Chasing the cheats

Doping in sport a problem hard to solve


THE greatest disappointments are built on platforms of hope and devotion. A vested interest in another person requires an emotional commitment and if the subject in question fails in their endeavour, for whatever reason, the sense of disappointment can be overwhelming.
Placing faith in a third party without any first-hand understanding of the person behind the public persona is a risky business. Too often, particularly in elite level sport, an athlete is put on a pedestal by adoring fans, only for them to fall spectacularly from grace.
When this happens, fans feel short-changed, the athlete in question gets shunned and the thirsty mob turns its eyes to the next rising star in the hope that they might be different. It’s a vicious circle.
But when one thinks about it rationally, the perceived relationship that sports fans have with their idols are little more than phantoms and shams.
Yet how many arguments have arisen because sports fans claim to feel a close connection to a particular athlete, despite no real in-depth knowledge of the person behind the ability? The relationship between athlete and fan is proxy at best, yet many fans don’t seem to realise the reality behind the facade.
Sport is littered with stories of athletes that rise above adversity, triumph against the odds before plummeting into obscurity and infamy. Though many sports fans are loathe to admit it, an athlete’s fall from grace is almost always more interesting than the rise to glory itself.
It is peculiar the way the human brain works; we crave heroes, yet we revel just as vociferously in their destruction.
Modern day sport is facing a massive problem that, if left to fester and grow, could spell disaster for the industry as we know it. The quest for glory in elite level sport is being driven by an insatiable appetite to win which, for all intents and purposes, has superseded the desire for transparency and fair play.
Many of the top athletes have forsaken honesty and morality in favour of doing whatever it takes to win. And as more and more sports stars turn their back on clean competition in favour of doping, the more acceptable cheating is becoming in elite level circles.

Ahead of science
Science is desperately trying to keep up with the cheaters, but as things stand, the dopers appear to be ten steps ahead of the science that is trying to catch them out.
Justin Gatlin is the perfect embodiment of the problems facing athletics at the moment. The American sprinter continues to defy logic by posting the fastest times of his career, despite being well into his thirties.
Indeed, Gatlin currently holds the record for the fastest 100 and 200 metres of the season. Earlier this month, at a Diamond League meeting in Doha, he ran 100m in a time of 9.74 seconds.
If the Olympic Games were held tomorrow, with Usain Bolt plagued by injury problems and struggling for form, Gatlin would more than likely walk away with a sprint double.
It is difficult to take Gatlin’s times at face value. At 33 years of age, the American sprinter is running faster than he was at 24. Despite a four year ban for doping after a second positive drugs test in 2006, Gatlin returned to competition in 2010 and has been running faster and faster with each passing year since.
Yet, in spite of widespread criticism of his performances and an unrepentant attitude to his two previous positive tests, Gatlin has been snapped up on a lucrative endorsement deal by Nike.

Suspicions in many sports
The company appears to be perfectly okay with endorsing an athlete with a tainted history in cheating. And despite increasing scepticism over Gatlin’s times this season, Nike continues to be his primary sponsor. What kind of a message is this sending out?
Nike’s history with tainted sports stars is well documented. It supported Lance Armstrong right up until the disgraced cyclist himself admitted to years of doping and cheating, despite a litany of testimony by former team mates as to Armstrong’s guilt.
The recent revelations by BBC Panorama on athletics coach Alberto Salazar, himself a key cog in the Nike Oregon Project, have raised further suspicions about Nike’s willingness to distance itself from doping scandals.
Sprinting has suffered untold damage to its reputation in recent years as, one by one, athletes fell foul of doping laws. Usain Bolt, another Nike poster boy, has so far managed to keep his copy dry but there are many who remain sceptical about his achievements.
But just how endemic is cheating in elite level sport? Does anyone really believe that cycling is clean?
In an ideal world sports stars would be taken at their word, without the need for scepticism and doubt. Time was an athlete was innocent until proven guilty. In modern day sport, however, the onus of proof has shifted onto the victors to prove their innocence. And so far, volunteers to do so are few and far between.