Runner Nick Symmonds not shy about speaking up to fix track
‘Cheaters are always going to be two steps ahead of the testers’
Outspoken middle-distance runner Nick Symmonds tricks himself into believing that doping isn’t going on in his event. Otherwise, he couldn’t climb out of bed every morning to train.
“I stick my head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening,” the American 800-meter standout said in a phone interview. “It’s a filthy, dirty sport — the cheaters are always going to be two steps ahead of the testers. It’s never a level playing field.
“Anyone who stands on the starting line at an Olympic final and thinks they’re racing against a clean field is delusional.”
Symmonds doesn’t shy away from voicing his opinion on track’s inequities or from keeping pressure on those responsible for making decisions in a sport that’s engulfed by doping scandals