I am writing this in response to the recent question posed about what to do about athletes who choose to take drugs to help them cheat and what to do about them competing. (Read the article: Let the Dopers Be…)
This article represents my own opinion as well as some of the other coaches and athletes I know and work with and have spoken to about the problem of athletes taking performance enhancing drugs. I write this in my capacity as an athletics coach, but consider anyone caught taking performance enhancing drugs in any sport should be treated the same way. I make no apology for what some people may regard as my uncompromising views and regard me as unforgiving. I am and always will be vehemently against drug cheats in any sport and feel strongly that it is one strike and you are out – permanently!
None of this cop out whereby they get a reduced ban for “helping with enquiries.” Athletes at the elite level down to the athlete at club level know that on line, there is a readily available list of substances that are on the banned list. National Teams have a designated doctor who can also check if something is permitted or not. No one in their right mind who competes at a high level would risk buying something off the shelf without checking it is OK unless they are prepared to risk the consequences.. I also think those caught cheating must be made to hand back every single medal they have ever won as a professional athlete as who knows how long they have been taking banned substances.
To me, if you have been caught you probably have been taking them for a while and you just got found out this time because your chemist hadn’t perfected a good enough masking agent! How about making them hand back all the prize money they won dishonestly as well?! Speaking of prize money, a lifetime ban might not bother some athletes where the Olympics are concerned, but the lucrative sponsorship deals and financial rewards at major championships, particularly the Diamond League, more than compensate and would really hurt if not open to them.
I have so far concentrated on the cheating athlete, but the coach who deliberately not only encourages, but also supplies their athletes with banned substances is scum. The problem is that some, not all, young athletes are very impressionable, naive and trusting and unwittingly believe the coach when they say that the substance is only a “vitamin” and is approved and safe to use. After all, if you can’t trust your coach to have your best interests who can you trust?
However, there is nothing to stop the athlete or their parent using their commonsense and contacting their National Governing Body just to double check. These low life coaches should lose their licences permanently and possibly face prosecution for risking their athletes’ lives and sporting careers. One only has to look back at press articles recalling the dark days of so called State sponsored drug taking in the Eastern Block countries. Athletes found their health suffering and their bodies taking on unusual characteristics to say the least! They knew better than to question the State.
Opinions are divided as to whether the effects of banned substances are long term. In other words, can the athlete continue to reap the benefits of their chemically altered body long after they stop taking drugs? Personally I am convinced they can which is just one of the reasons I support a lifetime ban. How else can you explain how Justin Gatlin can sprint faster and faster in the 100/200m the older he gets? We are in great danger of seeing this unrepentant athlete, who has failed several drug tests, walking away with Olympic Crown in both the 100m and 200m at Rio later on this year.
Could another druggie, Tyson Gay collect a medal as well? To me and a great many others, that would be a mockery and a disaster for our sport. We cannot expect Usain Bolt to save our sport from this happening. It is too much of a burden for this superb athlete who both delights and excites. How refreshing to see him acting naturally on the start line rather than the posturing and prowling which we see by drug offenders Messrs Gatlin and Gay. Should however Usain ever get caught taking performance enhancing drugs, it will sound the death knoll for athletics! No one will ever be trusted to be competing clean again. Only in the paper today I read that one of Jamaica’s top athletes has failed a re-test on their sample from the Beijing Olympics. It is understood not to be Bolt. I can’t help wondering if any sprinter promptly fired their chemist after the 100m Final at the Seoul Olympics in what has become known as the “Dirtiest Race in History “!
Let us spare a thought for all the athletes that do compete clean, especially those who have been robbed of their glory moment on the podium by the cheats. A great deal of information has been coming out in the Press lately about athletes who have had their specimens retested and have been found to have cheated. Russia should not be allowed back in for Rio. Yes it will be hard for those Russian athletes who are clean but hopefully they would turn on the cheats and hold them entirely responsible. However, I doubt the IAAF/Olympic Committee has the guts to do this for either them or the Kenyans. It would send the best message yet though!
How about our Commentators always reminding audiences of those lining up who have failed drugs tests after all, youngsters coming through need to know these athletes past history or they will be ignorant of who they might be misguidedly idolising. You only have to look at the current athletes lined up at some of the 100m, so depressing for those running clean. They also need to be aware that many well known female athletes past and present have also failed drugs tests. I wonder how many young athletes who hear that hypocrite Carl Lewis criticising the current standard of men’s long jumping in the world, know about his several failed drug tests. I for one would take with a large pinch of salt the validity of his measurements.
We might see the first sub 4 second 100m, the 5m high jump, the Shot Putt thrown over the Stadium roof, the 300mph tennis serve
So, in response to the article “should we have two competitions”, why not? One could be called the Olympic Games (or The Clean Games) and the other, The Chemical Games (more like The Comical Games ) because let’s face it, what we will see will be huge over sized, orange spray tanned bodies, bull necks, funny looking small heads and a network of bulging, ready to explode veins resembling Spaghetti Junction!) This includes the women cheats as well! I have no doubt the public will flock to watch them compete out of curiosity. Who knows, we might see the first sub 4 second 100m, the 5m high jump, the Shot Putt thrown over the Stadium roof, the 300mph tennis serve etc etc! To me it would be like going to the circus to watch a Freak Show. However, let us not kid ourselves, they are playing Russian roulette with their health and we should pity them not applaud them. The performances will ultimately be seen for what they are – fake. Genuine sports lovers will still flock to see clean athletes knowing that they have got their results through their own blood, sweat, tears and sheer hard graft and determination.
Bio: Deborah is a British Athletics L3 Performance/L3 High Jump coach. In 2008 she took the decision to set up her own Track & Field Club which is going from strength to strength. Apart from coaching at her own club, she coaches at 3 schools and 2 other local clubs. Although her main qualification is in high jump, Deborah has branched into coaching Combined Events with a particular interest in Discus and Shot Putt. She is also helps Team Manage her County Schools Combined Events Teams, is a qualified Field Official and is the Disability Officer on her County Athletic Association Committee. Her most important achievement to date was being awarded England Athletics National Coach of the Year 2015 at their Volunteer Awards.
