Sport, clearly, exists in an imperfect world when it’s the likes of
Ben Johnson and Dwain Chambers who are rewarded with all the fame
and/or infamy whenever the topic of dope cheats is raised.
Frankly, it’s unfair. In a media-manipulated era in which image –
whether good or evil – counts for so much where is the cheat-hunter
whose fame or infamy can match that of the villains?
From Jesse James and Billy the Kid in yesteryear’s Wild West to
Johnson and Chambers and their like in today’s sporting badlands, the
giants of popular culture are not always the good guys.
This is a conundrum lurking at the fringes of the fight against doping
and which was picked over by Monday’s “Science and Ethics in Sport”
symposium in London, supported by Laureus and The Times.
Such conferences are uplifting events in many ways. No-one disagrees.
Opinions, intelligence and insights are all shared and welcomed.
Everyone – in this case that meant Olympians Ed Moses, Colin
Jackson and Daley Thompson as well as various establishment delegates
– is on the side of the angels.
The problem is putting across a massive message in a way which needs to
impact even more effectively than it does now with self-absorbed and
ambitious young athletes, with their largely-hidden support
teams . . . and with the public at large which knows the identities of
the infamous cheats but has never heard of a famous cheat-hunter.
This is the reason the British Olympic Association’s draconian stance
of a lifetime Olympics ban makes sense to so many: it is the ultimate
sporting sanction short of a total competitive ban. Opinion
elsewhere varies, including within the IOC and WADA and other powerful
sporting nations.
This is the reason so much attention will be focused on Thursday’s
ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport concerning the
well-rehearsed case of Shawn LaMerritt.
Travis Tygart, chief executive of the USADA, cautioned: “If CAS
confirms the authority of IOC or BOA to put in a rule that goes above
the WADA code then we will have a free-for-all around the world.”
Tygart also stressed that “we need to be much better at hitting the
support people, the coaches, medical staff and so on.”
He was supported by Olivier Niggli, WADA’s legal director, who
underlined the challenges facing ‘mere’ sport since “this is a huge
business controlled by organised crime because in many countries it’s
not illegal so there is no risk.”
He added: “This is why it’s important we work with government to make
sure doping becomes illegal and then the police become motivated about
it too. This is something outside the range of what sport
can do . . . so our responsibility is to put that on the radar of governments.”
This did not absolve sport of a responsibility to take as ruthless an
approach as possible. Moses, Jackson and Thompson were all united on
that in a subsequent session entitled: “Can cheating ever
be stopped?”
Moses advocated more action against coaches who sought to take
advantage of the innocent ambition of young athletes; Jackson insisted
on “no reason to forgive people”; while Thompson considered
that “athletes don’t understand at a young age so they need older
people to do their thinking for them.”
The former Olympic decathlon champion certainly left no-one in any
doubt about his personal thinking.
Thompson added: “Sport is one of the greatest things man ever invented
because it’s based on the ideals of fair play – and it’s our job to
keep it that way.
“When people on the outside feel that cheating is what people on the
inside are doing then they won’t let their children play and our sport
dies. That is why we need to take strong action.
“If occasionally an innocent person hangs then that’s the way it is.”
Ben Johnson and Dwain Chambers who are rewarded with all the fame
and/or infamy whenever the topic of dope cheats is raised.
Frankly, it’s unfair. In a media-manipulated era in which image –
whether good or evil – counts for so much where is the cheat-hunter
whose fame or infamy can match that of the villains?
From Jesse James and Billy the Kid in yesteryear’s Wild West to
Johnson and Chambers and their like in today’s sporting badlands, the
giants of popular culture are not always the good guys.
This is a conundrum lurking at the fringes of the fight against doping
and which was picked over by Monday’s “Science and Ethics in Sport”
symposium in London, supported by Laureus and The Times.
Such conferences are uplifting events in many ways. No-one disagrees.
Opinions, intelligence and insights are all shared and welcomed.
Everyone – in this case that meant Olympians Ed Moses, Colin
Jackson and Daley Thompson as well as various establishment delegates
– is on the side of the angels.
The problem is putting across a massive message in a way which needs to
impact even more effectively than it does now with self-absorbed and
ambitious young athletes, with their largely-hidden support
teams . . . and with the public at large which knows the identities of
the infamous cheats but has never heard of a famous cheat-hunter.
This is the reason the British Olympic Association’s draconian stance
of a lifetime Olympics ban makes sense to so many: it is the ultimate
sporting sanction short of a total competitive ban. Opinion
elsewhere varies, including within the IOC and WADA and other powerful
sporting nations.
This is the reason so much attention will be focused on Thursday’s
ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport concerning the
well-rehearsed case of Shawn LaMerritt.
Travis Tygart, chief executive of the USADA, cautioned: “If CAS
confirms the authority of IOC or BOA to put in a rule that goes above
the WADA code then we will have a free-for-all around the world.”
Tygart also stressed that “we need to be much better at hitting the
support people, the coaches, medical staff and so on.”
He was supported by Olivier Niggli, WADA’s legal director, who
underlined the challenges facing ‘mere’ sport since “this is a huge
business controlled by organised crime because in many countries it’s
not illegal so there is no risk.”
He added: “This is why it’s important we work with government to make
sure doping becomes illegal and then the police become motivated about
it too. This is something outside the range of what sport
can do . . . so our responsibility is to put that on the radar of governments.”
This did not absolve sport of a responsibility to take as ruthless an
approach as possible. Moses, Jackson and Thompson were all united on
that in a subsequent session entitled: “Can cheating ever
be stopped?”
Moses advocated more action against coaches who sought to take
advantage of the innocent ambition of young athletes; Jackson insisted
on “no reason to forgive people”; while Thompson considered
that “athletes don’t understand at a young age so they need older
people to do their thinking for them.”
The former Olympic decathlon champion certainly left no-one in any
doubt about his personal thinking.
Thompson added: “Sport is one of the greatest things man ever invented
because it’s based on the ideals of fair play – and it’s our job to
keep it that way.
“When people on the outside feel that cheating is what people on the
inside are doing then they won’t let their children play and our sport
dies. That is why we need to take strong action.
“If occasionally an innocent person hangs then that’s the way it is.”
*Source AIPS
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