finishing line a split second too early.

    – GALLERY: Beijing World Championships so far
    – Beijing: Bolt trumps Gatlin to retain world 100m title
    – Beijing: Rudisha goes on to claim world 800m crown 

    If you remember 1988, the year Ben Johnson got egg on his face, tests were arbitrary and athletes of several nations who grabbed glory and medals were never tested then or in subsequent years, among them those from harsh communist regimes where concern that they were being spoon fed drugs had cemented to a tangible suspicion. It was like an open secret.

    In fact, at some of the international meets, as many as a third of those taking part could have failed the tests as they are set up today. But with the Victor Conte affair chewing up the headlines in that era, the Americans had to bear the brunt of it.

    Conte was the owner of a dubious pharmaceutical company called Balco in San Francisco that was dispensing anabolics to athletes as per their demands. Athletics was taking a knocking and the risk of losing the public’s confidence was very high. With credibility on the anvil and about to be sledge-hammered there was a general frenzy to look away. And look away the officials did.

    So, do we now just enjoy the Bolt victory and savour the moment because the good guy won? It’s not enough. We must accept that drugs will continue to play a part and someone will win a gold and get away. We can legalise some drugs and bring them into the acceptable mix, integrate them into the training programme, end the double standards and the hypocrisy, and may the best man (or woman) win.

    If these drugs hurt the body we can con ourselves that so do certain severe training regimens. We can place more stringent rules and place a life ban on those who misuse drugs and do it with an even hand. Then, as some of the media has written we can have two international meets. One for the dopers and one for the non-dopers. Level playing fields…it’s a thought.

    Hold onto it as we go into the 200 metres finals late on Thursday afternoon (16:55 local time) and see what sort of history is made.

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