Bolt from the blue Should there be a blanket life ban handed to drug cheats in sport?
NO more second chances, or third chances for that matter.
Test positive to performance enhancing drugs, especially steroids, and you should be banned for life from your sport.
The spectacle of two-time drug cheat Justin Gatlin winning the 100m at the world championships is a black eye for athletics.
It’s not just that Gatlin beat Usain Bolt – an athlete loved universally and one that has never failed a drug test in more than a decade at the top of international sport.
Whether it’s Gatlin or
Lance Armstrong, Ben Johnson or Michelle Smith – the Irish swimmer who rose from nowhere in the world rankings to win three gold at the Atlanta Olympics – sport is tainted by their victories, whether achieved before, during or after their cheating. We’re not talking here about athletes that have mistakenly taken an over-the-counter flu medication or missed a test. Those that don’t deserve second chances are the athletes that knowingly and willingly take substances in an effort to beat the rest. Gatlin’s win in London has a stench about it. And it won’t go away.
The thousands that booed when he was confirmed the winner of the blue riband race can’t be conned into believing that he is good for their sport. The diminishing interest in events like the Tour de France, or Olympic sports that allow drug cheats back to sully the efforts of clean athletes only hurts sport. Stop the rot and ban the lot. EVER dropped your favourite Ming vase? Or spilled your new bottle of Moet?
Mistakes happen. Like when referees make an error.
Or footy players. Or doctors. Or bus drivers. Or athletes. Indeed, the degree of severity with each mistake differs wildly, but the simple truth is errors are made and will continue to be made.
Banning athletes for life because they make a terrible (often split second) error in judgment sends the wrong message.
I know what you’re thinking. Of course, no-one is condoning drug use and stamping it out would be the best solution.
But let’s get real.
Ever since Socrates jumped the gun in the 100m final of 380BC have people chased an edge – any edge – in order to win.
Yet not every error is worthy of the ultimate sporting punishment.
For every “my mum gave me that tablet” there’s an honest mistake, like Thomas Fraser-Holmes missing his drug test.
Does he deserve a slap for that? Absolutely. The rules are the rules. Yet do we then put the Aussie swimmer in the same bracket as a multiple-time drug abuser?
We don’t lump the petty thieves with the same punishment as the murderers.
The whole argument has more grey areas than any EL James novel.
Slapping life bans around willy-nilly will do more harm than good – and essentially punish every person who has ever dropped a Moet.