FACING THE UNCOMFORTABLE REALITY OF DRUGS

There was a time when Jamaicans were content to believe that the only reason why our athletes lost races at global track meets was because they were competing against drug cheats.

We rejoiced whenever someone, especially an American athlete, got caught. News of an American testing positive was like hearing news that you just won the lottery and, to a large extent, validated our beliefs that our athletes were clean and were being the top because many of those who stood there were there because of the chemical help they had along the way.

But after 18 adverse findings over the past five years, including lifetime bans for Steve Mullings and Julian Dunkley, a six-year ban for Dominique Blake, and a rash of minor offences, suddenly Jamaicans, or a large number of us, are taking a different approach to this drug testing thing.

It was shortly after the Commonwealth Games in 2006 that I first started hearing this ‘mantra’ that Jamaican athletes don’t take drugs. I found it kind of amusing but really didn’t say anything publicly about it. I found it amusing because if there was ever a country with an ‘enhancement’ culture, it would be Jamaica.

When I was a little boy I would often hear grown men talk about the benefits having a Guinness and a Phensic before sex. It was during a time when concoctions like ‘Strongback’, ‘Irish Moss’ and pills called ‘gungu’ that my more senior high school colleagues would talk about when boasting about their sexual encounters, were all the rage.

Fast forward 20 years and we hear stories every day about young men taking Viagra to get that ‘extra’ edge in the bedroom. Many students suck down cans of stimulant-laden Red Bull and Monster for a variety of reasons. But no, Jamaicans don’t take drugs nor do our athletes take performance enhancers.

It’s almost as if we fail to recognize that many, if not all of our athletes grew up immersed in this culture of ours. How realistic is it that they would remain untouched by it?.

Now this is not to say that our elite athletes are getting help from a lab. The bulk of the adverse findings so far have been for stimulants – 2-methyl-4-hexanamine and oxilifrine and punishment has ranged from three to six months. In fact, in 2010 when a number of our athletes appeared before the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission, it was for the inadvertent ingestion of methyl-hexanamine. Like former elite sprinter Ato Boldon suggested recently, these are lesser offences in the grand scheme of things. These substances might be considered performance enhancers but the jury is still out as to how much enhancement they truly provide, especially in light of the fact that many ‘stimulants’ are legal when not taken just prior to competition.

That being said though, the fact is that now that an inordinate number of Jamaican athletes are running afoul of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Code, suddenly we have a problem; not with the athletes but with the code. When Dr. Wade Exum exposed the USATF’s alleged cover up of American athletes who failed drug tests but who were allowed to compete at major championships, we all cheered and exclaimed that we knew all along that they were cheating. In reality the hated Carl Lewis tested positive for stimulants too, but we continue to crucify him.

Yes, we know Lewis is not well liked. I used to hold him in high esteem and was my hero back in the 1980s, but I grew to dislike him, a lot. Still, one cannot deny the facts. He tested positive for a stimulant. Now however, when our athletes test for stimulants, all of a sudden the list of banned substances is too long and too varied. How are the athletes to cope?

Did we ever consider that when we were considering the case of many of the American or European athletes who failed tests during that period? Heck no! We were too caught up in the validation of our beliefs. Now that the shoe is on the other foot it is easy now to find fault with the system under which many athletes, those who cheat, are being exposed.

Here is the reality. Whether the list of banned substances is extensive or not, all the athletes have to live by it, not just Jamaican athletes. Our anti-doping agency has to do a better job of educating the athletes and the people, and the athletes need to do a much better job of watching what they take and what they eat.

Yes, a number of athletes, our athletes, are getting into trouble now but I don’t hear Bolt’s name being called, I never heard Juliet Cuthbert’s name being called. I never heard the names Winthrop Graham, Danny McFarlane, Juliet Campbell, Sandie Richards, Brigette Foster, Lacena Golding, or Donald Quarrie being mentioned in connection with any drug scandals. If these past greats could do it, the current generation can too.

We need to stop making excuses, stop living in a dream world and start facing reality.

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11 Responses to “FACING THE UNCOMFORTABLE REALITY OF DRUGS”

dallo says:

October 9, 2013 at 8:44 am

Bottomline line is yes, we must strive to work with the rules. Regarding Lewis, no matter what he was on back then, on principle he had no right whining and pointing fingers the way he did. Depending on who you believe, there’s word he actually did steroids himself anyway.

It’s been years since then and we now have a better understanding of this PED’s world and i do believe that in the grand scheme of things, these funny named things people getting busted for are just too many.

When i see the stuff people are getting caught with in say baseball, it seems almost petty the way the anti-doping alphabets treat t & f athletes.
enquiring mind says:

October 9, 2013 at 3:20 pm

Some corrections:

1 Julien Dunkley received a two year ban for testing positive for the steroid Boldenone, not a lifetime ban as you claim.

2 Carl Lewis did not test positive for one stimulant; he tested positive for three different stimulants simultaneously, as did his training partner Joe DeLoach.

The difference with the Carl Lewis case as opposed to modern day cases is that Lewis received NO Sanction and was allowed to run at the Olympics in Seoul, as was Joe DeLoach who went on to win 200m gold.

You need to brush up on your history as well. Juliet Cuthbert was famously pointed at by Gwen Torrence as being a drug cheat, after the 100m at the Olympic Games in Barcelona. It was a national outrage at the time and I’m sure that Juliet is still bothered by the accusation.
levyl says:

October 9, 2013 at 4:02 pm

The Juliet incident with Gwen was because of personal differences they didnt like each other and they almost came to blows over the incident. Lewis tested positive for three stimulants, yes, but it was ‘only’ stimulants. And I stand corrected on the Dunkley ban, even though given his age the two-year ban was tantamount to a life ban. But I take your point.
enquiring mind says:

October 10, 2013 at 8:43 am

levyl, it is disingenuous to say that Lewis tested positive for “only” stimulants, for that insinuates that is was okay for him to be allowed to compete in Seoul. As per the rules that existed at the time Lewis should have been immediately suspended from competition. In your initial article you try to equate Lewis’ positives with modern day stimulant positives but ignore the point that modern day positives for stimulants ALL lead to immediate suspension periods until a case is heard through documented due process. Every recent Jamaican stimulant positive resulted in the athlete suspended from competition and missing a World Championships; not so in the case of Carl Lewis whose positives were hidden by the USOC so that he could compete in Seoul.
Jakan says:

October 12, 2013 at 11:27 pm

I am sure Gwen Torrence said she was not talking about the Jamaicans (Merlene and Juliet). Please verify that
enquiring mind says:

October 15, 2013 at 8:57 am

Jakan, Torrence said that only after Cuthbert confronted her directly. Torrence’s statement about the three taking drugs clearly included Cuthbert who had finished in the top three (actually second).
Mal Spence says:

October 17, 2013 at 6:12 am

As a former Triple Jamaican Olympian I have been concerned(for some time now)about the use of illicit drugs in Track and Field Athletics. I am currently preparing a Publication on the history of illegal drug use, and hope that the Public will see it in the same light as I do, whether or not it involve any of our Nationals.

Yours in Sports,

Mal Spence
Lannate says:

October 19, 2013 at 7:36 pm

@ author of this article: QUOTE: “Yes, a number of athletes, our athletes, are getting into trouble now but…..I never heard Juliet Cuthbert’s name being called. I never heard the names Winthrop Graham, Danny McFarlane, Juliet Campbell, Sandie Richards, Brigette Foster, Lacena Golding, or Donald Quarrie being mentioned in connection with any drug scandals. If these past greats could do it, the current generation can too…”
===++++++====

What are you talking about? Did you went through a time warp to back-in-time when writing this article? Your article refer to some former athletes who performed decades ago when half the banned substances that are now on the WADA list, were not even present and/or known back then.

If you have not realized, the list of banned substances have gotten a lot longer since then. You can’t equate then with now. Things have gotten a lot more sophisticated. So, some of the names you mentioned above could have had banned substances in their system at one time or another;however, the drug authorities just weren’t looking for the simple stuff at that time. Now,they are looking for everything!!!

Please stay in the present century.
levyl says:

October 19, 2013 at 7:53 pm

Steroids were always on the list, so too narcotics and stimulants as well. With that in mind what is your point. The categories have remained the same. And for your information, the list has not gotten a lot longer. Explain to me why many athletes manage to steer clear of these issues? Keeping your hard in the sand doesnt make the problem go away.
levyl says:

October 19, 2013 at 7:55 pm

How many American, Russian, Turkish, European athletes do you hear complain that the list is too long?
Lannate says:

October 20, 2013 at 3:09 pm

@ Levyl: 1st QUOTE: “Steroids were always on the list, so too narcotics and stimulants as well. With that in mind what is your point..”

2nd Quote: “How many American, Russian, Turkish, European athletes do you hear complain that the list is too long?”
+++============+++

In response to your first question, HOW MANY OF OUR (JA)ATHLETES ARE CAUGHT WITH AND/OR TESTED POSITIVE FOR STERIODS?
While I wait for your response on that, again,if you wish,our athletes are tested positive for the simple stuff,stimulants,which is in almost everything we consume. And Yes, the WADA banned list has increased our the decades.
Also,with the increasing competition among manufactures of supplements,what is stated on the label of content is not necessarily all of what you consume. So athletes are taking chances consuming these products,while keeping their fingers cross of course. Do we have our own (various) supplement factories here in JA?

To answer your second question, first of all these countries are far more advanced than little Jamaica in terms of technology and can do their own testing of their athletes and whatever substance they are consuming,so why should they complain. Are our labs that sophisticated here? That is, if we have one of course.