Facts and Logic wrote:
I would advise this board to detach a bit from the doping crusade. Athletics at the moment is not a clean culture, and every performance is suspect. Shouting "he's doping" at every opportunity about every athlete is a bit tiresome. We all know. We're not the testers. We're not WADA. Focus on the tangibles. Just like when you watch the Tour De France, it's currently just part of the sport at the moment.
I disagree. It's easy to say that we should just worry about our own level of competition, and who cares what the pros do? But competitive sports exist on a continuum. I would argue that you have to hold the guys at the top to account, because ultimately that's the level we're all aspiring to, even if most of us know we have no chance.
It's sort of like people who say, for instance, that they don't care about doping in the NFL. NFL players play in a punishing league, and should be allowed to do whatever. But it is not predetermined from a young age who will play in the NFL and who won't. Players are constantly striving to impress scouts and reach the next level. So if NFL players are allowed to dope, you can bet almost all the good college players will also feel almost obliged to dope if they hope to impress scouts and possibly get drafted. And then good HS players will see how tough it is to succeed in college, so they're also likely to turn to PED's, etc, etc.
Same with elite distance running. What is the college guy who runs 29 for 10k (clean), or the woman who runs 33 for 10k, supposed to think? Should they not care about what the elite runners who they hope to compete with are doing? I think it's undeniable that they will care, and will likely be forced to either do likewise (used PED's) to get to the next level, or settle for being an also-ran. Or get out of the sport. And then those effects just kind of cascade down through the levels of competition.
Granted, this scenario has already existed for a long while now. But I think it is essential to keep battling against the amoral/immoral cheats at the top level, or else progressing from promising youth runner to eventually becoming elite, while staying clean, will become an impossible goal (if it isn't already).