Justin Lagat makes a good series of points in this piece focused on a stronger way to deter and stop doping in Kenya. It makes sense.
Moses Tanui, photo by IAAF.org
No one in the world wants a clean sport more than the athletes themselves. But, it is a pity they seem to be the only victims in this war against doping, while they should instead be the warriors and heroes. They are the ones with the greatest will and desire to eliminate cheating, but there are no adequate provisions to allow them to do so.
I came across a long post by the veteran athlete, Moses Tanui, urging athletes to come out and be open so that we can all come together as one and find a solution in the fight against doping.
“I’ve read all the stories about doping. My sincere opinion, it’s us, the athletes to stop. First, the trust must be there, secondly, the active athletes must listen to us then we can have a meeting and talk about it. Let’s start from zero, let’s be open to each other, repentance is the key to all these problems, let them learn from us. Let us know what happened, what went wrong, let’s have counselors, and let all of us talk to each other in a respectable manner. Let’s agree to talk about it, accusations will not help us, forgiveness is the key to everything, let’s have a meeting after this coronavirus Pandemic. Talk about it open your heart and be trustworthy to yourself, let’s build athletics and our athletes, let’s respect our motherland. To young elite athletes talk to us let’s solve this problem that it’s within us. May God help us to overcome.” Tanui wrote in his message to the active and retired athletes in one of the online athletics forums in Kenya.
Of late, questions arise as to why some athletes who have been caught are not able, or willing, to expose the source of the drugs they are alleged to have used even after they have been banned. Why are they willing to suffer alone rather than mentioning the source of the drugs and get their sentences reduced by half? Even without the willingness of athletes to report their sources of the drugs, I do believe that the society, and the relevant investigating agencies, could be able to investigate and report what they have been seeing and the people responsible would be known. Just like it is possible to tell many other things in the community, like when a lady becomes pregnant and people can find a way of knowing the father of the unborn baby even if the lady is not willing to disclose. Why is no one else, besides the athletes getting caught?
With the application of the ABP (Athlete Biological Passport), a good number of athletes have been netted in the fight against doping. which is good news. However, some of them have maintained that they are innocent, or that they have no idea how the substances entered their bodies if indeed they did.
Other athletes have been banned due to their whereabouts violations with some appearing to be due to incompetence in updating their locations, which fellow athletes would easily help, if there was a parallel body by athletes to try and stop such mistakes.
If there is indeed one, or two athletes who may have been banned innocently, then the fight against doping will be affected adversely and many athletes banned in the future will believe that they will also be set free if they keep maintaining their innocence.
I do believe that it is about time that the fight against doping is engineered in a way that involves the athletes more and the athletes feel part of it, rather than the only victims. Athletes should be provided with ways to fight rogue coaches, officials, doctors and other people in their sport, and a way to work closely with the anti-doping bodies.
Why don’t we have some sealed suggestion boxes across training camps where the athletes can report some questionable coaches and doctors so that they are investigated and arrested? Why can’t we have a parallel anti-doping body overseen by athletes that can formulate policies that can be understood by fellow athletes, and explain to them decisions made by the anti-doping bodies? Why aren’t some journalists who report defamatory stories on doping without the need to prove what they write being held accountable? It is about time that the athletes stop becoming the victims and start fighting for a clean sport as well.
If there was an athletes’ body working hand in hand with the WADA and AIU units in the country, then the questions of mistrust will be avoided and more valuable information in the fight against doping will be willingly shared by the athletes.
