Not Your Average Track Fan: Drugs, Drugs and More Drugs

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Let me begin by saying, this is not a commentary on any particular athlete’s guilt or innocence, unless the Court of Arbitration has already adjudicated that issue.  I do believe in innocence, until guilt has been proven.  I also believe, as does the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), that an athlete bears sole responsibility for what is put into his or her body.  But, just like many other laws, rules and regulations, I suppose there is always an exception to any rule.  Can an athlete be unknowingly doped? Sure.  Is it possible that someone in the athlete’s camp, federation or some enemy of that athlete would intentionally sabotage the athlete’s supplements, drink, food or other therapeutic implements?  Of course.  There are definitely bad people in the world.  And some of them run track, coach track, and provide other track-related services.  But as a track superfan, stuff like the doping grenades that have been dropped this week, make my head hurt.

First the good.  The IAAF has decided that every athlete, yes EVERY ATHLETE, competing at this year’s World Championships in Daegu, South Korea will be drug tested.  Wait, let me be more specific: they will be blood tested, rather than the usual urine testing.  Going into an Olympic year, this is exactly what every sport needs to do.  Have a baseline so they can catch the cheaters before they get to London, or any other competition.  The biggest question in my mind?  What took the IAAF so long?  And will the IOC figure out a way to do the same next year?  For the average track fan, aka the Olympic year track fans, this will be fantastic news!  Track and field loses more and more fans every year to doping scandals.  The irony is that track and field continues to be one of the most drug tested sports in the world.  This isn’t because it is the dirtiest.  If you think about it, the dirtiest sports would be those with the most lax testing procedures, and the fewest consequences for positive tests…but I won’t point any fingers here (*cough cough*).  The problem for track and field is that the average track fan doesn’t know this, and really doesn’t care that the sports they watch every Sunday afternoon and Monday night has historically more steroid use than track ever could.  They watch for the excitement, the hard hits, the home runs, and the wins.  Huh!  I’m struggling not to digress into the ridiculousness of the concept that fans will turn a blind eye to other sports that routinely cheat with performance enhancing drugs, because the fans want to see them be exciting, but apparently Olympic sports must be squeaky clean for the same reason.  Struuuuuggling.  Ok, back to track and field. 

Now the bad.  This week, it was revealed that two high-profile elite athletes tested positive after drug testing in the past month.  Jamaican sprinter, Steve Mullings’ name was released as having tested positive for a masking agent known as Furosemide, which is a diuretic.  US sprinter, Mike Rodgers tweeted that he had tested positive for a stimulant.  Apparently, he drank an energy drink while enjoying some free time in Italy.  Here is where the average track fan has gotten it wrong.  Upon hearing that Mullings’ drug test found a diuretic, the blogs went crazy with conspiracy theories (he runs for Jamaica, but trains in the US with American record holder, Tyson Gay), denial, and ultimately ignorance.  The conspiracy theories ran the gamut from, the US was trying to take down the Jamaicans, because they are dominating the sprints, to the Jamaican federation was salty, because Mullings trains in the US and not in Jamaica.  Both are ridiculous.  Yes, Jamaica is the dominate country in the men’s sprints.  But, as I have heard many athletes, in track and other sports say, on any given day, anyone can be the winner.  Prior races and times help with predictions, but all of that goes out the window when those 8 men line up, take their places in the blocks and sprint for 10 seconds or less.  And if we're going based on stats alone, why take out Mullings?  Why not Usain Bolt? He's the favorite in that event.  Again, ridiculous.  The ignorance was in abundance as well.  “Ooooh, what the heck is the IAAF doing?!?  They must change this!  How can anyone face a ban for taking a diuretic?  A water pill? (or as I like to call it, the pee pill)”  If you don’t take the time to simply GOOGLE Furosemide as a masking agent, you might not know that a diuretic can inhibit the secretion of waste material that would otherwise show that the athlete has been using steroids.  Sometimes, the interweb is your friend!  Denial.  Well, it’s one of the stages of grief.  Eventually, those in denial will reach acceptance, regardless of the outcome of Mullings’ situation.  In other words, they’ll get over it.  Ultimately, Mullings will have to prove his case that he did not knowingly ingest a banned substance.  It is worth noting that his “B” sample results have not been released (and possibly have not been tested at the time I wrote this blog), and a hearing date has not been set. So, it's possible that the B sample will have a different result.  Again, innocent until proven guilty, but ultimately responsible for what goes into his body.  If found guilty, this would be his 2^nd positive test, and he could face anywhere from a 4 yr ban to a lifetime ban from the sport.  In the eyes of the average track fan, he’s guilty until proven innocent.  Backwards, for sure.  But, this is where track and field needs to hire a better PR firm. 

And Mike Rodgers.  Like Mullings, he is having an incredible season.  But again, the average track fan will go left when hearing of his positive test.  Most fans only hear “positive test”.  They often don’t hear, or perhaps don’t care, for what the athlete tested positive.  And when you have 2 top sprinters test positive in the same week, even a super track fan can’t help but groan…loudly.  As I said on twitter last night, my nerves are shot.  UniversalSports.com reports that Mike was drinking an energy drink that contained a stimulant that appears on the banned substance list.  Yes, some stimulants are banned.  But let’s put this into perspective, caffeine is also a stimulant.  Now, I have no idea what was in his energy drink.  And giving him the benefit of the doubt, apparently neither did he.  And just like Mullings, his “B” sample results have not been released (and possibly have not been tested at the time I wrote this blog), and a hearing date has not been set. Again, innocent until proven guilty, but ultimately responsible for what goes into his body.  Rodgers faces a possible warning or a suspension of several months, once his case has been heard. 

This is not about Mullings or Rodgers as individual athletes.  They will each have the opportunity to prove their innocence before an arbitrator.  These positive tests may result in both athletes losing his place on their federation’s World Championship teams, which is most certainly a huge blow for both teams and both athletes.  Depending on the outcome of each case, the positive tests could also affect each athlete’s ability to compete in the London Olympics and beyond.  But, that’s information that the above-average track fan would know.  See, us super track fans love this sport so much, it hurts when it gets another blemish.  We know that every positive result is different, like snowflakes.  But ultimately, a blemish is a blemish to the average fan world. 

Track and field has got to do a better job of promoting the sport, not just the dirt and drama.  When all non-fans and average fans hear is “Jamaican track athlete tests positive for banned substance,” or “US track athlete tests positive for banned substance,” it only adds to the belief that track is a dirty sport.  Yes, there are cheaters in every sport.  There are cheaters in every nation that participates in sports.  There are cheaters in track and field.  But, to allow a sport to wear a blanket that all of its athletes, especially the ones who win (?!?) are dirty is slander to the sport and the athletes.  It’s a slap in the face to the athletes who compete clean, and treat their sport like a job and not a hobby.  It’s a punch in the gut to the ones who win, and win cleanly.  It’s bad enough when they find out that their training partners are dirty.  Believe it or not, athletes don’t walk around bragging about what they are using! Their training partners are also their competition.  So track fans, average or not, please know that athletes who test positive aren’t all cheaters.  And to end with a cliché, “one bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole bunch.” Oh, and Steve Mullings and Mike Rodgers, and anyone else who tests positive and hasn’t had a hearing, is (say it with me) INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY.

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• Olympics
• Track & Field
• Anti-Doping

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