Athletics - A sorry state of affairs or a stride in the right direction?

16 July 2013 09:23

In the wake of an impressive 9.91 second run by British athlete Dasalou, the athletics world was shaken with news that two of the sports’ biggest names has failed a drugs tests. With athletics, and in particular sprinting, already being tainted by a history of drug cheats, it’s time to access whether the sport is beyond repair reputation-wise or if this a step in the right direction towards a cleaner and fairer sport.

I was lucky enough to witness Dasalou’s race into the history books on Saturday; a 9.91 second 100m makes him the fastest Briton of all time behind the legendary Linford Christie. With the crowd on their feet, there was elation at the prospect there was finally a Briton who could really have the potential challenge in the World Championships. It was a welcome prospect; especially after talents such as Mark Lewis Francis and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, who had much expectation piled upon them, failed to ever develop into athletes who could really challenge at a world stage. Since the days of Linford Christie, infact, British Sprinting has struggled; except the ever prevalent Dwain Chambers there hasn’t been a British sprinter regularly competing in championship finals since the 90’s. The hope and elation within the athletics world however was quickly replaced by shock and horror the following day with the revelation of yet another sprinting drug shame.

The scandal shook the athletics world. First the news that Tyson Gay, the American sprinting legend and fastest athlete this year in the 100m had failed a drugs test. Gay has always presented himself as a straight up athlete; often speaking of the benefits of training hard and putting 110% into the sport. If the second fastest man in history being uncovered as a drug cheat wasn’t damaging enough for the athletics world, it was further crippled by the news that five Jamaican athletes had also failed drugs tests – on the very same day. Asafa Powell, the fourth fastest man of all time being one of the named. Powell, the former world record holder, is a popular figure within the athletics world and as expected the speculation surrounding the legitimacy of Bolts’ performances thickened.

Although these revelations could cast doubt and suspicion around the even playing field of the athletics world, I can’t help thinking that this could be a defining moment within athletics. Both Gay and Powell are household names, the athletics federation are well aware of the damage that the revelations could cause yet have chosen to make the drug scandals names very public with bans already being put in place. I couldn’t help but wonder beforehand whether if any of the household names did ever get associated with such, it would be ‘swept under the carpet’ to retain the dignity of the sport. The athletics association however I feel are making a clear statement to athletes out there that it simply doesn’t matter who you are – a positive result will incur a ban from the sport and what is perhaps worse, the public backlash that these athletes now face.

The positive test results should provide a confidence boost to athletics fans that the governing body is actively cleaning up the sport and that cheats will be found. I can’t help but be positive about the future of sprinting, and athletics being a cleaner, fairer sport – and maybe for once we have a sprinting medal hope in the form of Dasalou.

 

Source: DSG