Cleaning athletics from drugs

Written by Linda Digby 27 Aug 2015
Cleaning athletics from drugs

Last week Sebastian Coe was elected as president of the world governing body for athletics. This week Usain Bolt’s victory over twice banned drug offender Justin Gatlin delighted many who still appear not to trust athletes with regards to cheating. Bolt is a worthy champion and so is Jessica Ennis-Hill, winning the gold medal in the women’s heptathlon just 13 months after giving birth. Not everyone has the endurance, perseverance, ability and training to compete in any kind of athletics competition, never mind a world championship. Now that Lord Coe heads the IAAF he will look to the International Olympic Committee which is the only agency with both the funds and the vested interest to operate an effective drugs-detection programme . However, if the IOC is unwilling to exclude rogue nations from membership, no amount of testing will make much difference. Historically international governing bodies don’t cast off member nations, regardless of the depths of their offences. Witness state-supported athletes, Nazi repression of Jewish sportsmen, and twenty years of communist-bloc drug-programmes. All passed without a whimper.

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