Tyson Gay, Doping, And State of the Sport

As I'm sure everyone knows by now, Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell have both tested positive for banned substances.  This comes just several weeks after Veronica Campbell Brown tested positive as well.  With the track world ablaze with the news of some of the top stars using performance enhancing drugs, what does this mean for the sport?  Where do we go from here?

The two men in question, Gay and Powell

First and foremost, I want to point out that it is my belief that all professional sports are currently overwhelmed with substance abuse.  It seems like track and field and cycling are the ones who are constantly at the forefront of athletes getting caught, but that is mainly because the testing protocols are so stringent.  I think, unlike what the misguided Mr. Doug Logan thinks, is that track and field needs tougher bans than simply two years.  Lifetime bans from competing should be enforced (if the testing can truly show substance abuse without a shadow of a doubt) which should help deter athletes.  Coaches who have been known to support PEDs should be barred from the sport.

Letsrun did a good job a couple years back when they asked some tough questions as to why a coach who was connected to doped athletes was allowed to be in the VIP area at USATFs.  Letsrun rubbed many the wrong way, though, because they lacked tact in their "journalism" which has basically been no more than these blog entries.  The sport does need people to ask hard questions, hold the standard and spirit of the sport high, and help get the druggies out the sport.  I know many coaches who have the same beliefs as I do.  We coach kids because we want to teach them the right way to do things. We can't have our top athletes earning success the wrong way.  They are as much of role models as we are.

I was reading a thread earlier on if track and field was dead.  Of course not.  It is the oldest sport in the world and it is still the highlight of the Olympics.  Track and field is not dead, although the current model may be aging.  It might be time for a facelift.