The Balco drugs scandal in athletics may not have been a catastrophe on the scale of Krakatoa but, like the famous volcano, the dark clouds it produced cast a shadow long after the initial eruption.
In the United Kingdom Dwain Chambers’ reinstatement to the British team for this week’s European Cup event has fuelled the debate about how any sport deals with drug cheats. In the United States Marion Jones’s return to winning ways has been greeted with a mixture of unbridled cynicism and lukewarm acceptance.
Both athletes were central figures in the Balco fiasco but with contrasting roles. Chambers was caught and eventually came clean. Jones was found guilty only by association and always denied any wrongdoing in relation to current rules and testing procedures.
Chambers has served a two-year ban, the punishment set by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), while Jones appeared to sit out a similar period as some sort of self-imposed exile. Both now seek acceptance and support from the sport and the public.
Chambers’ recent 100m performance at Gateshead, clocking 10,07sec, was a more eye-catching return than that of Jones, who nevertheless was impressive in winning last weekend’s US Championships in 11,10. However, both met a cynical response from many quarters.
There are those, including some meet promoters, who have made up their minds about Jones despite the lack of definitive evidence and there are many who believe Chambers’ transgressions are worthy of further punishment, and that the domestic and international federations continue to be weak in this area, sending out conflicting messages and following confusing procedures.
Chambers’ return has the blessing of UK Athletics and the IAAF, but he will not be welcomed back by the British Olympic Association and cannot receive any lottery funding from UK Sport.
Jones finds herself representing the US and eligible for all competitions, but with many European meet promoters unwilling to pay out for an athlete they think hoodwinked them in the past.
The end result is a feeding frenzy for those in the sport who gorge themselves on their own wounds while the rest of the world turns away in disgust.
The only sensible course seems to be to accept the environment in which all professional sport is played and, while trying resolutely to root out as many cheats as possible, be it drugs or otherwise, allow the rules to be applied, sentences delivered and move on.
Like most people I find drug taking in sport particularly galling and would advocate a stronger sliding scale of bans that would better reflect the nature of the offence, with the ultimate punishment a life ban for serial offending.
Cheating in sport takes many forms. Diving in the penalty area, roughing up the cricket ball or parking your car on a qualifying lap are all born out of the same misguided desire to win at all costs, and some take that to the ultimate extreme of performance enhancement through banned substances. It is not new and it will not go away. All we can do is insist the rules are fair, that those caught are rightly punished and that those not yet caught are being hotly pursued.
Athletics needs to forget the internal debate and move on. Whatever my or your opinion, Chambers, like many before him, is cleared to compete and we have to accept that. Jones broke no rules that anyone can prove.
It is frustrating and sometimes it stinks as much as an emission of hydrogen sulphide, but it is amazing how quickly you get used to the smell. — Â